Day 2: High Desert Happy Monkey (Cyrus Horse Camp to Trout Creek Dispersed Site)

Even though the coyotes woke us up pretty early with their piercing calls to each other, we had a leisurely morning because we knew we only had to go about 45 miles and had all day... and RidewithGPS said our route was only a little gravel and the rest was paved. We didn't want to get to camp too early, so we took some of our extra wood and made a breakfast fire. Given how much easier the day was going to be, we had the amazing idea of carrying our leftover wood on our bikes so we could have a fire the second night, too! Ya know, cuz mechanical advantage is amazing. 

Morning fire and morning coffee!

Because horse pens.

Forever trying to identify mountains... I don't know how much of my life has been spent identifying the mountains of the Cascades.

Feels so good to actually RIDE a bike, even if it is with 5 pieces of wood (RIP the one log that I lost on a ripping descent).

We confidently set out for the day with high spirits. This was going to be a breeze because it was mostly downhill and mostly paved. Except for the mostly paved part. RidewithGPS lied and it was really like 90% gravel, which was fine, but made for a harder day than we anticipated. It also resulted in some of our firewood getting dislodged and a lot of time spent trying to re-secure them in place.

Brewster Reservoir.

This is the kind of gravel riding I love.

Mountains, a tiny bit of pavement, and zooming along. 

Curious coyote.

The final descent into camp.

We rolled into the Trout Creek Campground around 4 pm after a satisfying day of riding only to find out it was a shit show of camper vans, RVs, boaters, and climbers. My heart sank... I just imagined a night of generators and folks partying. And then we saw a sign that said that this area had a fire ban even in fire rings until October 15th. Ani grabbed the wood from her pannier and threw it to the ground. Remember that time we carried 10 pounds of firewood for nothing?! 

As we assessed the campground options, Ani mentioned that the last time she came through this area, she recalled seeing some dispersed sites further down our route, but couldn't remember how far it was. She asked a group of guys with bikes nearby if they had tooled down the path and (1) if they knew how far down a dispersed site with a pit toilet was and (2) if there was anyone camping there. They said it was only about 1.5 miles and they thought it was empty. We all looked at each other and it was decided. I also chucked my wood and then off we went. 

It was a bumpy 1.5 miles but we found the most magical quiet dispersed site right on the river. As we set up camp and filtered water, we enjoyed seeing a few boats floating back towards the campground. And mother nature took some pity on us, and the night time was calm and warmer than we expected.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• There is no potable or filterable water between Smith Rock State Park (and depending on the time of year, the spigots may be turned off) and Trout Creek except the Richardson Rock Ranch. If you are going to rely on buying water from there, make sure to call ahead as they are often and unpredictably closed. 
• I do NOT recommend filtering from the reservoirs you will pass by. One of them is on private land and this is water that has been standing and may have agricultural/cow runoff.
• Trout Creek Campground is a first come first served fee campground and is pretty dang busy with climbers and people there for fishing and boating. The trail that runs from the campground has several free dispersed campsites with pit toilets that are primarily for boaters and rafters. The first dispersed site is about 1.5 miles from the established campground. We got really lucky it was empty as the next morning, we saw all the others had boaters camped out. 
• There is a burn ban in this area until October 15th, even in fire rings. 
• Our friend is a geologist type who is familiar with the water sources here and is out in the field looking at water flows all the time. Her tip: do not filter from Trout Creek... the Deschutes is just fine though!