Bikepacking Overnight: White River - Wamic Loop

2024 shaped up to be a pretty dismal year for bikepacking. While we were able to get the whole crew together for a big camping weekend with mountain bikes, we got rained out of two bike tours. As we neared the end of bikepacking season, wildfire smoke settled into Central Oregon unseasonably late, and then much needed rain threatened the last trip we had on the calendar. But in the end, the OG crew of Ani and myself made it happen and had a blissful -- if hard -- two days out relishing the fall colors.

We rode the Dirty Freehub "White River Loop - Wamic extension" as mapped and camped at the Bonney Crossing Campground, which boasts this lovely one-star Google review:

Neither of us had ridden much this year, so it felt a little extra hard... but just note that riding it this way puts the vast majority of the climbing in the first day!

From wide farmland views, clear looks at Mt. Hood (Wy'east), golden oaks, larches, and the best of all the fall colors, we ended this bikepacking season with a commitment to get bigger badder bike rides for 2025!

Farmland art.

Me on a bike!

Windy dirty roads.

Dropping the descent into the Wamic River... not as fun as we wanted cuz it was pretty washboarded and loose.

Just another gorgeous river crossing.

But the fall colors and party hat can't be beat.

Mt. Hood (Wy'east) with a dapper cloud hat and sweet lenticular clouds.

Wamic coffee stop to get us up the last climb.

Bonney Crossing Campground is a gem of a primitive campground... no one but us and another bikepacking duo that came in after dark.

We relished the last of the golden rays of sun in fall colors on the trail across the road.

Morning moon and pink skies.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• We hit this at just the right time after bow hunting season had ended but before the regular hunting season at peak fall color!
• While not marked on the Dirty Freehub map, there is a great dispersed campsite next to the Wamic River if you don't mind starting the day with a steep climb. And, I'd be a little weary of the water due to the agricultural runoff on each side of that canyon, which is why we happily opted for the Bonney Crossing Campground, which gets its water from the nearby wilderness area.
• There are some great food options in Wamic (a bar that serves food and a cafe with coffee, ice cream, breakfast, and wraps) and Tygh Valley (Molly B's diner). 

Wy'east (aka Mt Hood) Circumnavigation - Gravel Edition

Somehow, I made it to the summer solstice with ZERO bikepacking trips. To be fair, my bikepacking crew and I had two other trips on the calendar that we had to bail out on due to weather. Our crew had potentially thought about heading to the coast or out to Idaho for a 4-day/3-night tour. After checking in to see who could actually make the trip -- Ani, Nicole, and myself -- we opted to stay closer to home to get as much riding in as possible while having enough time to be relaxed heading out and coming home. 

Back in 2018, I did a circumnavigation of Wy'east (aka Mt Hood) with my friend Michelle... who is decidedly anti-gravel roads. So we did a an overnighter route that avoided gravel as much as possible. When Ani suggested that we do a bigger badder-asser version, I was excited to make it happen as I had my eye on some sweet peninsula camping at Timothy Lake and this route would go right by it. 

This route has some big climbs and glorious descents... mind-blowingly-gorgeous descents, the kind that cyclists live for. 

In the end, we had a few snafus and with a late start our first day, hot weather, and bike mechanicals, we ended up revising this route and skipping Timothy Lake. What pushed us over the ed to be able to have time to stop at my favorite east-of-the-Cascades Korean food stall Imonae in Madras on our way home (pro tip: if you want the kalbi dosirak, call ahead about 20 minutes as they custom make it!).

Sometimes a perfect campsite manifests itself at just the right moment.

t was so hot and we really really really wanted to swim. The only option for the day was a gratuitous climb to Lost Lake... this spot is resorty and touristy, but has a lot of amenities and the coldest most delicious Topochico ever.

Different angles of Wy'east climbing up the north side towards Lolo Pass.

This mansion of a dispersed site is after the steepest part of the climb towards Lolo Pass... if you are anything like us, and are tired as you are passing under the very exposed power line section of the route, this magically appears right after the first plateau. There's even an old rogue outhouse across the way. The site is located pretty close to a water source -- we were able to walk. There's another smaller dispersed site on a creek shortly after, but there were some van-lifers there when we rolled out in the morning.

Definitely take this sweet easy rolling singletrack on the way into Rhododendron. Some of my favorite riding of the trip!

Al Forno Ferruzza in Rhododendron is a delicious refuel spot, but be warned it ain't fast if you get there right at opening time.

We love carfree bridges!

Sometimes, you gotta jump into the lake and the fray and embrace the shitshow of Trillium Lake.

Lots of people also means nice people who will gift you beers while walking around the lake!

We magically found dispersed camping at Trillium Lake the first weekend after school is out. The mess of people -- daytrippers an campers alike -- from Portland were jarring. But we managed to make the best of it! There are a bunch of dispersed sites on your way in through the back of Trillium Lake before you hit the walk in campsites, day use area, and main campsite. There are pit toilets by the walk in campsites and a spigot in the main campground.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• Highway riding sucks. Our original version of this that avoided a lot of the highway required crossing the Salmon river with no bridge. With high temps and snowpack, Ani had the good sense to call the ranger station who told us that the crossing would be at least knee deep for the average person (so like thigh high for a shorty like me). We decided to re-route last minute.