Bikepacking Overnights: Billy's Playground Modified

It's been a hard year and I am determined to get out bikepacking more and stay connected to my friends. When our country feels like it is falling apart and having a job that is meaningful but heavy, sometimes the activation energy seems almost like too much. That's when I am grateful for having some backup routes that I can pull out. This one was based off a Dirty Freehub route called Billy's Playground. I like to take some of their bigger gnarly rides and turn them into overnighters... and this one was fantastic. I would highly recommend this one to anyone!

The dirt was fast, the climbing was mostly reasonable for an earlier season ride, the company impeccable, and we scored a gorgeous walk in tent site. 

Fast rolling dirt out of Sisters.

Lake Billy Chinook Village Store and its GIANT chair!

Views of Lake Billy Chinook before a big descent. We were sad cuz we had to pedal downhill into a headwind. It is worth doing the short hike out at this pullout to see the rock umbrellas.

Our sweet campsite with water views!

Patrick is the only one who braved the cold water... the clouds made it cool down real quick.

Group photo on day two before leaving camp.

The gnarly climb out!

And more climbing up to Green Ridge. So much climbing.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• We parked at the Sisters City Park which has free parking and allows overnight parking. We like their bathrooms for changing and proximity to delicious food post ride.
• Early season (aka early June), Perry South campground was really lovely and has nice bathrooms, potable water, and wood for sale. We were lucky as fire bans were not in effect for this campground, and since the campground was only about half full, it was also pretty peaceful. I had researched in advance and saw there were still plenty of sites left a few days out, so wasn't concerned. We had the Monty Campground as a back up, but that would have required one more climb that day. We were told that once it got hot (aka by July), reservations would be absolutely needed.
• The Lake Billy Chinook store is pretty limited in what it has. I was glad to have brought everything I needed, but they do have a strong drink/beverage game, and so I was happy to buy a cold single serving margarita there.

Vancouver Island Tree to Sea Mini

My friend Aparna rallied us all to meet up on Vancouver Island for some mountain biking. She and her husband already had some plans to climb and ride in Banff, and welcomed us to join on any or all of their plans. At one point, we had our whole crew and our respective partners in on the trip.

• Aparna and hubby -- doing an epic with a trailer to Banff and then to Vancouver Island
• LeeAnn (me!) and Patrick -- preferring to keep our whole trip on Vancouver Island and bringing so many bikes for bikepacking and mountain biking
• Ani and Mark -- Ani was going to join me and Patrick for bikepacking, and then Mark was maybe going to join for the mountain biking
• Elisa and hubby -- joining Aparna and Jamie for their whole shebang
• Nicole and her boo -- coming up just for mountain biking

Team Ani and Mark ended up feeling like the logistics were too complicated and backed out. Then Elisa's husband broke his wrist mountain biking just a week before the trip. And we were down to Aparna, Nicole, and me with our partners.

One of the epic Vancouver Island bikepacking routes is the Tree to Sea route, that typically takes well over 2 weeks to finish. Whelp, we did not have that kind of time. We had 3 - 4 days max. I saw some mini versions and created a route. I loved this 3.5 day route so much. It was hard, it was magic, and it made me fall in love with this corner of Vancouver Island. 

Patrick and I had only done a few easy overnighters together and always with other people. This would be our first bigger bikepacking trip just the two of us. I knew this guy loved me when he was excited for this part of the trip because it would be really romantic to get sweaty and struggle through some Type 2 fund together.

Magical paths in the rainforest.

Waterside biking.

We actually didn't get rained on too much, but we did find this tiny shelter at our first campground. Ha.

Little Bear Bay magic. It rained like the dickens overnight, but was magical both the day before and the morning after.

OMG bear fishing! Apparently at night, the salmon sleep in the bay and the smart bears come early morning for an easy meal. We were told this is a "good local bear" and just comes to eat without messing with campers.

Steep steeps.

We figured out how to securely strap a pizza onto Patrick's bike!

Last night camping!

One of a gajillion farm stands.

When you run out of space in the panniers.

The infamous salsa battle.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• The caretakers of Kin Beach Provincial Park were so lovely -- the guy was also a bikepacker and was so excited to host us and talk bikes with us. They let us park our car there for free. There is also hiker/biker camping as well. We camped there our first night. It's right on the water and we missed some whales passing by just a few hours on our return.
• The first 15+ miles of the route and the last 15+ miles are the same, but those miles are dotted with farm stands that are a joy! Including competing salsa makers. 
• Dispersed camping is hard. Why? Because the undergrowth out here is dense. Luckily, people are nice. We relied on two first come first served campsites (Upper Campbell Reservoir Campground and Little Bear Bay) and while both were full, we managed to find a space to camp. The third campground had first come first served campsites and reservable ones (Miracle Beach), and while it was booked up, we were able to find a site that had been vacated early. If you want to rely on Miracle Beach, I'd recommend making a reservation in advance.
• If you stay at Little Bear Bay... and you absolutely should... it was a GEM, you will need to explore a little to find a water source. My research showed from a kayaker report that Pye creek was a reliable source and it wasn't too hard to find since there was a use trail there.
• Chonky tires recommend.

Bikepacking Overnight: Sisters to Smith Rock

One of my bikepacking besties has a goal to ride every single Oregon Scenic Bikeway and so I designed a mixed gravel route that incorporate the Sister to Smith Rock scenic bikeway for her birthday! This was party pace bike riding in its finest, complete with a coffee/beer stop at Redpoint Climbing in Terrebonne and easy resupply just miles before camp so you don't have to carry much food if you don't want to.  

Sunset was magical, the company was the best, and sometimes the adventures closest to home are the ones we need most.

Dirt roads heading out of Sisters.

Sometimes short people need a help from their taller friends!

Survived and getting ready to climb out from the creek.

Rolling into Smith Rock state park.

We stretched our legs and walked the rim at Smith Rock.

Bivouac camping area! It was cold!!!

Alpaca joy!

The paved road home.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• If you do this route in the Spring, make sure to check the Wychus Creek water gauge to get an idea of what that water crossing looks like and if it is feasible. Under 160 CFS is about 18" deep with a moderate flow and is pretty safe for most folks (I am 5'2" so it was easy for my friend and harder for me as it was up to my knees). Over 200 CFS, would not recommend! 
• Camping is ample in the Smith Rock bivouac ad I'm told they will not turn away bike tourists. 
• Ani scored some mini creamers from the gas station!

Bikepacking Overnight: Klickatat Maryhill Loops (Not Recommended)

While I have gotten pretty good at route planning, sometimes, I get the intel wrong for all my best intentions and research. I am posting this SOLELY because I did not find much on the private property closure on the top of Maryhill Loops and I had seen other trip reports where people minimized the risks of trespassing.

Ani and I were craving Spring Columbia River Gorge wildflowers and the Klickitat trail was also on our bucket list. So off we went. We braved 25+ mph headwinds, 14% grades, and navigated some challenging conditions.

This is a route that I would NOT recommend as designed for several reasons. Trespassing at the top of Maryhill loops have clearly become an issue. The residents have put up a lot of signage and we did not feel comfortable with others who decided to just jump the gate. 

If I had to do this again, I would camp at the Maryhill State Park and do the Maryhill loops as a day ride and not incorporate it into a bikepacking trip. I'd also be curious to re-route this counter-clockwise and find a different way to do the loop!

Some gnarly doubletrack straight up a hill.

Gorgeous views!

Peak flower season on the Gorge!

We got to push this button on the road to go through the tunnel... its a take the lane situation sharing with cars.

Klickitat trail joy!

Our sweet dispersed campsite right on the water. Our neighbor? A goat. Like the guy brought his goat out camping.

Maryhill loops!

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• The Canyon Market in Klickitat is a gem and the staff were super nice!
• From what we could tell by other cyclists we saw, people tended to ride the Klickitat trail the opposite way we did.
• While the wildflowers in the Gorge in April are magical, holy crap the wind is not to be f*cked with!
  
• We camped out Friday night at the Deschutes Recreation Site (one of our favorites), and then did the mad dash on the highway over the river. It also has free parking vs paid parking at Maryhill State Park.
• If you do want to bike Maryhill loops, check out their website to make sure it isn't closed for a special event (e.g. they do a longboarding event there!) - https://www.maryhillmuseum.org/outside/historic-maryhill-loops-road. 

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.