Bikepacking Overnight: Deschutes River Railbed Trail

Recently I've been feeling the need to unplug from life and people and do some solo soul searching.  I don't know why, but I very rarely see women bike touring let along doing it by themselves.  While I've done plenty of solo mountain biking, hiking, and international traveling, I haven't done a ton of solo bike touring.  Since I'm getting ready to give a presentation introducing women to bike touring and bikepacking, I wanted to make sure that I had firsthand experience of all the beginner-friendly routes I am providing in the presentation.

The Deschutes River Trailbed Trail was highlighted by Oregon Bikepacking as the quintessential beginner bikepacking route, so I decided to make it a quick solo sub-24 bikepacking trip.  It did not disappoint.  While the terrain is about as easy as dirt road touring gets, the spring flowers were exploding in the canyon and everything glowed green in this usually brown desert landscape.  Even the weather gave me a break... I had encountered hail and torrential downpours on the drive up and stubbornly trusted the weather forecast which said it would only be "cloudy and windy." I managed not to get rained on at all and even had a few glorious stretches in the sun.

Non-motorized... just horses, bikes, and hikers with dogs allowed.

Clouds started to clear as I hit the trail.

This is basically a dirt road with railroad grades that follows the Lower Deschutes River.  It is mostly compacted dirt with some rocky bits that a front suspension would have smoothed out.  Overall, really lovely easy riding.  I had a fair amount of company in the form of hikers and backpackers, which thinned out around seven or eight miles in.  It wasn't until much later that I saw two other bikepackers.

So many wildflowers this time of year!

Crazy rock formations along the canyon.  I saw the rock formations most often broken in columns, but this section had a cool sunburst effect.

Memories of decades past when the railroad used to run on this side of the river.  This old railcar around mile five or six would make a good hideout if it rained.  I contemplated camping here but it was waaaay too early.

Pestered a nice hiker into taking a picture of me.

Not sure this lovely farmhouse will withstand the test of time.

Depending on the source you read, this trail runs about 17 or 19 miles one way.  So around mile 12, I decided to start looking for a nice spot to camp.  I wanted to spend the afternoon losing myself in a new book and just enjoying the solitude.  It wasn't too long until I found a nice flat spot right along the river.

Picture perfect home for the night.

Peaceful sounds of the river + whiskey + book + intermittent sun = my kind of Saturday afternoon.

A few hours later, I emerged from my book, made a simple dinner of soba noodles with mushrooms and seaweed, and snuggled into my tent.  I drifted off to sleep and had one of the best sleeps I've had in a very long time.  Dawn came early and the birds gently woke me up as the first light came over the canyon.

Morning view from my tent.

I watched the moon set as I drank my morning tea.

I was so cozy in my tent so I read a bit more of my book before getting out to pack up.

I took my time to pack up and roll out.  I chuckled as I passed by another campsite just half a mile down the road from mine... there was a sexy touring bike next to the tent, its occupant still snoozing.  Then a few more miles down, another bike tourist was towing his pup in a trailer back towards the trailhead.  I settled easily into the rhythm of working my way back to the trailhead and made it back in no time at all.

Beware plants poking holes into your tires.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• This tour is a great one for beginner bikepackers and bike tourers.  No traffic.  Nearly impossible to get lost.  Hiking trails if you want to drop your bike and explore.  History.  The river.  Just enough folks around that you won't be alone if anything were to happen.

• I would never drink from this part of the Deschutes river... it has everything from agricultural runoff to whatever the heck we pollute it with from Bend on south (note: the Deschutes runs south to north).  I carried in all the water I needed... and more.  Since this route is flat, I only drank about one bottle on the bike each way and then had 2 liters for cooking dinner and breakfast.  Later in the year, when it is scorching here, those amounts could double.

• The overnight parking area is right at the entrance of the Deschutes River State Recreation Area, but the self-pay station is where you pay for campsites.  The trailhead is right off the overnight parking area.

• There are more luxurious campsites maintained by BLM with pit toilets in the first seven or so miles of the trail, but I wanted to get away from people.  These sites are also often used by rafting companies.  There is a map at the trailhead which marks where all the camping is, and where the ones where pit toilets are.  

• Bring extra bike tubes and/or a patch kit... I saw multiple warnings about the infamous puncture vine both in write-ups and on the trail.  I was lucky but also being aware of staying away from any pokey looking plants.

• The two best resources for planning are Oregon Bikepacking and TrailLink.