Day 3: Dutch Frank Hot Springs To Baumgartner Hot Springs

We didn't get up as early as we would have liked to, and we also had to take some time to filter water from the river, so we hit the climb late in the morning and bypassed the Phifer Bath House hot spring, which promised a tub and shower in a dilapidated shack.  Once we turned away from the river on Phifer Creek road, we were hit with the steepest grade we encountered the entire trip.  Not only was the road in bad shape, but the grade was so steep that I had to push my bike a few times, which is rare for me since I'm a pretty good climber.  I also fell a couple times after hitting unexpected sand patches and was unable to clip out on time... I laughed as these were the quintessential slow motion zero momentum tip overs. 

Ready to make more wildflowers!

Ryan on the steep sandy switchback, hating life.  He affectionately nicknamed it "Cock Knocker Creek," ousting "Dick Punch Hill," as the worst climb of his entire touring career.

Photogenic flowers overlooking a stunning view makes shitty climbs like this one worth it, in my opinion.  Then again, I'm a glutton for punishment.

At long last, we made it to the summit, too tired to do anything celebratory at the top.  We went zooming down the other side and into Featherville to recover from the heat and to replenish all the lost calories.  Featherville was one of my favorite towns on this trip.  It's small, with just a few store and restaurants that are technically all part of the same complex.  We asked an older gentleman on a commuter bike which place was the best one to eat at, and he told us that the pizza place had the best pizza in all of Elmore county.  How could we refuse that? 

Unassuming and remote, this pizza place really was pretty damn good.  And not just because I was starving.

The owner of this pizza joint takes an incredible amount of pride in his work.  It's a mix of science and art to him.  He hand chops each ingredient, talks you through your pie's construction, and shows you the progress as he goes along.  Apparently, if you order his special supreme pizza, each piece weighs half a pound.  I opted for a thin crust Greek pizza and ate the whole thing.  This is a small place... he can only make 2 pizzas at a time, so if you cannot wait to eat, be forewarned that it can take a while.

After demolishing our pizzas and doing a little grocery shopping, we headed over to the saloon to throw done a silver bullet before heading out to get a few more miles in and call it an early night.  The folks in Featherville are incredibly friendly and inviting.  The owner of the pizza place (which is also the grocery store) offered up a spot on the river on his property in town to camp if we wanted.  A local at the saloon said that if we couldn't get water at Baumgartner campground where we intended to camp, that his place was just a mile from there and we were welcome to stop by to get water at his place.  Another patron at the saloon who had chatted with us for a bit passed us in his Jeep as we biked out of town and hooted and hollered at us, joking with us that we needed to go faster. 

Emergency phone in the middle of nowhere.

It was a relatively flat ride out of town, but the sand got the best of Ryan.  I made sure he was okay before I laughed and took this picture.  Promise.

The long sandy road to camp.

We were determined to actually enjoy some hot springs, and the guys at the saloon told us there was free camping right next to the fee area campgrounds at Baumgartner, so we made that our stopping point.  There are some free group sites outside of the fee area when you first turn onto the road into the Baumgartner campground, so that's where we set up camp.  First things first, we hit up the developed hot spring and it felt amazing to wash grit from the road off of us.  It was also the perfect temperature to enjoy, even though the pool itself reminded me of a little pool rather than a hot spring.  After dinner, we still had quite a bit of light left, so we played cribbage to amuse ourselves until it was time to sleep.

This deer visited us while we were making dinner at camp

Like nearly every other campsite we had this trip, we had a river just steps away from our tents.  I went down to enjoy the sunset and dip my feet in the water.  Then I passed out to the soothing sounds of flowing water.

  

A few travel notes for bike tourists:

• The water in Featherville is spring fed and delicious!  We filled up at the spigot outside of the pizza place (which is also the general store).  The owner loves seeing bike tourists coming through because we eat a lot of pizza and he'll brag not just about his pizza, but his water too.

• There is water at the Baumgartner campground, you just have to go down to the fee area to get it.  There are also dumpsters here so its a good place to ditch any trash from your panniers (I had forgotten to in Featherville).  Also, the group area does get reserved, so it may not always be available, especially on weekends and holidays.  We bumped into a guy who told us there were some other free sites a bit further in (turn right at the T intersection instead of left as you go from the group sites to the fee area).

Day 2: Five Miles Past Idaho City to Dutch Frank Hot Springs

We woke up early to finish the 2000+ feet of climbing we had left to do before the sun became too unbearable.  Shortly into the climb, Ryan's chain broke.  He looked slightly panicked as he never had to deal with a broken chain before, but luckily I had a couple powerlinks and a mini chain breaker in my tool kit and I've had to fix chains before, so in no time, I fixed his chain.  Turns out Ryan has never replaced his chain or rear cassette in all his time owning his touring bike... he did the TransAm and a large part of the Pacific Coast, plus his daily bike commuting on the same chain and cassette.  Miiiiight be time for him to do a bike rebuild.  Ahem. 


Ryan gives his chain a little lube love after I fixed it.

This tour was fueled by cracked pepper Triscuits and pepper jack cheese.

Wildflowers were in full bloom on the roadside and in meadows on this summit climb.  I passed the time by admiring the dozens of varieties of flowers I saw.

On our way up, we saw two other bike tourists going the other way with traditional ultralightweight bikepacking setups.  They warned us that the other side was extremely rutted, so to be careful going down.  As we neared the summit, we got our first open expansive views of the area.

Photogenic flowers.  I played around with photography when I had to wait for Ryan on the climbs.  Kept me sane and made for a well-documented tour.

The Tank gets her own photoshoot at the summit.

Ryan works his way up the last bit of climb.

Summit headstand just because.

The descent down the other side felt like mountain biking at times due to all the ruts and having to choose your line pretty carefully.  We had to stop a couple times to rest our hands from all the braking, but we finally made it down.

Our road laid out before us.

There were a few surprise steep uphills on the descent, I spun out here because I wasn't paying attention and was in the wrong gear to get up it.

We made it down in good time and took advantage of a rare bit of green grass and shade at the ranger station at the base to have lunch and stretch out.  I'm glad we did because once we hit the Boise reservoir, there was no shade to be seen for a while.  As we worked our way around the Boise reservoir, we saw a majestic bald eagle soaring above.

First views of the Boise reservoir... alas, the bald eagle disappeared before I could get my camera out.

 

This area has a stark barren beauty.

Early afternoon brought roasting temperatures, and as the reservoir slowly turned into a flowing river, the water beckoned us for a dip.  We vowed to find a good spot to stop and splash in the river.  A couple miles later, I saw what looked like a beach.  And as we got closer, I saw a grove of pine trees surrounding an informal campsite with access to said "beach."  Ryan and I instantly agreed this would be our afternoon siesta spot.

Time for a dip in the cold refreshing river!

Nap time!  This is why ultra ultra ultra lightweight bikepacking setups sorta suck... no room for hammocks.  I was happy to have mine in my pannier.

After a swim to get all the sweat and grime off, we took a quick nap and then rallied ourselves to keep going. Not too much later, we came across the Twin Springs Resort, the only bit of civilization along this stretch.  Staffed by two eccentric but wonderful guys, this is a place of legend.  Weddings, raves (yes, raves, with international DJs!), and random bike tourists all pass through here.  We had a few beers to wait out the rest of the heat of the day, filled up our water, and then kept pushing to get to the base of the next climb.

Maybe population 4 by now...

I found a friend.  She is the friendliest Chihuahua I've ever met, and will do hilarious tricks for cheese.

On the road again, this time in shade!  Ryan lost a rack screw and nearly took out his rear derailleur cable housing, but we patched it up with duct tape and a spare screw off my bike.

We passed by a mom, dad, and teenage son who were also on bikes, going our same direction, who had already set up camp at the developed campground and hot springs at Neinmeyer.  We chatted briefly, they had started that day in Boise and were worried about the climb ahead as well.  I'm curios how they did, because the dad was riding a fat tire bike and the mom looked a little tired already.  By 9:15 pm, we still had not found a great place to camp or made as much progress as we wanted, so we decided to push it to the Dutch Frank Hot Springs to see what we could find.  We knew from the description that there was a parking lot, so worst case scenario, we would camp in the parking lot.  As I pulled up, I saw some RVs already parked there for the night, but then I saw a little bridge to the other side of the river.  Bingo!  There was camping on the other side... accessible only by bike.

Road closed... to RVs and cars, that is.

Perfect little spot nestled next to the river.

We quickly set up camp as the light faded, made dinner, and then went to check out the hot springs.  I had beautiful dreams of watching the stars from a hot spring, but it didn't quite work out that way.  The pools were extraordinarily hot, and the one pool that was tolerable, was shallow and full of silt.  We said "screw it" and got in anyway, which was a bit comical as we weren't submerged at all, watched the big dipper come out, and then made our way back to camp to sleep.

High hopes walking down to the hot springs.

High hopes looking down on the pools...

A few travel notes for bike tourists:

• The Twin Springs Resort is the only bit of civilization between Idaho City and Featherville.  They have water, beer, Chihuahuas, satellite internet, basic bike repair stuff (e.g., patches for tubes), canned foods, bug spray, and hilarious banter with the owner.  The owner is very pro bike tourist, and can help in case of emergency. 

Day 1: Crouch To 5 Miles Past Idaho City

Ryan and I departed Bend, Oregon after a whirlwind of Pride festivities around 4:30 pm as a caravan of Surly awesomeness.  We drove through the empty vastness between Bend and Burns, then through rural desolate eastern Oregon until we hit Juntura, which had the first signs of life in the form of a small town café.  We stopped for a hot meal with perfectly cooked hand-cut French fries (compliments of the chef), and grabbed a few beers to throw in the cooler for later.  After driving through "Onion Town USA" complete with a Bates motel, we made it to the Wander Inn and Cabins around midnight.  We tossed back the beers we bought in Juntura and went to bed for a solid night of sleep.  We didn't bother to set alarms as we wanted to start this trip refreshed.

Ryan enjoys the decorative art in our suite's bathroom...

The next morning, we woke up early enough, maybe around 9 am or so, packed up all our gear, drove up to Cascade to drop my car off at the Alpine Lodge and Motel, and then to drive back to Crouch to park Ryan's car back at the Wander Inn.  We had forgotten to eat breakfast, so around noon, I insisted on a real meal to start the day.  There was no way I was pedaling on an empty stomach or on trail mix.  Maggie had told us "the coffee shop opens at 7:00 am."  Wild Bill's is Crouch's premier --and perhaps only-- breakfast spot, but this mom and pop joint does breakfast just like a bike tourist likes it... BIG.  I ordered the special of the day "huevos rancheros," which really should have been called "ranch egg burrito smothered with chili."  Despite its lack of authenticity, it was delicious and the perfect fuel for the day's ride.



Aaaalmost ready to go... we had high hopes of the clouds sticking around, but to no avail.

We hit the road around 1:00 pm, right at the hottest part of the day!  Maybe not the best planning, but a girl has gotta eat.  We debated just taking the highway out to Alder Creek road, but decided we should try to follow the cue sheet as much as possible, so got a false start looking for the "bike path" the cue sheet wanted us to take.  After consulting the GPS, we set off on a gravelly and not particularly fun (but scenic) bike path that circled around and then ran parallel to the paved road.  Eventually, we found our turnoff and started the climb out of town.

The road out of Crouch was in great condition and had little to no traffic.

Ryan works his way up the sandy road with beautiful views and gorgeous blue skies.

With nearly 100 degree highs, we took plenty of shade breaks to wipe the sweat out of our faces and rehydrate.  Our first bit of civilization was Placerville, an odd tiny little town not too far before Idaho City.  The people weren't exactly welcoming, but when Ryan asked about water, one gentleman told us that the access to the spring water was 1/4 mile before, but then offered Ryan a bottle that he had filled earlier.  There is also water at the little store there, but given that we were so close to Idaho City, I decided to wait to fill up there since I had plenty left.

After a bit of easy cycling, we rolled into Idaho City in the early evening.  We grabbed a beer at the first bar we saw, which had a "Tourist Information" sign outside.  I'm fairly certain now that sign was a joke because all that was inside was a quirky hard-of-hearing old bartender, who was either half-baked or half-drunk.  Our cold beers were served in mason jars and we planned out our plan for a resting spot for the night.  We decided to load up on enough water for the night and the next day, and get as much of the 3000+ foot climb we had ahead of us out of the way in the cool evening hours.

Idaho City is the county seat of Boise county and has suffered a lot over the years.  Most recently, a third of its historic businesses burned down shortly before our trip.  Donna's Place, the cyclist-friendly local grocery and café near the visitor's center, has burned down twice before, and the owners just keep rebuilding it.  Skip, one of the owners, welcomed us into his grocery as we restocked our food supply, and when asked where we could fill water, he told us to go next door and say "Skip said to fill our bottles."  His employees not just filled our bottles and water bags, but they added generous amounts of ice to everything for free!  We stuffed some food in our faces to fuel the climb, got a little turned around (yay GPS!) finding our way out, and then got about five miles of climbing out of the way.

About a third of the way up the climb, the road flattened out a bit, and we found this picture perfect spot with clear views of the sunset and not a single soul in sight.

End of a long beautiful day... sun sets late here.  It was around 10 pm when I snapped this summer solstice  photo.

As the sun set, we cooked our dinners and then scooted into our tents as the last bits of daylight faded.  I fell fast asleep until we were visited by a rather loud elk, who decided to announce his displeasure at our invading his home for around 20 minutes, and then he wandered off to leave us in peace.

The moon had already risen and was on its way back down as we settled in for the night.

A few travel notes for bike tourists:

• We chose Crouch and Cascade to park our cars because it gave us the most bail out options via the Lohman cutoff and Warm Springs road.  It also put Ketchum, the town with the most amenities and bike repair resources, in the middle of our tour.

• The Wander Inn is a rustic spot located conveniently in the center of Crouch, walking distance from everything.  Maggie, the owner, is friendly and gracious and its best to make a reservation in advance.  She doesn't care if you come late, she'll leave the key in the drop box for you.  The front office is only sporadically open because she works at the supermarket next door, but if you have questions, you can just hunt her down there.  She let us park Ryan's car there for the duration of the trip.  

• The Alpine Lodge and Motel is located on Highway 55 just outside of Cascade proper.  Justin, the owner, is also friendly and gracious.  Even though we didn't stay here, I tossed him $20 for letting me keep my car there (afterwards, once I saw my car was still there).  He knew I wasn't going to stay there because he was fully booked up and didn't have to do me this favor, but happily did so anyway.

Pre-Trip Preparation: The Idaho Hot Springs Tour Edition

The departure date for my Idaho Hot Springs Tour somehow snuck up on me and Ryan in a whirlwind of late spring and early summer gaiety.  We had met up for happy hour once to half-heartedly discuss the logistics and timing of getting our cars and bikes to Idaho and how many miles a day we would aim for.  At that time, the trip didn't seem real yet, so we had a hard time hammering out the nitty gritty details and I remember enjoying the beers more than anything.

Initial Logisticals

We decided that we would start in Crouch and cycle counterclockwise, Ryan would be in charge of getting a basic bike computer so he could track the turn-by-turns and I would be in charge of getting an offline GPS app for my iPhone and download the GPX file available through the Adventure Cycling Association (both of which were essential to keeping us on track with lots of unmarked forest roads).  We also settled on parking Ryan's car in Crouch and my car in Cascade to allow us the most number of bailout options, since I was driving straight from Idaho to my parents' place in Washington to fly out for a wedding.  This would allow us to use both the Lohman cutoff and the Warm Lakes road cutoff if we suffered a lot of delays, or allow me to hop in my car in Cascade to jet north while Ryan continued solo south.

Since we both already had all the gear, we just had to do last minute gear checks, and figure out where exactly we could park our cars.  I had thought to crash in Cascade the first night in town on June 20th, but after calling around, I discovered that we were starting in the middle of the Payette Games, a huge whitewater event and everything in Cascade was booked up.  Thankfully, the apologetic owner of the Alpine Lodge and Motel in Cascade, Justin, told me I could park my car there anyway.  So instead, I nabbed a room at the Wander Inn and Cabins in Crouch... a lucky find as Maggie, the gracious owner, had a last minute cancellation.  She also told me Ryan could park his car there. 

Our Bike Setupsticals

I ride a Surly Troll with 26" wheels.  This is a first generation Troll, so I had custom brazeons to allow me to mount water bottle cages on each side of my front fork and the downtube.  I also have more traditional mountain bike handlebars with Ergon grips and a sexy Brooks saddle.  My tires are the oh so heavy but oh so reliable Schwalbe Marathon Mondials (26x2), which have over 6000 miles on them with zero flats.  The Tank also comes armed with a custom Porcelain Rocket frame bag, Revelate Designs harness, 2 Revelate Designs feed bags, a Revelate Designs gas tank, a Timbuk2 Goody Box top tube bag mounted to the seat post, a rear rack with 2 Ortlieb panniers, and 5 water bottles.  Normally, I would have ditched the rear rack and panniers for a lighter weight setup, but with Ryan towing a fully loaded setup, I figured I'd opt for a few luxuries this time around.  I absolutely LOVED this setup and it handled much better than Ryan's more traditional touring setup.

The Tank, in all her glory.

Ryan rides a Surly Long Haul Trucker with 700c wheels.  Everything on his bike is stock from what I understand.  He has front and rear racks with a traditional four Ortlieb pannier setup and opted to do this tour fully loaded, as if he were on a road tour.  He did a test ride on dirt and discovered that with his cross tires on his touring bike, he was prone to pinch flatting every couple of miles.  He decided to upgrade his tires last minute to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, which, while not necessarily ideal for dirt road touring, were good enough for zero flats for the trip.  That said, he had a very hard time on climbs, sometimes having to walk rideable sections and he often had to unclip (or wiped out) on sandy parts. 

Bikepacking Overnight: McKenzie Pass Version 2.0

With Spring in full swing and Summer just around the corner, it was time to shake out the bike touring gear to get a little training in before the Idaho Hot Springs Tour, lest my Troll (aka "The Tank") think she had been abandoned.  I decided to upgrade the McKenzie pass tour I did last year with my buddy Ryan as something easy to plan, familiar-ish, just with more climbing and better hot springs.  We would start in Sisters, Oregon, bike 53 miles over the McKenzie pass to the Cougar hot springs and back again.

On a whim, I decided to post the trip to a 20s and 30s hiking and biking MeetUp group for which I am an organizer.  Well, it wasn't so much a whim, but rather a scheme to find more crazies like me to bike tour with, since Ryan done got himself a fancy schmancy tenure track professor job in Los Angeles and will be moving in a few months.  Lo and behold, I reeled in, er, someone foolish enough to follow me across a mountain pass and back again!  We welcomed Derek into our club and we started up the steep climb across the Cascades.

First views of the Dee Wright Observatory and the first time hitting this summit.

Despite NOAA telling us that we had a 20%-30% chance of thunderstorms and rain, we had perfect weather the whole time... enough cloud cover on the climbs to stay cool, and just enough blue skies for picture perfect views at the summit.  Everyone, including two friends just out for a day ride, made it to the top in good spirits.

Lunchtime at the top of the Dee Wright Obsevatory.  Can't talk, too busy eating.

Obligatory summit glamour shot.

After a glorious descent down the west side of the mountains, we detoured to the iconic Proxy Falls to stretch our legs and to get cozy with the cooling mist.  We hopped and skipped over mossy logs, dunked our heads in the water, and basked in natural beauty of the falls.

Klassy.  So klassy.

Even klassier.

After relishing the last bit of descent to the McKenzie River, we made a resupply stop at the McKenzie Bridge General Store.  This store stocks a surprisingly large selection of craft beer (in a walk-in fridge, which felt glorious) and other gourmet supplies like agave syrup (yes, really, agave syrup... no less than 3 kinds!).

The General Store, aka, the last place to stock up on beer and water before our campsite.

Happy hour consisted of these delicious local beers and some banter with the locals.

It was a good thing we were fortified with liquid carbs for the last 10 miles because half of it was unexpectedly straight uphill.  Silver lining?  It was straight uphill one of the most scenic roads in Oregon, Aufderheide Road.

Steep cliffsides, green-blue reservoir, wildflowers, vibrant jungle green foliage?  Check, check, check, and check.

Our reward was to end the day in a natural hot spring!  We soaked our weary legs in the various pools and emerged grime and dust free.  It was hard to tear ourselves away, but as it grew darker, so did the hunger in our bellies.  The ranger at the hot springs had offered to deliver wood to our campsite, so we were in high spirits as we zoomed to our campsite.

Best parking spot.

Sexiest hot springs in all the land, clothing optional, so be prepared for lots o' folks in their birthday suits.

A short bike ride later, we arrived at the Sunnyside campground as the sun started to set.  Fortified by a quick swig of beer and wine, we set up camp and prepared to replenish all the calories we burned climbing over the mountain pass.  The stars came out one by one and we stayed up far past our bedtime talking about life, the universe, and everything.

Necessity is the mother of invention... Ryan forgot his pan so voila!  Grilled perfectly medium rare.  Pro tip: get the pre-seasoned steak from the grocery store, freeze it solid, and it will defrost as you bike to camp!

Campsite #10 looks like a jungle... an amazing jungle with lots of privacy.

The bubbling river was just across the way.

This campfire was made possible by the friendly ranger at the hot springs.

The next morning, we awoke to the birds chirping obscenely loudly.  Breakfast was a leisurely affair, complete with coffee and mounds of food that we refused to carry back over the mountains.  We set off with a bit of fear and determination for the 4600 feet of climbing ahead of us.  We made a quick stop at the McKenzie Bridge General Store, bid our farewells to the zany locals, topped off our water, and off we went.

Derek works his way up switchback after swithcback.

Ryan and our new friend Dave, who just started his trans-america bike tour, keep each other company as they climb.

New friends on the road.

Resting at the top of the climb as the others catch up.

Celebrating at Three Creeks Brewing before heading back to Bend.

We survived in good spirits, legs still pumping, and ready to crush hamburgers, beers, and whatever else we could get our grubby hands on.  All in all, it was a quintessential tour of the Cascades, complete with lava rock fields, snowcapped mountains, roaring rivers, peaceful lakes, scenic waterfalls, wildflowers, hot springs, and everything in between.

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• The McKenzie Pass is closed to cars every winter, but there is sweet spot at the end of May and beginning of June where it is open to bikes, but still closed to cars.  This year, the pass will reopen to cars on June 14th.  Keep an eye on www.tripcheck.com for updates.  You can bike the pass at any time after this, but its not as fun because you can't go full steam down the descents due to safety concerns sharing the road.

• The closest campground to the Terwelliger hot springs (aka the Cougar hot springs aka the Naked hot springs) is Cougar Crossing campground.  However, that campground is full of RVs and trailers and the campsites are fairly open with little privacy.  

• Less than a quarter mile up a gravel road towards the Slide Creek campground is the much more private and peaceful campground is the Sunnyside campground.  This campground has just 13 sites, of which #10 is the most shaded and private.  You can reserve this campground in advance, although when we went, there were still a few open spaces.  There is NO potable water here, but you can either (a) carry water from the McKenzie Bridge General Store... they have a spigot outside to get free refills; (b) filter water from the reservoir, but the access point isn't super close; or (c) go up the gravel road a mile to the Slide Creek campground which has potable water.  

• The Sunnyside campground does not have signage until you get to the actual campground, so follow the signs to the Slide Creek campground and then the Sunnyside campground will be on your left.  If you don't want to pay for a campground, you could just go up the road a bit and wild camp.