Day 17: Riverside Campground, OR

Well good morning to you Mr. Logging Dudes, didn’t expect you guys to start your work at 3am this morning. Nothing like the sound of serious logging machinery going to wake you up in the morning. In spite of the sound we tossed and turned until our usual 0630 and it was a brisk 42F outside. But the sun soon was shining through the trees, 5 packets of instant oatmeal & 2 pop tarts were consumed, and we rolled out of the campground.

We started off pushing our bikes up the dirt / gravel road out of camp and then carefully riding them down the 15% graded downhill back to the main forest road 42. From there we piddled around a bit up and down in elevation until settling in to a long downhill towards forest road 46. Along the way 42 shrunk until it was pretty much a single lane of pavement, and it set the mode for all of today with tall pine trees on each side obscuring any hope of a view.

It was a cold but enjoyable ride down to 46, then we began climbing back up to make up most of the elevation we lost to an unnamed pass. As we crested the pass we got a good view of Mt. Jefferson ahead of us and a transmission corridor cut through the forest let us see that we were indeed in a forest, trees on every hill in sight. Immediately following the pass was a brief 10% downgrade followed by a long 6% grade followed by a general downhill lead towards Detroit.

After pushing all morning and going the last 90 miles without any real services we decided to push to Detroit for lunch and enjoy a hot meal. We pushed and pedaled, and rotated who was leading so the other person could rest while the lead person pushes the wind out of the way. Along the way we passed some hot springs and got some neat glimpses of the river through the trees but we were hungry and the visibility was mainly obscured by trees. Finally 44 miles in for the day we rolled in to Detroit and immediately descended on the local BBQ joint where we collectively devoured a giant plate of pulled pork nachos, 1/4 of a chicken, and ¼ rack of ribs, with beans and coleslaw and a half dozen cups of lemonade.

We checked out both “markets” in town to resupply, paused to update our journal while we had internet, and then rolled on out of town. Disgruntedly we found we were no longer on quiet forest roads, but on a semi-busy highway with a 1 ft shoulder. A bit of a shell shock after riding virtually by ourselves for the last several dozen miles. We realized we forgot something from the market so we paused in the next “town” of Idanha. After departing the road seemed to transition to a different party responsible for maintenance and we got a 2-3ft shoulder for the rest of ride.

We ended up at Riverside Campground, which like every other campground we passed today is closed. We slipped past the gate, found a site in a far corner and set up for a quiet night. You are allowed to “dispersed” camp on National Forest land as long as you are off the road and pack out what you bring in, so we are going to treat this the same as that, only instead of trampling plants and making our own campsite we’re using a pre-existing one.

Tomorrow we plan on stopping in Sisters, we haven’t had a proper shower since Cascade Locks and the splashing around in freezing cold river water only goes so far J.

Time: 5:29:24

Distance:58.91

Average: 10.6

Max: 37.8

Climb: 3136ft

ACA Corrections: Summit Lake Rd is not paved to summit lake, it is paved for about 1/8^th of a mile, then big gravel and rocks.

Good morning bicycles!

Can Forest Road 42 get any more narrow?

Leaves changing colors

Look, pine trees!

Pam riding in pine trees!

Thank you NERC for requiring the power companies to chop down the trees so I can see something other than pine trees :)

North Santiam River

Matt getting all artsy with this shot