Stats as of 120725

date time dist max ascend end

minutes miles mph feet loc

-----------------------------------------

120714 267 53 42.0 1765 Wyeth CG

120715 309 41 29.8 4078 So. Nottingham CG

120716 359 56 38.4 4249 Clackamas River

120717 354 58 42.5 3944 Santiam Pass

120718 371 33 33.4 1581 Jim and Pattie's

120719 204 38 28.0 1339 Al and Jane's

120720 308 48 36.2 3537 Mallard Marsh CG

120721 291 65 36.2 2100 Chemult OR

110722 288 48 36.2 3504 Mazama CG

120723 199 55 35.6 709 Klamath Falls OR

120725 431 90 42.1 4849 Trout Lake WA

Back to Trout Lake, and just in time

Supposedly salmon are running on the White Salmon again

Talked to Bob and John from Seattle while checking out these falls.  They said that since the dam on the White Salmon was being dismantled that salmon are running on the river again, and that one can see them jump the falls.  We didn't see any, but who knows?

All kinds of water fun under Mt. Hood

Even had the whole (wrong) side of the road to myself

Chased this guy through the one of many construction one-way zones

Ahhh the Gorge

Stopped for berries

This was one of the biggest I've ever seen much less had the privilege to eat.  Nice and sweet!

Portland airport in the background

Reminded me of riding past it on last year's tour.

Google maps would be accurate except for fences

Google maps had me leaving Vancouver nicely along the waterfront until I came to a housing complex with no apparent way through to the road I needed to be on.  Then I found this path along the fence that popped me out onto the road.  Whew!  That would've meant a long backtrack.



Hit two very steep (17%) grades (see distance in picture below).  Luckily they were short and my chain didn't slip on the cassette.  I think I need to finally replace them after so many thousands of miles.

Turn around in Klamath Falls

Took Amtrak from Klamath Falls to Vancouver, WA.  Heading home to see my girls!!!

More from my fast downwind and mostly downhill roll to Klamath Falls

Even more bucolic day

Every now and then I'd see some sheep or horses.  But the best was a truck loading from the middle of the street.  Not much else going on.

More bucolic day

Saw several rustic barns and still more cows.

My bucolic day

Fast downhill from Mazama CG through the cool of the forest morning (read: 32 degrees).  Even stopped to see Annie Falls which was on a side road.  Not much to see, then climbed back to the highway only to soon find that the side road was a loop.  HA!

Continue downhill to the valley.  Cows as far as the eye could see.  A lot of them look at me with wonder, others could care less, and even others were spooked.

Told you CL is high up

More Crater Lake

Crater Lake!

After what seemed an eternity, I finally get close, then BAM! Crater Lake:

Making way to Crater Lake

I've not been there before so am excited.

After having breakfast at the crossroads cafe which was pretty good and had a bunch of bikers, er, commenting on the motel across the street.  According to them, calling the place a fleabag motel would've been a compliment.  The stories went on…

Oddly enough it was time for me and them to leave.  I left kind of jagged about humanity and seeing CL.  Still had to climb for a long, long way up to about 7500 feet.

What kind of GD hell is Chemult?

Speaking of which, the train I'm taking to Vancouver WA just stopped in Chemult.  Egads!

Crank pretty hard to make it to Chemult where service is hostile -- both from AT&T and wait staff at restaurants.  The meth head at the hotel was pretty nice though.

Next morning it was cold and foggy.

This is what one does with lots of free time.  Nice part about riding early in the morning is that the only other traffic around is your shadow.

Lunch in a lost land

Being spent from yesterday and not really being caught up on energy, I had to stop for lunch.  Still had some jalapeño cheese from the MREs.  It was actually pretty good.  Pretty soon it got too warm to just stand there and marvel.

Life does what it wants

Never seen a tree growing out of a mound of lava rocks.

Mallard Marsh CG at Hosmer Lake

Another lake I will call Green Lake (I do what I want).

Todd Lake

One of the lakes Al and Jane recommended I visit was Todd Lake.  It caused about a .5 mile detour, but worth it.  My only complaint was the mosquitoes, the hungry, rude, obnoxious mosquitoes, I should say.  Even spraying Repel all over myself and in their eyes didn't really do enough.  Hungry is hungry, I suppose, and I suppose I looked like good eating.  I wonder whether I taste like fried chicken to them?

One cool part of this excursion was a deer checking me out, then at the last minute deciding I was DANGER and running like hell away.  Too funny.

Mt. Bachelor

Sadly I had to leave Al and Jane. I'm pretty sure I'll be back, and when I do, I know I'll look them up.

Today's journey along the Cascade Highway meant pretty much all uphill and, as luck would (not) have it, into the wind. Even with stops about every 20 minutes, I was being put to the test.

Finally made the top but missed the bicycle race which appeared to have ended at the Mt. Bachelor Resort. I'd been seeing some of the pros returning to Bend. They made riding look easy, but wait they were going downhill and downwind. Probably earned that after a hard day racing.

Had a pretty easy downhill until Elk Lake Resort where I got a nice beer and one of the better prime rib dinners!

Then I rolled on to Mallard Marsh CG. Found Don's rig, but no Don. Would've liked to have borrowed his tent spot which he wasn't using since he had a camper. Not a big deal at $10. So got the site sort of across the road and left him a note.

Next morning, Don greets me with some cool cherries and good conversation. He didn't figure I'd make it so sort of forgot about our plans. I don't blame him. We talked of things, such as, playing tennis in old age for exercise and the best route for me to get to Crater Lake. He suggested FR 42, but I stayed with the ACA's route for no other reason than it kept me off Hwy 97 longer. Had I been driving I bet FR 42 would have been pretty.