Horse Ridge
Saturday my intention was to ride Gray Butte, but it turned out to be cold and spitty there, and the riding there is physically impossible when its muddy. Only semi-dry place I could find was Horse Ridge, out east of Bend. It's often unrideable in fall due to deep sand, but it rained earlier in the day so it's more like riding on the beach. It's easy on the paws, so the dog loves it! A few miles in we come to lovely Golden Basin:
The usual way is to head up the track just left of center in this photo. Not doable by most SSers. (There's another way out, towards the right of the photo, that's quite SSable by the way.) Anyway, I get most of the way up it in my 34:20. Having been inspired by redhaze's granny-SS-gear idea, I'd set up a 26:28 gear (using a handmade granny cog adapter) as an alternative for really steep stuff. Now I get almost all the way up but still run out of grip on the steep and badly rutted track. I'm really not very impressed with the Conti Vertical 2.3 I'm running in back. I've had good luck with it on hardpack and gravel, but I am not liking it in Horse Ridge's sand, wet or dry. Nowhere near as good as my favorite Hutchinson Alligator, which seems just as good or better in every other respect too. Also not as good on Sunday's wet roots as the Gator, which is the best rear tire, ever. Please oh please, I hope they decide to make a 29" version.
Anyway, I end up in the "other" 24-inch gear for the last little bit. Richie beats me to the top and is already enjoying the view:
Here's the KHSS in its 26:28 gear:
Summit/Windy Trails
Sunday. Weather's a little better, but still quite cold. Rather than the usual Central OR singletrack, I found myself with the sudden urge to head an hour further south and do something different. So I rode up the Oldenberg Lake trail, then connected to the Summit Trail. The intention was to come back down the Windy Lakes trail for a 15-mile loop, but as you will see that's not quite how it turned out.We entered some lovely mountain hemlock forest as we climbed:
Much of our ride follows the route of the old "Free Emigrant Trail". Back in the 1850s, the Meek Party, heading west on the Oregon Trail, tried to pioneer a more direct route from the Snake River to the southern Willamette Valley. What they didn't know was their route would take them across the brutal desert. Half them didn't make it. After an unspeakable ordeal they finally reached the mountains. The routes through the mountains in those days were privately constructed and charged tolls, but due to their suffering the Meek Party was allowed to cross for free, hence the name. Here we are at Darlene Lake:
Lots of lakes here. We will end up riding past a total of eighteen of them today. No doubt the Meek Party was thrilled to see all of these after weeks in the desert. Here's Suzanne Lake, and the water really is this color:
Beyond this point we climbed past the 6000 foot level, and started encountering a dusting of snow over the trail. First tracks of the season! Also probably the first time Richie's seen snow in his life. At first he didn't notice what it was ... but once I pointed it out to him, he licked it gingerly to investigate what it was, and then he went nuts. I've never seen him so happy and excited. He was running around frantically, throwing himself on the ground and furiously rolling around in it. This went on for a good ten minutes. I have some great films of this that I took with my camera's movie mode, which I may post if I get the chance.
Now that I was more than 10 miles in, I had a big problem: I couldn't find the Windy Trail to finish our loop back down to the car. Although I knew the approximate direction I needed to go, I'd foolishly left one of the most critical "10 essentials" - the map - in the car. Crap! Worst thing of all, this region is accessible via trailheads from several different directions. So if I took the wrong trail out I could end up seriously screwed.
I rode a mile or two down a couple of different trails I wasn't sure were the right one, and backtracked up them again, before deciding to execute my backup plan: retrace my tracks all the way back the way I came in. Better safe than sorry! All in all, this ended up making for very long (if spectacular) ride, ultimately totaling 26.2 miles.
Now that distance isn't terribly impressive on a bike, but bear in mind Richie was running right behind me the whole way. 26.2 miles is a marathon, folks! Although I was watching him closely for signs of fatigue, hypothermia (after getting soaked from his snow-play), dehydration (I'd brought 2 liters of water for him in addition to mine) or foot pain (had the Ruff Wear booties along in case that happened), he never showed signs of any of those things. And today he's as energetic as if yesterday never happened. Truly an amazing animal.
Return to top of page | Home