Day 1
Little-known Southeast Oregon is one of my favorite places on the planet, and you're about to see why. This time my destination was the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, which meets one good definition of remoteness in being the furthest you can be from an interstate highway (160 miles) in the Lower 48 states.
After setting up camp upon my Thursday arrival, I wanted to get a quick ride in before sunset. A climb up Blue Sky and Skyline roads started in the sagebrush:
Then up through a succession of aspen groves:
And finally to a nice viewpoint (looking south) at about 7000 feet:
Great sunset (looking north towards Poker Jim Ridge) on the way back down:
Day 2
Not a bad sunrise in camp the next morning, either!
I got a late 11:30 start but showed up at the base of the Coyote Hills with the intention of getting in as a long a ride as possible before sunset, riding up through the hills and then climbing up the back side of Abert Rim to a viewpoint at the edge of North America's longest exposed geological fault. Would I make it? Miles of this:
Poor Bessie was even more terrified of my human presence than the average cow, and raced ahead of me for a good 2 miles before finally jumping off onto a side trail:
Out of the Coyote hills and onto the climb up Abert Rim, the trail got interesting. The slightly north facing slope seems to provide just enough shade for trees to grow here. Beach sand in a ponderosa/aspen forest? Sure!
After a long climb I finally topped out, but before reaching the edge of the rim I had to ride about 3 more miles of this "road":
Finally! The body of water 2500 feet below me is Abert Lake, a very salty lake that supports a brine shrimp/fly ecosystem (that in turn supports a lot of waterfowl) very much like Mono Lake in California. Not a bad view:
Didn't linger here long though, because I was a bit behind schedule. Quite a few miles back to the car, and I knew I'd have to fly to make it back before dark. On the way down I was treated to a constantly changing sunset panorama:
By the time I got back to the car I'd ridden 53 miles, the longest dirt ride I've ever done.
Day 3
Saturday was cold and rainy with a chance of t-storms in the forecast, so I spent most of the day as a windshield tourist. I did manage to sneak in one short ride towards the end of the day though, climbing up to a lovely little spot below Hart Mountain called Warner Pond:
Cool view back down towards my starting point on the Warner Wetlands:
Day 4
Sunday morning I started on the long drive back home, but I didn't get far. Desert roads -- even the better maintained gravel ones -- are notoriously tough on tires due to the extremely sharp rocks. As always, I brought a full size spare -- but ended up getting two flat tires driving out on the access road. Uh-oh. Worse, it was several miles to a point where it was really safe to leave my car any length of time of time, and I completely shredded both flat tires in the process of getting myself there. Just barely made it there too:
It's times like this I'm glad I'm a cyclist, pre-equipped with an alternative form of transportation. I rode the 6 miles into Plush, the nearest "town", which consists entirely of a store/pub/restaurant, a small school and half a dozen houses. After borrowing the pub's phone (we're dozens of miles from the nearest cell service or pay phone) it didn't take long to determine that the 3 businesses in Lakeview (45 miles away, and the only real town within 120 miles) that work on tires are all closed Sunday.
Fortunately I'd expected this. I had a change of clothes in my backpack, and decided to make the most of my extra day in the desert. Might as well ride! It was all pavement to Lakeview, but it was all beautiful. I was not in a big hurry that day, so I didn't terribly mind the extra effort of knobby tires on pavement. First a climb up to the top of Fish Creek Rim with a nice view of the north Warner Mountains:
Eventually I reached the Warner Mountains themselves and proceeded through a succession of high mountain valleys like this one:
Why is this man smiling?
A. He just rode over two mountain passes.
B. It's all downhill into Lakeview.
C. His helmet is on wrong.
D. All of the above.
I spent the night at lovely Hunter's Hot Springs, and took in Lakeview's active nightlife (burger joint and a movie theater) before turning in. Nice sunset in town!
Monday morning saw me riding into Les Schwab at 8am sharp. They do this stuff all the time: their service trucks can mount tires on rims in the field, and they had 2 other trucks out that morning doing similar work. 3 hours and a few (hundred) bucks later I was rolling out of Lakeview with 4 brand new tires mounted and balanced. Thanks guys!
Bonus pic: Nice shot of dry Summer Lake (and Winter Rim) on the way home:
Original discussion thread and comments at http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=390479.
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