Ochoco Day 4-Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland!

What a wonderful night it was in the hostel. Even though there were six of us, it was so quiet…no snoring! We had our breakfast (Deb made pancakes, but I had my breakfast concoction), and had a nice chat with Dana, the staff person for the overnight hours when Jalét isn’t there. Deb, Ginny and I departed at 8:15. Makaela left about 9:00. 

We knew we had a long climb ahead of us. 

Starting up Dollarhide. 

The scenery was quite nice as we transitioned back into Ponderosa forest. 



The field in the background was full of what looked like clover. 

I shall call this “Split Rock”. 

Another mountain view. 

Deb and Ginny were, of course, ahead of me, but as I came around a corner near where the climb levels out a bit, I saw Ginny. As we were having a snack, Makaela rolled up. 

For the next few miles, we followed a very green valley. 

Deb was wanting to see something big and furry. Sadly, the only likely big and furry would be a cow. 

I had this idea for a photo of our four bikes holding each other up (I mean, if you think about it…Bikepacking with friends is kind of like that…we all hold each other up).

I think it turned out pretty good!


We rode a few more miles until the turn toward Pisgah Summit. Before we started the rough and steep climb, we took a break for lunch. Then we began the hardest part of the day. 

I knew I would likely be pushing, as I had done this before. 

In the distance, you can see Makaela is riding. The rest of us couldn’t. 

The view was nice. 

We finished the climb in time for the next obstacle…snow. 

This was just a joke. Little did we know…

Oh, and we saw this bear paw print. 

Oh, this is NOT a joke!

Our cleats got filled with mud and snow. 

And more snow. I think we walked through about 4 long patches. The last one had a groove from a motorcycle maybe. I put my dropper post down, and straddled the bike through the snow. It worked great!

Finally, we were out of the snow for good. 

You can see the fire tower at the top of Mt. Pisgah. 

Three Sisters, Broken Top, and a couple others we weren’t completely sure about. 

We had a good descent, some was pretty rough (dropper for the win), but then it was pretty fast. We popped out onto the pavement, and rode the last bit to Walton Lake. 

Our final night’s campsite. 

Dinner time!

A bald eagle was sitting in the tree. 


We went for a walk around the lake after dinner. 

Saw the Mallard family

Canada Goose family #1

And #2 

And this dragonfly. 

While today was just 28 miles, we climbed over 4500 feet, and it took us until 4:30. It was an adventurous day!