Outback Day 2 1/2-No More Rail Trail…Some Sweet Pavement!

I woke up even earlier this morning. Still took me 2 hours to get rolling, but going earlier meant cooler weather for the first several miles. It ended up being quite warm as the afternoon went on. Glad to be finished and sitting in the shade in Silver Lake. But let’s back up…

I only had a handful of miles left of the Woodline Trail. Here’s a few photos. 

The same creek I was camped on. 

Shadow and creek. 

The trail followed the creek for quite awhile. 

It was kind of a dodgy surface, as in you had to dodge various shrubs. Also, notice the stick forest. The reason this part was closed was from a forest fire in 2021. 

I only had 3 gates today, the final one at the end of the trail (for the route. The rail line continued on). Leaving the rail trail put me on pavement, and the first climb to initiate the climb profile on my Garmin (apparently there are 16 such climbs…I did three today). I didn’t care, because it was on pavement. You might be thinking, but doesn’t she want to ride off-road? Well, yes, but after a bunch of off-road riding, I’m ready for some smooth pavement! Plus, I didn’t see a single car. 

First climb. 

Eventually the road returned to gravel, and there was a good bit of washboard, but not too bad. 

I thought this looked like a giant porcupine! Besides this, I saw 4 deer and 2 fawns. Just a few of the chipmunks/squirrels. 

I had another long section of pavement with a lot of rolling hills. There was one final gravel section. I did this awesome descent, only to have to climb up the other side after crossing the creek. This was the way to go by the Cowboy Dinner Tree. I wasn’t planning to stop there, but I did that section anyway. I could have just stayed on the main road to Silver Lake. After the Dinner Tree, it was just 4ish miles to Silver Lake. 

I planned to camp at the Community Park. I rolled into town at about 2:30. I saw a food truck that had ice cream cones. Since I’m a sucker for soft serve, I stopped. Had a lovely chat with the woman who made my cone. 

After that, I headed to the park. There were a couple of guys working on the sprinkler system. I asked them what the sprinkler situation was. I knew there would be sprinklers going off because the grass is very green. Yep, in the middle of the night, they go off in sections. After talking to them for a bit, one of the guys had an idea. He just covered one of the sprinkler heads with a large flat rock, and asked me to uncover it in the morning. Excellent!

An older couple with 4 boys came to the park. They had reservations for the Dinner Tree, but not until 7:00. While I chatted with them, another cyclist rolled up. Turns out I had passed Sam in Klamath Falls on the paved portion of the OC&E as I was leaving! Wanting to get as far as I could, I didn’t stop to talk to him. I thought he was doing the route southbound. I’ve been following some fresh tire tracks. I thought they were his. Nope, he is on a much longer tour having started in Baja. He had been coming into K-Falls to get some resupply, then headed out. He has been behind me following my tire tracks! Turns out we’ve camped not far from each other the last two nights! We had a great evening chatting, until the mosquitoes came out. Then it was hurry and set up the tents, and dive in. 

It’s been fun having another cyclist to talk to. I can’t wait to get to Prineville and meet up with Jana, Steph, and Erin. Unfortunately, Sam is heading west to do some exploring around Bend, so we won’t be going the same way. Eventually, he will end up in Vancouver, BC where he’ll fly home to England. 

Time to hit the sack. Don’t know where I’ll stop tomorrow. Just know that I have to carry 80 miles worth of water. 

Here’s a couple more photos from today. 

Thompson Reservoir

Can’t really tell, but the ground was covered with purple flowers. 

Long straight to Silver Lake

An old cabin at the community park. 

Outback Day Full 1-Riding From Gate to Gate

One wakes up quite early when the sun starts shining in one’s tent! I was dreaming that it was 6:30, and I should get up. When I actually woke up, it was only 5:45, but the sun was up, so I got up too. By the time I did all the things, and was ready to go, it was 7:45! Sheesh, 2 hours! 

Today’s overriding feature was gates, lots and lots of gates. Counting yesterday’s 5 gates, I’ve gone through 36 gates in a day and a half. 

One of the many gates. Notice how the trail surface changes? This happened a lot. If I wasn’t too fond of the surface I was riding on, I often just had to wait until the next gate! Some of the gates had springs, and all I had to do was push them open. Billy did a good job pushing those gates with his front wheel. Then I’d get through, and let it slam behind me. It must have had a duel purpose of scaring away any snakes because I didn’t see a single one today. 

I did see quite the variety of wildlife. I saw a couple of deer, a bald eagle, a jackrabbit, about a million ground squirrels (or whatever they are), and some udder friends. 

Yes, I met a few cows on the trail. They were udderly…not excited to see me. I told them thanks for moooving as I went by (I don’t think they got it).

The trail had a bit of variety, including some soul-sucking chunder gravel. A lot of the time was spent traversing huge open spaces with hardly any trees. I did get to do one climb of sorts (okay, 2% grade…remember, this is a rail trail). It was a double switchback (up and down). There was an info thing at the Double Switchback Trailhead. 

Wide open spaces with soul-sucking chunder. 



See the trail below?



The view from the other side, getting to go down. 

Like the Palouse to Cascades Trail, you don’t realize how much a 2% incline is u til you are going down it. I was going over twice as fast!

I went in to Sprague River to get some water. It was just off the trail. There was also supposed to be a deli, but it was closed, and is for sale. What I should have done at the market was sit outside in the shade, on the bench, and eat my lunch. But no, instead I decided I would go back to the trail and find a nice spot. It was a bunch more soul-sucking chunder, completely exposed, before I came to one lone tree. 

I pulled out my chair, and ate some lunch…finally. 

The route went off the OC&E at a place where there was a detour because of no bridge. The route was then on the Woodline Trail. The mileage sign posts still said “OC&E State Trail”, but the mileage went back to 1. It came to a point where there was a sign to follow the bridge detour, but the Outback stayed on the Woodline Trail. So, maybe I’m not on the official OC&E anymore???

Red dirt road on the Woodline Trail. 

I was riding along on chunky red rock when I noticed it was parallel to a wide gravel road. I stopped to see how far they were parallel. Turns out the route came out to that gravel road in a mile. I decided I’d rather ride the gravel road, and made my way to it. It was a bit washboarded, but I was still going faster than I’d been on the trail. 

Funny thing…I haven’t seen a single car all day long (not really surprising since no motor vehicles are allowed on the trail). As soon as I got on the gravel road, four cars went buy in quick succession! Three were coming toward me and didn’t slow down at all. The one that was going the same direction as me slowed way down and didn’t even kick up any dust! So nice! Fortunately, for the other three, I had my “dust protector”.

Great for keeping my mouth moist too. 

Just a couple miles later, I was off the gravel road and back on the trail. There was a sign on the gate (of course there was a gate) saying the trail was closed due to dangerous conditions. It was a picture of a hiker, so I decided it didn’t apply to me. Besides, just after passing through the gate, there was this…

Looks okay to me!

I had a handful of miles left to get to where there was a camping POI on the route map. I had heard it was nice. I was really hoping there would be water. I had about 3 liters, but I really wanted to drink a bunch. It wasn’t looking promising, but then I spied a creek down below. But then the trail went away from the creek, and I was back to wondering if I would have water. Then it came back to the creek! As I got closer to the POI spot, I started looking for a spot with water access. I finally found one. It might be better with a one person tent, but I’ve made it work. 

The creek is just beyond my tent. 

I washed up in the creek, getting all the dirt and sweat off. Boy howdy, did that feel good! Of course, I’ve filtered a bunch of water, and I’ve been rehydrating since I got here. Now it’s time to cook some dinner! Haven’t looked to see where I’m going to try to get to tomorrow. Probably, somewhere around 45 miles away. Today was 45.7 with a whopping 1227 feet of elevation gain (again…rail trail).

Oregon Outback-Day 1/2 A Long Drive and a Short Ride

I was over to Enterprise to pick up the car at about 7:45. My goal was to get on the road by 8:30. It took me awhile to get Billy into the Dodge Journey. I finally just took his front wheel off. Everything was loaded, and I pulled out of my driveway at 8:35. So, I was close!

The drive to Klamath Falls took longer than I expected. There were intermittent periods of construction along the majority of Hwy 58. I don’t know which was better, being at the front of the line waiting for the flagger, or coming up not too long before the line started moving. At the front, once I was through, I could get back up to speed quickly. At the back, I would inevitably get stuck behind a truck. 

Considering the distance, and the construction slow downs, I guess I made pretty good time. I arrived at Enterprise in K-Falls just a bit after 4:00. So 7 1/2 hours. I only stopped twice at rest stops, and in Eugene at Costco to get gas. Have you ever noticed when you rent a car, the tank is never full? It’s always about 3/4. I think this is how Enterprise (and probably others too) cheats you. You have to return the car with at least what it started with, otherwise they charge you an exorbitant amount to fuel it up to 3/4. Today, filling up in Eugene, I managed to make it to K-Falls with 3/4 of a tank left! No gratuitous fuel cost for me!

I hauled everything out of the car. I need to remind myself that the easiest way to put Billy’s front wheel back on is to flip him over. Could have saved myself some time…

Billy ready to go. The white car was my rental. 

I rolled out at 4:35. All I had to do to get to the route was cross one busy road, ride one block, turn left, ride one block, turn right, and there was the OC&E Trail!

This was a little singletrack connector to…

The paved path. 

A trestle over a canal. Don’t know what or where the other trail went. 

The OC&E was paved for the first handful of miles. While it was nice, there were cracks every so often, so it made it kind of annoying…bump bump. It went behind neighborhoods for awhile, slowly working its way out of town. 

Getting out into the countryside now. 

I came to a road crossing (actually, there were several) where the pavement ended. 

It widened out just a few yards along. 

The surface was mostly good. It was a little bit sandy in places, and there were often ruts. I can see where if it was wet, it would probably be a no go. 

This was a pretty good spot. 

I had decided I would try to ride close to 20 miles, or until close to 7:00, then find a spot to camp. I had brought plenty of water with me, so I could dry camp. I found a little side clearing at about 18ish miles and 6:45. I decided to call it good for the day. I can hear kids playing at their house, but I can’t see them (and they can’t see me). Should be a peaceful night. 

The view from my campsite. 

All set up for the night. 

Tomorrow, I’ll aim to get to the first POI campsite on the route. It’s supposed to be nice. Should be about 45 miles or so. 

Oh, and I saw one snake, but it wasn’t a rattlesnake. Saw lots of gophers and ferret-looking critters, as well as one giant something (it moved too fast for me to get a good look at it).

Ready for Another Bikepacking Adventure!

Billy ready to go!

Early Wednesday (June 28th) morning I will be renting an SUV to haul Billy and my gear to Klamath Falls, OR to start the Oregon Outback. The Outback is a 364 mile route up central Oregon to the confluence of the Deschutes and Columbia Rivers. It is 75% unpaved and has a total ascent of 14,376ft. It is considered one of Oregon’s best bikepacking routes, in part, due to the ease of logistics in getting to the start via Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train (K-Falls is the southern most full service stop in Oregon), and finishing near The Dalles, where there are some options for getting home. 

All that is true, IF one can get a bike reservation on the Coast Starlight. Unfortunately, all the bike spots were sold out for many days before and after the day I wanted to start. I thought perhaps I could take a bus. Another no go. The only possible bus went from Portland, and left at 7:00am. That left me with one option…renting a car. Funny thing, when I looked at car rentals for Thursday, June 29th (my original start date), there were no cars available in Olympia! Moving the date back to the 28th, I managed to secure a reservation for an standard SUV. 

Renting a car is definitely more expensive than taking the train. However, if I had been able to take the train, it would have arrived in K-Falls at 10:00pm. I would have had to get a hotel for the night, then start riding the next morning. By renting the car, I can get to K-Falls much earlier in the day, and start riding. No hotel stay necessary. Take out the price of a hotel, and it’s probably nearly a wash, cost wise. 

As you are reading this, you may have surmised that I am doing this alone. You are right…at least for the first days until I get to Prineville. In Prineville, I will once again get to stay with my cousins, Debbie and Brian, while I wait for Jana, Erin, and Stephanie to arrive. Jana’s husband, Bill, is generously driving them to Prineville. They will arrive on July 4th. From Prineville, we will finish the route as a foursome, and Bill will pick us up when we are finished. 

I will be doing blog posts, but not sure how much service I’ll have for uploading, at least until I get to Prineville. Until then, wish me luck in avoiding the rattlesnakes (I am carrying my Garmin InReach, and even activated it)! Here’s the route. 

https://bikepacking.com/routes/oregon-outback/