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.
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