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).