Tag Archives: USARoadtrip11

family, GPS, roadtrip, snow, travel, USA, vehicles

Back to Bend

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Although it was early, I couldn’t resist a bit of wine-tasting at the well-named Pheasant Valley Winery just out of Hood River. There was even a (aptly) skinny little road named after me in the vicinity. Apparently eleven in the morning is too early for Valerie – wine-tasting by yourself just isn’t quite that interesting, but I had to do it. After looking around the Hood River valley, I’m beginning to see the merit in wine-tasting by bike (especially if you have a big trailer to stash the haul in).

Fifty miles up the road was another really good ride that I wanted to do (Gunsight – about a 25 km loop), but for some reason Valerie wanted to see if there was a laundromat in the small ski village of Government Camp. There wasn’t, but there were still people wandering with snowboards – I still can’t believe the ski season lives on in to July this year! There wasn’t a laundry & in going back up to the trailhead the temperature gauge shot up quickly. Oh no! Thankfully I caught it straight away & after letting it cool for quite a while (it was actually quite chilly up there) & then topping it up & idling for a while it was worth trying to drive to Bend. I had to cancel my ride, but we made it to Bend with the engine running at its normal temperature.

With Valerie driving I got in contact with Allen (Miles’ brother – I’d met him on Sunday finally) to see if he wanted to ride that afternoon. It turned out he did & in amongst all the texts we ended up with an offer of a room at their house. To all those who were so good to Allen when he bike-toured NZ twenty-odd years ago – thanks! It’s been so nice to have a home to stay in with home sort of things happening – Lisa is playing the piano downstairs as I type, that never happens in the motels we stay in, it’s lovely.

Allen & I headed out of town to the Swampy Lake ski area (I think) & put in a good two-hour loop (24 km, 500m of climbing). The climbing was mostly at the start & the singletrack was easy enough to climb on & we did a little on fireroad. Seeing Allen get over a log feature, I followed. I should have seen danger in the way his rear tire lifted as it apexed. But thinking it was fine I got over nicely until my front wheel hit a bit of the exit ramp that had dislodged – my wheel stopped & I didn’t. Straight over the bars & with my bike lying on top of me I was quite sore. I must have cracked my left knee on the top of the steerer tube on the way over, as it swelled up something brilliant & is still sore & stiff. The ride continued a little more slowly & we saw patches of snow at 1800m & some big puddles caused by all the snow melt higher. The downhill was exhilarating all the way down to the river we had parked by.

Yes, snow is still melting somewhere around this puddle that swallowed me up.

Lisa had cooked up a storm & I was pleased to have great food that I didn’t have to choose from a menu – off the grill too. As dinner progressed I turned greener & greener hearing of all the things to do around Bend – MTB all year round, XC skiing, back-country skiing, resort skiing, snow-kiting, kite-surfing, snowmobiling & motocross.  It’s fair to say Allen & Lisa are very active & the kids will be soon too once they can keep up.  Yesterday was very quiet as the car was in the shop all day – took it in to get the radiator checked out & it turned out the water pump needed replacing. Nice to have a day off just lying on the couch reading, dozing & a short walk in to town (really so that the whole day wasn’t spent lounging around).

We went to leave town today so I could ride McKenzie River Trail & then we would head north.  We only got eight miles out of town & the car overheated again.  Frustration only begins to describe that & having another day lost because Midas Bend didn’t check the radiator properly as I asked them the day before.  Allen very kindly came out & towed us back in to town (I’ve never been driving a towed vehicle before – it’s hard work on a short strop).  After getting the car back & it overheating again they finally decided that I needed a new radiator – really disappointing & annoying that that wasn’t diagnosed yesterday.  So I’m now broke as far as US dollars go, but the car is working & I sure hope it continues to for the rest of the trip.  Just to top things off, I went for a ride (on Mrazek, which I rode last week) to ease the temper a bit & the sunny afternoon suddenly turned in to two big thunderstorms – I got a little wet.  One of those days I suppose – probably the first of the trip (2.5 months in) that I wished I had have stayed in my nice comfortable job & rode local trails to my heart’s content.  But then what would I write about for pages & pages?

bikes, friends, GPS, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA

Multnomah Falls & Surveyor’s Ridge

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It was a nice treat to be able to sleep with the window open for a change, have a cool breeze blowing in & wake to the sound to rain falling outside. It cleared a little as we drove east again towards Hood River. Right off the side of I-84 twenty or so miles down the road are Multnomah Falls. We had to stop & check them out as the super-friendly Brandon at the Pheasant Café had raved about them a few days earlier. It drizzled a little as we checked them out, but it was hard to tell if that was precipitation or spray from the falls. A thin ribbon of a waterfall, the total height is almost seven hundred feet. Fed by a spring they’re some of the tallest year-round falls in the country – but lacked the impact of the snowmelt-swollen behemoths in Yosemite.

We met Miles again just out of Hood River & organized the afternoon’s ride. A fall in shallow water while kiting the day before had left Miles with a badly sprained ring finger & a extremely swollen hand – he wasn’t so keen on riding downhill, but still wanted to get out for a ride. We chose to go up the Dog River Trail (so looking forward to watching the final series of Corner Gas when I have time next month) & I would ride Surveyor’s Ridge while Miles rode the boring road back down. Dog River proved to be as much as we expected – really nice singletrack through beautiful forest that was one big climb. It was pretty tiring, but we kept a good pace & I think I only had to walk briefly twice; all up we climbed almost 700m in ten kilometres (about 2000 ft in six miles). Steady going & overcast conditions were in our favour, although the little drizzle was nice it did make things humid.

Miles left me at the top & I continued to complete the loop by riding Surveyor’s Ridge. As the name suggests, it was typical ridge riding – up & down & up & down, never really getting too far away from 1300m. This ride is reputed for giving occasional windows of views towards Mt Hood. But that cooling cloud was also covering the mountain, so I never really saw that much except a little of the lower snow. I turned off to ride down to the Oak Ridge trailhead. What fun it was – really fast & smooth. About halfway down I was starting to think that it was almost as good as Downieville & then it turned in to a lot of switchbacks. Out of the pine forest these got more severe & I was getting a bit sick of constantly braking & turning. I’ve since been told that it’s better not to turn down to Oak Ridge, but instead continue along the ridge trail to the big powerlines & come down from there. Never mind, it was a great 35 km ride & excellent to put a few hours together on the bike.

Along the ridge there would suddenly be random large piles of rocks amongst the trees

The many flowers (blue, pink & white as well) were prettier than the obscured Mt Hood

city, roadtrip, travel, USA

Portland

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We drove the extra fifty miles west to the outskirts of Portland last night as it was much more affordable to stay here than in Hood River. So with no riding planned today, we were free to explore the city a bit. Supposedley one of the greenest cities in the States with all its public transportation – we had to take the light rail in. It was pretty cheap (less than five dollars for an all-zone day pass), but gosh it seemed slow. Eventually we were deposited downtown & with good instructions from some loud-voiced (according to Valerie, at least) guy at the Visitor Center we set off walking to find the streetcar (trolley). With a brief stop at Powell’s (claiming to be the largest new & used bookstore in the world) second store, I then wandered in to the main store. This one takes up a whole block & four storeys – once I read that we had to runaway (“Runaway! Runaway!”) or else the whole day would have been wasted. It was a very pleasant walk around Nob Hill & all the nice old houses before we wandered up the hill to Washington Park. After a sobering time at the simple, poignant & effective Oregon Holocaust Memorial it was a short walk up to the International Rose Test Garden. Portland, as the Rose City, does have a mighty impressive lot of roses. Never have I seen a rose garden so large & so well visited – there were people everywhere. Another very nice place to sit down & eat our wraps for lunch.

A bit more wandering, riding the streetcars, checking out the riverside (they sure like bridges here – there were well too many crossing the river) & we ended up looking up at Portlandia. She’s the second biggest statue (of the kind) in the country.

She’s also up on the second or third floor, so bigger than she looks here.

We were exhausted from pounding all those pavements (‘sidewalks’ isn’t quite as alliterative) & the Max train was packed most of the way back out east. We had our usual dose of crazies on American public transport & a rather disturbing whitetrash domestic.

bikes, friends, GPS, MTB, roadtrip, travel, USA

Hood River

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With as many as fourteen dams on the length of the Columbia, it is now a surprisingly wide river. Just how wide, we begun to comprehend as we drove downstream towards Hood River yesterday. I do wonder just what it was like untamed when Lewis & Clark went down it & then later in Oregon Trail times. We were aiming to meet Miles – who was out kite-surfing with his brother – after lunch to go for a ride. That the Columbia is a good place for kiting & windsurfing was obvious as we saw an extensive windfarm nearby.

Yes, another poor picture taken from the passenger seat.

We weren’t too long in getting to Hood River & we ended up finding a lot of kites. As I’ve said time & time again on this trip – the river is very high this year. Consequently, the usual staging area & beach is well under water so everything was much closer to the parking lot. We happened upon the last of three days’ worth of kiting for cancer-research fundraising – so there was a good atmosphere around & over sixty kites out on the water. It was neat to watch a sport that I know little about & looks like great fun – the air that some of the boarders were getting was incredible. I’m not sure I’d ever be able to overcome the fear of a big gust of wind pulling my shoulder to pieces again.

While we waited, we sifted around town a bit looking in bookshops & eating pie (still not too sure what a marionberry is – but it tasted good). Eventually, we met up with Miles, crossed the river to Washington & went & met his brother Alan & Alan’s family. As time was limited for Alan, we went out on a short ride from their lot up in the hills. Starting with a little road-riding, it wasn’t long before we were in the forest. We basically climbed 350m on fireroads to get to the start of the singletrack down. The first section was absolutely sweet. Super dark in the dense forest (therefore, no dust this time) & a nice twisty, but flowy, trail that was super smooth to ride. Unfortunately, the middle section had been logged since the last time Alan & Miles had ridden it – so that was more boring. With an even twistier bit of singletrack to finish off, we were soon back at the trailer. Nice to get out & stretch the legs on a ride that wasn’t super long.

Mt Hood, the tallest mountain in Oregon, had been popping in & out of view all day – usually with an annoying cap of cloud sitting around. It’s really nice to see the mountain rising out of the lowlands – so here’s a snapshot.