Sunday, August 6, 2017

On the road

Just some photos from the bike ride, Portland -> Rainbow Gathering -> Eugene -> Portland.

The whole route

 Some of our bikes in Portland right before leaving

 A beautiful field of purple flowers on our way to Mt Hood

 Our breakfast spot on the second day

 Eating salmonberries!

 Beautiful country

 Approaching the pass around Mt Hood


Dusk near Mt Hood

Past Mt Hood, riding through the Warm Springs reservation.  We had a wonderful tailwind here.

 Looking south toward Mt Jefferson and Sisters, from Rt. 26 in the Warm Springs reservation.  When we got to the town of Warm Springs, some people were very kind and welcomed us to camp in their school park right in the middle of town, which we did.

 Climbing out of the Deschutes river valley where Warm Springs is

 We stopped at the Organic Earthly Delights farmstand just outside Madras and had a feast of mostly very-local produce.  That apple is not local!

Rolling out of Madras

 Coming down into Prineville it was very cool and mostly downhill

 Beautiful scenery on the approach to Prineville

Next day, two of us split off to continue riding while the others hitched to the gathering.


Climbing up out of Prineville we got our last view of the cascades

 We stopped to pick currants many times, and ate at least three pounds of them.

 We rode right past a couple small rattlesnakes in the road, who rattled at us.  I wasn't in front so it wasn't my fault!  There were many roadkill rattlesnakes along this stretch.

 One of the many beautiful sunsets

A lovely camping spot on soft dirt right by the road.  The guard rail was making these crazy noises probably due to the change in temperature once it got dark, and at first we thought it was a bunch of animals somewhere in the distance, it was pretty funny.

 Rolling out the next morning.  Sadly almost all the land along the road for this 100+ miles was barbed-wired off as cow pasture, and there were a lot of cows, so we were afraid to drink the creek water even through a filter.

 We saw a lot of cool old houses and contemplated how we might settle down and eke out a living in them.

 Fresh orange, red, and black currants from the roadside, and cherries we'd picked in Prineville.  The cherry tree is one block west of Good Bikes bike shop, on the main street.  We picked a lot of cherries and tried to give them away to people in the park, but everyone refused.  Happily, we filled our water at a starbucks on the way out of town and someone working there was glad to take them.

An attempt at shade for a siesta.  The day after we left Prineville was the hottest, and had the longest stretch without water of 40 miles.  Happily, two people stopped to see if we needed anything, and gave us water.  This siesta idea may have been good, but it was still too hot for me to sleep, so I basically sat or lay in the heat for four hours waiting for things to cool down.


 Weather!  Sometimes there was a cloud shadow on the road up ahead and we'd try to race toward it to get shade, but then it would move :p
  
 The final climb into the mountains of the Malheur national forest

 Rolling in to the rainbow gathering on NF-24

We went all the way to the back of the gathering up a hill, and camped on the most beautiful open hillside with tall purple flowers everywhere, and a gorgeous view of the sky.  This was the last photo before turning off my phone.  I was camped up here for about two weeks, waking up laying in the grass surrounded by chipmunks and dragonflies and all other creeping things.  By the time we left, the purple flowers had faded and orange and yellow ones were starting to bloom.

*     *     *

Two weeks later we rode back...

 The evening we left the gathering, we were greeted by a beautiful and refreshing storm at sunset, with a double rainbow, light rain, and lots of big lightning bolts.

 We stopped to take it in, and also watch the semi-wild horses running around, and eat currants which were now ripe at higher elevations.

 Camped for our third night just outside Prineville

 Riding toward Sisters

 At a farm stand in Sisters we bought and rescued various fruits and vegetables.  We ate most of this in one sitting.

 Going up the east side of the Cascades on 242.  There was almost no traffic.  A forest service guy said it is completely packed on weekends, but we were there tuesday and wednesday.

At Windy Point it looked like Mordor with piles of igneous rock everywhere

 
Hammocked just up the hill from Windy Point.  One guy who stopped there had his car make a loud beep and told his companion he thought there was "a bum" camped up there, whom he wanted to scare off.

 Mordor by day

 A beautiful lake on the way down the west side of the cascades.  At lakes, I like to make a raft and float out on it.  There were lots of dragonflies by the shore, who would fly way out on the lake and sit on this tall grass that was growing out there.


Another lake we hiked to


The Willamette river in Eugene

 Delivering Food Not Bombs in Eugene

We parted ways in Eugene, and I rode back up to Portland alone.  Now blackberries were in season, and I ate a ton of them every day.  Also shared a gallon of berries with people in the park in Corvallis.

 Soaked oats and blackberries make a delicious meal.  Yes I ate all those blackberries at one breakfast.  They're probably good for you.

 
Last sunrise on the road.











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