Sunday i woke to an alarm outside Chris’ rental for our 7:00 departure for McKenzie river trail. Chris found a shuttle and we are to meet @ 9:00 for ride up to upper TH. Drove past Santiam Lodge that is still boarded up. I spent 2 nights there on my PCT hike. West of summit was skeleton forest from past burn.

Dropped into McKenzie drainage and found Belknap resort just before 9:00. Shortly Marlene from the resort arrived w/ big pickup. She was a lively person. Drove us to start @ Fish Creek. We elected to start @ uppermost start and rode the rough hike a bike basalt section around Clear Lake that is beyond clear. Part of the trail over the basalt was paved. Extra 1 1/2 miles or so was not needed.

Crossed the river and then the real fun started. Great woods ST w/ a testing section of more basalt but way more rideable. On my previous ride of this trail i walked a bunch of the basalt and I tossed over those parts in my mind from then on. I recalled the memory when I rode over that section and put the demon to bed. River is impressive w/ several h2o falls, the blue pool where the h2o resurfaces after flowing under ground. And the h2o is clear h2o blue.  Encountered hikers on way to falls. Everybody was polite and sharing of narrow trail. Lower seat and high rise wide handlebar made big difference. Also PUSH suspension.

Exited trail early and rode pavement about 3 miles to van parked @ RS. Learned that the river is diverted for a hydro electric project but some h2o seeps under the lava and emerges @ Blue Hole.

Stopped @ barbecue restaurant in Sisters. Heavy traffic going other way as weekenders made their way back to west side.

Chris and I were standing @ my van out front and a woman on her bike showed up. Chris started the conversation and she stayed. Her name is Sky, just new in town, renting a room in house just thru the hedge from my van, is a photographer, and amicable. We floated her photo idea of photographing riders out @ Phil’s. Invited her over for a showing of The Big Labonski that I have. She declined. We stayed up till 11:00 to finish fighting sleep off after the hard ride.

Today I couldn’t sleep in.

Chris and I were getting ready to walk downtown when a male biker rode up. He was curious about my adventure. He said that he is an ultra endurance athelete and he learned last weekend that he has lost skills learning about other people because of the hours of solo training time. I told him I noticed that in myself this weekend in talking w/ Chris. Solo life really becomes you and only you. It’s important to have interpersonal conversations. And then we walked downtown and noticed the fine women. Bend has a lot.

I sprayed h2o & scrubbed w/ dawn & bristle brush the Turner. Bike shows wear w/ scatches and grime almost impregnated into the surfaces.

I stumbled onto Cog Wild while trying to drive to campspot beyond Phils. Trying to meet another Chris who I met in Moab.

Years ago I found this partially shaded secluded camp site just pass Phil’s. Since my last visit it was partially cut taking trees above maybe 16″ diameter. Surface logged leaving skidder scars and slash. Former spot lost its shade and gained slash. Fortunately another spot was just a short drive. Tomorrow I will ride from here.

81 degrees and cloudless and Oregon 4000′ desert air.

Cool morning, mosquitoes weren’t quite stirring. But by 7:30 when I headed out, the shes were seeking me out. No repellent but wearing long pants, wool long under wear top and a vented cap. The trail gained slight elevation thru lodge pole pines. Mosquitoes were on me like flies on stink only worse. Trail wandered thru forest until hit road of upper trail head and then the elevation kicked in. Ran into snow in the trees and lost the trail but found it in places and then finally it was open up in alpine. Went above the bowl where us forest fire fighters back in ’70 engaged in a boot skiing contest dropping in off upper lip. Memories. Trail is now snow free. It joined a rock rib thru a steep scree slope. A band of frozen snow hugged the shadow of ridge where trail went. Needed crampons and I only had an ice ax. Down climbed around end of finger. Pretty dicey on just volcanic rubble. rejoined the trail for a short jaunt to summit. Even experienced a few mosquitoes @ 8360. 3 hours of non stop climbing to keep ahead of mosquitoes.

I used my Garmin etrex GPS with the track feature turned on so that the gps wopuld guide me back on my up route to get me down thru trees to snow free trail. I lost the trail in the trees and releid on gps. I have a leaning curve to move down. There were times when the track back sent me back up mtn. I was bush bashing down thru open woods ove old growth blowdowns. I had a good idea of where I needed to go. When i sat down to decipher what the gps was saying I was feasted upon. I never spent quality time w/ the gps. I hit the beat up road to the upper TH and turned right and picked up the correct downtrail. The mosquitoes were even more. As I looked in the air ahead of me I could not see any flying but I was swarmed. I have 3 confirmed 5 girls at a swack kill. Got back to van and open door, climbed in, & shut the door. Plentiful and big.

Drove into Bend. Called Chris and found him at the Deschutes brewery taproom. I joined him for a beer and tales. Chris is living in eastern NC and has visited here before. Great guy. He bought me dinner and I continued to tell stories. We made ride plans for Sat. I camped street side @ this really great house he is renting for family vacation. For several days he is batching it.

Sat AM we drove out to Phil’s TH outside of Bend. I have ridden here maybe 5 times as I would stop here on my trips South and if possible on the way back to Spokane. And I had a map and Chris had reading eyesight and more accurate comprehension of the map. I just bumbled along. We spent the 80 degree sunny, cloudless day riding our 34 mile 3709′ climb loop.

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Amazing thing about riding here is the sheer number of rigs @ TH but once got a few miles away the trails were all to ourselves. Trails are dusty. I rode Chris’ wheel when there was no dust but once he hit a dirt patch i would drop back a ways to let the dust settle to be able to read the trail. I like riding here. We rode the Whoops trail section down. I watched Chris huck the whoops. twisty and i mean sometimes brutally twisty trail. I really enjoyed the riding w/ my better configured bike.

I fixed my chicken dish & Waldorf salad in his rental kitchen. Turn on the hot h2o faucet and hot h2o comes out. Wonderful.

Tomorrow we are crossing the divide to ride McKenzie River trail. OK. Chris found a local who will shuttle  us to Aintree ( Deliverance town) @ top of trail. The ride is technical but it will be downhill which makes the drops & rollovers easier.

We saw a noticeable number of wonderful women riders. Neither Chris or I see this quality on our local trails. I will be staying in Bend area for several days for enjoyment.

Thanks for all your congratulations. In answer to what will I do next: I will keep on riding and adventuring. Diesel was my biggest expense and on my small income restraint will be practiced. I might be a snow bird working the west coast and over to NC, SC, GA, & AL. I made friends in the SE that I want to revisit. That part of the country, while different than the NW is special. Ride Pisgah. Hang w/ the original people from Asheville. Soak up Gracie’s incredible drive; Bill Victor’s FATS in SC. For the rest of the summer I will be in OR & WA.

Yesterday I rode around Brown mtn near Medford. Area is volcanic and where trees grow populated by huge old growth doug fir and the like. I wondered what riding in the East under the broadleaf leafed out trees blocking out the sun would be like. The conifer forests offer its own dark shadows. While broadleaves have a spreading crown, conifers have almost spear like crowns but when the trees are dense the results are a dark forest floor.

On a previous trip I rode the Fish Lake trail which

Either this software or my computer is unstable as previously typed tales were erased.

Brown mtn trail; South side is single track deep forest w/ huge old growth doug fir and  the like. Preceding me was a 3 person FS trail crew clearing the trail. I noticed fresh saw chips and was thankfull because the trees would have presented a challenge to cross. 2 guys and a girl and she was humping a 36″ Stihl. I learned every morning the crew draws straws and looser humps the saw. Shortly after passing them I encountered trees across the trail that I struggled to climb over or around.

North side was Fish Lake trail that I previously rode on an earlier trip but I forgot about it. I remembered it once I started on the wide smooth trail built over the large lava flows. 22 miles and I was done for day.

The day before I rented Grand Torino from Redbox and needed to return it. I planned out my next rides to be the North Fork of the Umpqua and needed a map, groceries, and electrolytes from bike shop. Spent almost 3 hours in heat driving around Medford trying to find a redbox. Fred Meyer and Safeway have their own versions. Bought what I needed and headed up the Rogue River to the Umpqua.

Stopped @ Diamond Lake visitors center to score a Umpqua River trail map. I was told that the Dread and Terror section is closed because of a hydroelectric project has flooded the trail and will not be out of water until project is complete. No ecd. Lots of snow remain. Mosquitoes are horrific. I learned that locals call them 747s, they do not know that the A380 is bigger.

Did wash and putzed around.

I spent my sophomore and junior summers working for the USFS here on the Diamond Lake district. The first summer was a first for many lifetime events, one I will share was climbing Mt Thielson, my first mtn peak. The river trail goes right by the ranger station @ Toketee.

So I am thinking of driving up to Bend for rides and making a loop back down to Oakridge to ride the ALpine trail and others in the proclaimed mtn bike capital of the NW. Oh, McKenzie trail will be ridden. From now on I will be mostly riding trails I have ridden over time and I look forward to them. Has my skill level improved such that I can now ride what i previously walked? Perhaps my well developed sense of preservation will negate the sense of improved skill.

Or, I might stay here another day and snow climb Mt Bailey on the West side of Diamond Lake.

Before I could leave the parking lot another pro conversion Sprinter pulled in. Fred & Vic soon engaged me in Sprinters and traveling. The van worked as introduction, right, Les & Betty? They have been out 13 months from back east. This is their first trip out west.

Bought $30 recreation pass for USFS lands.

Drove to West side of lake and camped @ Mt Bailey TH. Mosquitoes are plentiful, large, & not bashfull about dipping into my flesh.

Called Chris who interviewed me and posted it to his web site. He is visiting OR from back east. We made a ride date for Bend this Sat.

Michael Jackson died today.