Trying to catch up on ride reports. This one was from a few years ago! Several months before, Eric and I had taken the long way to Portland, and our route purposely took us through the Fremont-Winema National Forest in south central Oregon. The forest was beautiful even though it was early fall, and it beckoned us to stay and explore. We couldn't stay, but we decided then and there that we needed to return in the spring. We loaded up our Husky 610's and headed north before sun-up. We only had 4 days, and we wanted to make every minute count. Sunrise from a speeding van on the Benicia Bridge Many hours later we arrived at our home for the next few nights. The stark white alkali of Summer Lake can be seen beyond the big bath house... It being a Thursday, the place was rather quiet. We decided to take advantage of it, knowing it would only get busier as the holiday weekend wore on, and immediately headed for the hot pool… "Respect these healing waters" 2 hours later I was back in camp feeling like a new woman! We soaked up the sun til it was gone, then prepped bikes and gear for an exploratory ride the next morning. We'd be climbing up to the top of Winter Rim, some 3000' above Summer Lake. Well, good morning, Friday! The only thing I love more than water is my Husky 610… Eric is pretty smitten with his, as well… Summer Lake sits about about 4,230', and Winter Rim rises about 3,000' above it… Looking towards the northeast, the hot springs can be seen far below… This is what John C. Fremont said upon seeing Summer Lake for the first time, as he trudged through the snows of Winter Rim on December 16, 1843... "At our feet–more than a thousand feet below–we looked into a green prairie country, in which a beautiful lake, some twenty miles in length, was spread along the foot of the mountains, its shores bordered with green grass. Just then the sun broke out among the clouds, and illuminated the country below; while around us the storm raged fiercely. Not a particle of ice was to be seen on the lake, or snow on its borders, and all was like summer or spring. The glow of the sun in the valley below brightened up our hearts with sudden pleasure; and we made the woods ring with joyful shouts to those behind; and gradually, as each came up, he stopped to enjoy the unexpected scene. Shivering on snow three feet deep, and stiffening in a cold north wind, we exclaimed at once that the names of Summer Lake and Winter Ridge should be applied to these two proximate places of such sudden and violent contrast." We were looking down on Summer Lake from Hadley Butte, a popular hang gliding launch. I came upon this little thing, and it looked like a memorial of some sort, maybe? I don't know…the only thing I know about hang gliding is I don't want to do it. I thought it was neat, though... It was facing the great wide open… Spring was in full swing up on the Rim… More to come…of course! WoodsChick
I did not expect there to be so many meadows, and they all had water running through them… This might be the Chewaucan River but I can't remember… Dead trees on the outside of the bank. Erosion control? We bombed down into Lakeview, dirt all the way. We had kick-ass chicken fried steak and homemade bread at the Dinner Bell Cafe, a tiny little diner straight out of the `30's. Super good food, and tons of it. Hit up the USFS ranger station to get a Fremont NF map but they closed early on this Friday…the Friday of a holiday weekend. This has happened to us more times than I can remember. Seems to me a business that caters to visitors would maybe, you know, stay open at least til normal closing time when there's a good chance of visitors coming to town. Oh well, we filled up our tanks and headed back to camp via Road 28 and Government Harvey Pass…and it was glorious! I could not get over how crazy beautiful this place was! So these trees are not small. Not by a long shot. So when we ran across this one lone sentinel looming over a meadow we were pretty stunned. It was hyuuuuge! And it was the only one like it. We did not see another one during our 3 days of riding… It's a tad taller than I am, anyway… This counts as one tree, right? True singletrack… This road was paved, but it was great! Super scenic, a little dirty, very twisty and fun fun fun! Hard to pass up some side trips on one of the bazillion dirt roads! Campbell Lake, 7,200'… We tried to get to Dead Horse Lake, just past Campbell Lake and about 170' higher, but we got turned back by snow. We made it back to camp at 8pm…a 12 hour day logging 195 pretty fantastic miles! We settled in with the computer and a bottle of wine and then watched the Warriors beat OKC on their court. Excellent day overall. This place was all we'd hoped it would be! More to come! WoodsChick
Our ride the day before took us up to Winter Rim behind Summer Lake and into the lush forests. The ride on this day would take us east into the desert. We wanted to find the Paisley Caves. We would then detour to the north and then back south to Lake Abert. The Paisley Caves are not on the maps, nor is 5 Mile Butte, which is where the Paisley Caves are located. However, 10 Mile Butte is on there, and using topographic features on the map Eric and I were able to find them with no issue. I'd also looked at a lot of photos taken from the caves, and I had a pretty good idea of where they were before we even left camp. https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/paisley_caves/#.WC5HQkv7JSU Found `em! We didn't see any skulls or coprolites or anything interesting, but it was still really neat to find the caves and reflect on how cool it would have been to see the waves of ancient Lake Chewaucan lapping against the rock. Hard to imagine, since this is what it looks like now…Summer Lake to the right, Hadley Butte where the snow is in the center, our bikes parked in a clearing at the base of the rocks... We backtracked south to the main road, out past the Paisley airstrip, and turned towards the east and then north… Standing in this spot munching on almonds and dried apricots, something shiny caught my eye. Walked over to the edge of the road to investigate and discovered this little gem. I wanted to take it with me but I left it there. I'm sure it will delight someone else in the future just like it did me! We found our primitive track and headed north. Our destination, inasmuch as we ever have one, was the pointy peak just right of center. It was going to be a much longer day than I had anticipated… This track was pretty rocky here at the start, and it just got worse (better?) as we went on… Wish I'd gotten more photos of this stretch but it got rocky and rough and it was too hot to stop. It seemed to go on forever, too. It's funny, we ran into one fence the entire day, and I managed to get a photo of it. There was a well on the other side of the fence… We have to make it over that rise in the distance... Not too far down the track we ran across a herd of rambunctious wild horses… I was too far away to get anything really good, but it was great to watch them go at it… Looking back at what we'd just come down. Appropriately named Sand Canyon, this thing was long, steep, and sandy… Heading back south, I picked up this lovely moto accessory… After some dicey route-finding, we decided it would be best to bomb back to camp and leave Lake Abert for another day. We wanted to make it back in time to cue up the computer and watch the Warriors Game 6 playoff game. Glad we didn't miss Klay Thompson dropping 41 points on OKC Eric's been a Warriors fan since he was a little kid, and we used to have season tickets during the Run TMC days, so these were pretty special times for us! A relatively easy 8-hour 111-mile day, we made it back in time to drink beer and cider in the sun til the game started. We still had no idea where we were going to ride in the morning but we'd figure it out during our pre-dawn soak WoodsChick
The harbinger of good things to come today! The springs were getting a little busy for our tastes, so we packed up the van after our soak and left for greener pastures. Found a nice place to camp on the Chewaucan River outside of the town of Paisley. We packed up some light camping gear and rode into town to refuel our bikes and bellies… Perusing the map, we realized there was a ton of tasty looking dirt in the 120 miles or so between us and our niece Khaily in Klamath Falls. We called her to see if she'd be home, and she was bummed when she said no, that they were leaving to go camping. I found the spot on the map where they'd be and told her we'd meet her there. Let's go! Somewhere between Dead Horse Rim and Gearheart Mountain, we crossed the Sprague River on a damp and cloudy morning… This place is special! This meadow was huge! It's hard to see, but it continued on past the trees way back there to the right, and it was flowers the entire way… Love these red cinder roads, too… After a hundred or so miles of dirt we finally found the right spot at Gerber Reservoir. We set up the tent while Khaily made us a few cocktails… These were everywhere… We had a great time with Khaily and my great-nephew and great-nieces! Huge BBQ, cocktails, stargazing, rippin' bonfire. I was telling my great-nieces about the stars in the sky and how I always look for the International Space Station when it goes overhead, and damned if I didn't spot it going overhead about 2 minutes later! We all got a total kick out of that! it was super-cool to visit with my niece, too. We woke up to coffee brewing and breakfast being made. I could get used to this kind of camping! My great-nephew Tanner said his good-byes shortly thereafter as there were fish to catch… I didn't want to say good-bye to Hannah and Khaily… On the road again… If y'all don't care for purple flowers in green meadows you might want to stop reading right now The entire forest seemed to be blanketed in these little lovelies… White ones, too! And yellow! Such a beautiful time of year in the forest… WoodsChick
We dropped south and then east, eventually coming to Strawberry Reservoir. We parked the bikes in what probably used to be someone's barn. There had definitely been a homestead of some sort there at one time… Lunchtime... He really is a nice, happy guy…I swear! We wanted to make time after lunch, and we found ourselves on the perfect road for it. We were on the pegs, bombing along on a wide open ridge-top road when all of the sudden this happened… I'd already walked down the road, picked it up, and was almost back to my bike by the time Eric returned… He had some bolts in his tool pack that fit, and we were on our way within minutes. Eric is a mechanical magician…he always seems to have exactly what we need, and he's smart enough to make something work even if he doesn't. My surgically repaired right knee got tweaked a little, but overall it was a non-issue. We spent some time exploring the forest. There were old decommissioned roads everywhere, and lots of unmarked trails. We could definitely spend a lot more time here checking out all the routes, and will probably do so in the future at some point. We dropped down out of the forest and were following the Chewaucan River when we came upon this little bridge… It was the perfect width for a quad, and we saw faint dusty tire tracks emanating from the gravel. We rode across it, and I'm so glad we did! The trail followed the river for a little while and then it went up the hill. Looking down on where we started… And looking at what's in front of me… Waiting for Eric… Good stuff… The trail kept getting better and better as it continued over the top of the hill, but we were on loaded 610's and decided it was too late in the day to be embarking on this sort of adventure. We'd save it for next time. Besides, Game 7 was waiting for us tonight! We bombed back to camp and washed off all the dust in the river… I want to camp here again… We ran into town, picked up a killer pizza, and watched the Warriors beat OKC to win the West! The next morning we loaded up early and pulled out of our cool spot on the river and headed for home… This rock I found in our campsite pretty much sums up how we feel about this new and wondrous place we've found. We will be back, for sure… Thanks for coming along!
You got me! I think I like taking photos and doing ride reports almost as much as I like these kind of rides
Thanks for wading through the report! And, yeah, Oregon has some beautiful and quite varied terrain. The western side of the state is near the Pacific Ocean and tends to be moist with lots of trees. The eastern side towards the state of Idaho tends to be much dryer and desert-like.
