The Final Approach

I suppose I should clarify is whole northernly route business. After departing from Lake Tahoe, I decided to add a few extra hundred miles by turning north towards Oregon. Why? Bend.

I've heard a few awesome things about Bend, Oregon in the past, so I decided I should pay it a visit. Unfortunately to get there I have to traverse the Cascade Mountains, some of the steepest climbing I've seen yet. The mountain range is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the string of volcanoes that stretch down from Alaska. It's absolutely beautiful riding, and I hear the coast of Oregon is an amazing place. After Bend I'll be making my final turn west. Won't be long now...

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Day 73:

My new German friends told me about an awesome breakfast place at the bottom of the mountain, so I decided to pass on my usually oatmeal for once. I made sure to dress in tons of layers to survive the frigid morning mountain air, and prepared for an awesome 30 mile decent out of the park. Now that's the way every day should start.

Sure enough, JJ's Cafe lived up to its reputation - huge portions of eggs, home fires, corned beef, and pancakes. If only there was one on the east coast...

I piked up a homemade pasty for the road and headed off towards my next stop in the town of Mt. Shasta. This guy was looming in the distance all day:

Another volcano, that's the 14,000 foot peak the town is named after. Luckily I won't have to go over this one.

I arrived in Mt. Shasta with enough time to accomplish three things:
1. Laundry
2. Use a computer
3. Find a place to camp

But then I met these folks:

...and I didn't accomplish anything. Of course, they were a great distraction and wonderful people to spend the night with. The other cool thing about this northern route is it parallels the Pacific Crest Trail, the west's equivalent of the Appalachian Trail. These three guys were through-hiking, and had some awesome stories to tell. We spent the night together, primarily trying to track down one of Chris' friends who may or may not have a house in Mt. Shasta that we could stay in. Unfortunately she proved unreachable, so we grabbed some pizza and moseyed around town.

With no house, we decided to stealth-camp in the back parking lot of an outdoors store. Just as we laid our sleeping bags out though, one of the employees pulled in with the same idea. Forced to reveal ourselves, he gave us permission to spend the night. I guess that took the "stealth" out of our camping endeavors.

We finished the night off with some ice cream, disgusting donuts (who knew that was possible?) and a bottle of wine. Great success.

Miles Covered: 110

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Day 74:

In the morning we succeeded in causing a bit of mischief before heading our separate ways. I continued north, and eventually crossing into the final state on my journey:

OREGON!

One huge climb (and a huge decent) later I arrived in the town of Ashland. Being a bustling town, I decided to see what Warmshowers had to offer...and I hit the jackpot. I got in touch with a Bill, who lived with his wife right in the center of town. They gave me my own private cottage to stay in, equipped with a bathroom, kitchen, and comfortable bed. Booyah.

Bill and his wife are absolutely incredible too. They have biked around the world, and have amazing stories to tell. He is a wealth of knowledge, and shared tons of stories about his travels, the town, and my route to come.

Miles Covered: 80

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Day 75:

Immediately after leaving Ashland, I started riding up one of the steepest climbs yet. The road was named "Dead Indian Memorial Road" - that should speak for the ridiculous path it follows. Even Bill told me there would be 12 or 13% grades, easily the steepest climb yet.

Ashland is at an elevation of 2,500 feet. Within 13 miles I was at 5,000 feet. There's nothing easy (or enjoyable) about that.

After an agonizingly slow decent back down to 2,500 feet, I began another agonizingly slow climb up to 6,000 feet. This brought me to the campground 1,000 feet below Crater Lake. I arrived just as the sun was going down, so I decided to leave the park for the morning.

I rolled into the campground to find out it was full, but fortunately another biker named Adrian opened his site up to any hiker or biker that came in...now that was luckily.

I found the site, introduced myself, and started cooking up dinner. Completely exhausted after all the climbing, I passed out for the night.

Miles Covered: 100

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In the morning I climbed the three miles up to Crater Lake. I parked the bike at the visitors center and did a quick hike up to the peak of Mt. Garfield at 8,500 feet. Here are some of the amazing views that I saw:

With the exception of the climb and the hike, today would be a relatively easy 70 mile ride to the halfway point between Crater Lake and Bend. Plus there was a huge decent off the mountain.

About 10 miles out of the campsite I got caught in a huge hailstorm (again...) Who would have thought the only two times when my helmet actually came in handy were during hailstorms?

Just take a look at what was nailing me:

The storm finally tapered off and I got to the campsite soaking wet. Miraculously it was completely empty, so I set up camp, cooked my food, and got to bed at a decent hour with no distractions. Actually thinking I would get a great sleep free from noisy cars and barking dogs, I was rudely awakened at 3:00 Am by some crazy guy pulling his gigantic RV into the camp. So much for peace and quiet...

Miles Covered: 70

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Day 76:

Struggling to get all of my wet things dried out and packed away, I hit the road around 9:00. This was the final approach to Bend, and I could wait to get there. I was taking the Cascade Lakes Highway into the town, which was a beautiful scenic route along tons of lakes and up the Mt. Bachelor pass.

Views from the road:

(Lava):

Unfortunately I got my first flat since I left Moab - and it was a big one. Something in the road completely spliced my tire, so I had to switch it out with the spare. Good thing I only have 250 more miles to go!

After I reached the top of the pass at 6,000 feet, I had an awesome decent down to Bend. I got stopped halfway down by a guy named Tyler though, who was quizzing me about my trailer. He turned out to be a reporter for the Bend Bulletin, and I ended up getting featured in the next day's issue:



Finally, my arrival. Thank you so much to Alyssa and Ian who contacted a ton of people and found me a bunch of places to stay. I've never had so many options for houses to stay in before...

I ended up contacting Dave, Alyssa's old cross country coach, who is an amazing guy. He's biked across the country, coaches, rock climbs, runs, hikes, and does every other outdoors-oriented activity. He invited me to make myself home in his beautiful house, and started pinpointing things for me to do around town.

Miles Covered: 70

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Day 77:

I went with Dave in the morning to his cross country practice. I did an awesome 7 mile run along the river running through town, and instantly fell in love with Bend. I may be here for a while...

Life's Better With Shade

Finally, a library that will let me use a computer for more than 15 minutes...well, barely. The last two posts are new, and I added some pictures to the third one down.

I also have one big piece of news to report: I am awesome (Lisa got a full dose of this realization).

After a treacherously awesome ride up through Lassen Volcanic National Park, I have deemed that I can do anything. And I can do it fast.

But first thing's first...

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Day 71:

From Bliss State Park I rode north to a town called Quincy. Very beautiful ride, here are a few pictures from the road:

I got a fairly good night’s sleep quasi-stealth camping outside the town fairgrounds, and was up bright and early to tackle Lassen Mountain in style.

Miles Covered: 110

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Day 72:

This is how it today broke down:

Quincy is at an elevation of 3,500 feet.
From there I descended into a canyon to around 2,500 feet.
For the next 60 miles I climbed to 5,000 feet

Then I saw these:

One of those is Lassen Mountain...and I was going to the top. From here I started up a steep pass to the national park entrance. After I passed through the gate, riding turned a bit hairy. Crazy steep climbing, and barely any room for a bike. As the women at the vistor's center said:

"Be careful, you'll be looking straight into a deadly abyss." Great. Luckily there wasn't too much traffic and California law states that a bike can take up the entire road lane to safe-guard their life. I took full advantage of this.

Check out the road:

Finally reaching the summit at 8,500 feet, I got off my bike and hiked to the real summit at around 10,500 feet. This was one of the most amazing days I’ve had so far. Beautiful scenery, amazing vistas, and an incredible personal challenge.

Oh, and I left Quincy at 7:30 and was at the top of the mountain by 5:00. 90 miles of riding and 2.5 miles of hiking. Not bad, eh?

And this is just a taste of what I saw:

After a leisurely 10 mile decent down to the campground, I pulled in tired and starving. Two bikers from Germany biking down to San Francisco flagged me down and offered to let me stay at their site. Yes please.

Setting up camp, the family next door came over and offered me dinner. I’m starting to like this place...

For the rest of the night, we all hung out by a fire enjoying the cool mountain air at 7,000 feet. The downside? It was COLD. Forget Colorado and Nevada, this was the coldest night of my life. Of course, it was my own fault. I went to bed with minimal layers, and was too lazy to get up and put more on. Live and learn, I was up early anyway.

Miles Covered: 90

Bliss

Back in Bear Country:

The next awesome thing I realized about California - all the state parks have hiker/biker campgrounds. There's basically a big communal island just for hikers and bikers, and while everyone else shells out big bucks to stay the night, we only pay $7. When I finally got to Bliss State Park, I met this guy:

Casey was already at the lot, so I joined him for the night. Awesome guy who's been hitchhiking his way across the country since April. We exchanged stories, got a fire going, and I even shared my Oreos.

Around 11:00 I realized that I wasn't that tired and hadn't even seen a beach yet. I got out of the hammock, hopped on my bike, and rode the 1.5 miles down to the water. I sat on the beach, gazing at the beautiful night sky and the moon's reflection on the water. I've never been so content (and happy to be out of the desert) in my life.

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Day 70:

Casey took off early in the morning but I was a little lazier approaching the day. When I finally did get up though, my neighbors instantly started making friends. By the time I got a fire going, I had procured enough free food to last the next few days. Bread, peanut butter, sausages, pasta, and even an avocado! One guy even showed me the quick and dirty way to start a fire going - pine cones.

After a hearty breakfast I took off for a day of hiking. Check out these scenes from the trail:

And Emerald Bay, apparantly one of the most photographed vistas in the world:

Afterwords I headed to the beach to relax a little before cooking up dinner. I unfortunately didn't have any company for the night but my friendly neighbors did donate some more food to my cause. Fully satiated I turned in for the night.

Taking full advantage of the magnificent Lake Tahoe, I got up early and rode down to the beach to watch the sunrise:

The Not-So-Lonely Road

With it all said and done, Nevada is a hoax. Lonely, sure. Especially since my ipod broke in Ely, there wasn’t much more than the sun to keep me company. As long as you carry enough water though, the road poses a very minimal challenge. With the exception of crazy semi-truck drivers who don’t care if you’re there or not, the sun is the biggest obstacle. Get off the road by 2:00 and you’re golden. In terms of traffic, Kansas was probably a more desolate state - although the towns weren’t nearly as spread out. Oh, and there weren’t any mountains. Can’t forget about those...

But the loneliest road in America? False.

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Day 69:

The ride from Fallon to Carson City was a far cry from the Route 50 that I had grown to know. Packed with speeding cars, lined with bustling towns, and unusually flat. Luckily there was finally a generous shoulder to keep me out of harms way, albeit a tad frazzled. I arrived in Carson City in one piece, and even had three tires full of air despite the glass that littered the roadway. Riding through the city, I gazed anxiously at the towering peaks overhead which housed the Tahoe Basin.

The first stop was a bike shop. I had my chain stretch measured and miraculously I was told that if I sacrificed my cassette I could make it to the coast without buying a new chain. Done deal.

The second stop was an artisan bakery. They hooked me up with some hearty wheat bread and a free lunch.

A side note: Riding through Utah and most of Nevada, I was eating some amazing bread made by Aspen Mills, a company run out of Utah. This is by far the best bread I’ve ever had in my entire life. Hearty, delicious, and not too expensive. The last loaf I bought was called Squaw, and it was the tastiest thing I’ve ever had. If I ate this bread for the rest of my life, I would have no regrets. If you ever get a chance to buy it, do it. You won’t be disappointed.

With no other business to take care of, I took a deep breath and hit the climb out of Carson. Not before long I was over 7,000 feet, descending into one of the most beautiful areas I’ve ever seen.

Fending off traffic as I traversed a four lane highway around Nevada’s side of Tahoe, I quickly realized how little the state actually cares about bikes. Weaving in and out of a shoulder that would exist one second and be gone the next, I thought how ironic it would be if California had a bike path on their side of the lake. Wait...there actually was one. It was at that point I turned around and gave Nevada a swift kick in the butt.

So long desert, hello beautiful Northern California.

Riding through the tourist towns that lined the road, I made my way to D.L. Bliss State Park. I learned from a couple traveling through Nevada that this was a prime camping spot, so I decided to check it out.

Before I got to the campsite though, I found the most incredible store I’ve ever been in - Grocery Outlet. $2 Ben and Jerry’s pints, $1.50 Oreo boxes, and all the other (healthier) food you could want at drastically discounted prices. I was in heaven.

Miles Covered: 110

Want more desert?

...and then I saw this:

Hello Lake Tahoe!

Welcome to the Desert

Nevada is sort of a lose/lose state. If you value your life, you won’t be seen on the road past 2:00. If you don’t want hypothermia though, you won’t start riding before 7:00. So pick your poison...I like the cold anyway.

Before I get into the trials and tribulations of the desert life, feast your eyes on these goodies, courtesy of Erica and Neil:

(I'm not sure what I'm doing here but it's cool scenery):

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Day 69:

There’s no such thing as a good night’s sleep in Nevada. No matter what, you’ll always wake up at 2:00 in the morning freezing your butt off. Of course my alarm rudely wakes me up two short hours later anyway, so it’s really just an unfortunate precursor to the day.

I settled in Ely at a KOA just outside of town. Nice place, and was able to get my hands on some very satisfying ice cream at a near-by grocery store. I cooked up broccoli, cheddar, potato, and rice soup for dinner with a side of kale, finally taking advantage of the supplies the Hastings family gave me. It was as delicious as it sounds.

Fast forward a few hours to 4:00 in the morning and I was scrambling in the dark to pack up my bag. Three genius girls decided to pitch their tent about 2 feet away from my bike, so I’m sure they got a full taste of what packing your life into a bike trailer sounds like.

Three big mountain passes and one sissy mountain pass later I arrived in Eureka. Being early in the afternoon, I took a nap in the park. When I awoke, I unexpectedly ran into four people.

The first was Dave. Dave is crazy. He’s an ex-IT guy who cracked and decided to start biking across the world. He’s been working his way through every square inch of North America for the past two years, and is moving on to South America soon. We talked for awhile and he invited me to a bar with him later that night.

The second was a homeless man who was also planning on spending the night in the park. He was a nice guy, and we spoke for a little while.

Feeling pretty energized, I started conjuring up another crazy idea - a 60 mile night ride to Austin. I went back and forth for a while, talked it over with Dave, and eventually decided (against his advise) to go for it. Nature had a different plan though. As I was rolling out of the park, a huge thunderstorm cracked out in the distance, in the direction I was heading.

This was when I ran into the final two people. They were crossing the park on their way to the same bar Dave was at, and we spoke for a little while. I told them my plan and they naturally advised against it. I told them about the homeless man and they invited me to stay in their house for the night. I was sold.

And so I changed in to some more social attire and headed to The Owl, one of the two bars in town. As I soon found out from the locals, the two women ended up saving my life. Had I started riding at night, I would have either been:
1. Struck by lighting
2. Devoured by a mountain lion
3. Chased by a coyote
4. Attacked by jack rabbits
5. Demolished by a free-range cow
6. Or hit by a renegade semi truck

Sounds fun, huh? Good thing I didn’t go...

The two women even ended up generously paying for my meal and drinks. With a roof over my head I even got a good night’s sleep, and got another early start headed to Austin. Thanks again for the hospitality! (and for saving my life...)

Miles Covered: 80

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Not a bad ride, just one big mountain pass heading up to Austin. I ended up dumping 66 ounces of water in the desert when I recalculated the excessive amount of water I was carrying. I’ll call that “doing my part to fight the Nevada drought.”

I set up camp in an RV park on the edge of town, and even found some trees to hang the hammock from. Pasta, potatoes and chili for dinner - nothing fancy.

Miles Covered: 70

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THIS was the coldest I’ve ever been. Freezing night, and even colder ride in the morning. I literally had on all of my layers and was still freezing cold. It took 20 long miles for it to finally get warm enough to start taking layers off. It wasn’t long before I was baking under the afternoon sun though, and wishing Fallon would move just a few miles closer.

I did make great time though, and polished off a 110 mile day just before 2:00.

Miles Covered: 110
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Oh, and did I mention I’ll cross the California boarder tomorrow. NO MORE DESERT WHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I’ve never been more excited to see a tree in my life.