Saturday, June 26, 2010

Oregon's Beauty

A last minute invitation had me in Salem this morning just prior to 6:30 AM to join my Furnace Creek 508 crew chief on a ride up McKenzie Pass from the west side. Tagging along was a member of this year's RAO crew. John Henry, Doak, and I began at the Ranger Station near the western end of Hwy 242 and were "pedals down" at 9:20 AM. We enjoyed a bit of mostly flat to start us off.






Before long we took the eastward turn onto Hwy 242, the McKenzie Pass Hwy. The road closes seasonally because of snow (and the fact that it is not a primary route) and won't be open to autos until Wednesday.....a perfect opportunity to bike it!






We were not the only folks on bikes to think it was good idea to ride McKenzie Pass. The weather was great and the lack of auto traffic was a huge bonus, bike riders were in abundance.


The climb up was relentless. As we climbed above 4000 ft there began to be snow along the road.



With the melting snow the lakes were all filled to the brim. Here's Craig Lake about 2 miles from the summit.


The Three Sisters were in their glory today. Fresh white snow, blue skies, and black lava all combined to make a beautiful day.


I ended up with 47 miles and 7070 ft of climbing, the vast majority of the climbing coming in the first 20 miles.

It was a great day. We commented that it's too bad that cars will be back in just a few days but even when open trucks and large vehicles are prohibited. Biking this road wouldn't be that bad. Maybe a ride from Blue River to Sisters for lunch and back???? :-)





............BIKE............LIFECYCLE.....ROLLERS....TOTAL
Today.......47................0.............0..........47
Jan........618...............0..............0.........618
Feb........692...............0..............0.........692
March......940...............0..............5.........940
April......934...............0..............0.........934
May........905...............0..............0.........905
June.......947...............0..............0.........947
_________________________________________
TOTAL.....5051...............0..............5.........5056

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.