Day 8 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

The conference I was attending wrapped up today following lunch.  My plan for today was to get back to Bend then ride the bike up to Mt Bachelor.
Mt Bachelor was named Bachelor Butte until marketers thought that promotion of the ski resort there, and the resulting economic advantages to Bend, would benefit from changing the name from Bachelor Butte to Mt Bachelor.  They lobbied the Oregon Geographic Names Board and in 1983 the name was officially changed.  By either name, it's a good climb to pedal up there from Bend. gaining just over 3000 ft.

Despite the climbing, or more precisely because of the climbing, there are some pretty nice views.
The first good view is of Mt Bachelor as you round a turn.

Normally by this time of year there would be snow on the road at this elevation (6000 ft), but this year the orange snow poles sit as silent sentinels awaiting the first accumulation of snow.

It had been a steady climb since I left Bend, but at the point I took the above photo there was a moderate descent loosing 100 ft, before climbing back up to 6400 ft on the north shoulder of Mt Bachelor.  From there the view northwest was of several snow capped volcanoes.

L to R- South Sister, Middle Sister, and just a glimpse of North Sister.

I've got many fond memories of taking my two little blonde topped girls on many adventures in the area.  We've rafted the little rivers, numerous lakes, and hiked to the top of South Sister many times.  Those memories (and a descent!) drew me farther along the road, past the surprisingly OPEN snow gate to Sparks Lake (elevation 5433 ft).

Sparks Lake was a favorite haunt of Oregon's Photographer Laureate, Ray Atkeson, and there is a trail there that bears his name.  From that trail there is a perfect shot of South Sister over a small island in the lake. Being in bike shoes, I did not take the time to walk the trail today.  I'd have to settle for these photos.

South Sister with Soda Creek in the foreground

Broken Top

I checked my watch and figured I had a little more time.  I continued on to Devil's Lake, the starting point for climbing South Sister.

The sign might have had warm fuzzy memories for me, but the better views were of Devil's Lake.

I was far enough down this rabbit hole, it was time to turn around and pedal back to Bend. I still had enough time to make a few brief stops to "educate myself".  ;-)

My kids and I used to joke that every year we climbed South Sister it was just a little bit higher

I pedaled back up to the road's high point, 6400 ft, on the north side of Mt Bachelor.  From there it was down hill all the way back to Bend.  With a 56x11 high gear, this was going to be fun!

It is not terribly steep, but it is long, and today terminal velocity would be 47 mph.

I did stop to take this photo.  There was some prescribed burns going on and the smoke settling into the low spots made for some good photo ops.

It was my only decent mileage ride of this 3 day "business" trip. I have to be back in the Willamette Valley tomorrow morning, so it will my last ride here.

It was nice to get a few miles in.

 ............road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today............58...............0..............0...............0.............58 Jan.............710...............0..............0...............0............710
Feb............ 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ..........701...............0..............0...............0............701
April...........749...............0..............0...............0............749
May.............613...............0..............0...............0............613
June............309...............0..............0...............0............309
July............615...............0..............0...............0............615
August..........359...............0..............0...............0............359
Sept............292...............0..............0...............0............292
Oct.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............146...............0..............0...............0............146 Total..........5682...............0..............0...............0...........5682