Oregon Trail

The next ride, more or less

Paula and I are flying to Oregon, shipping our bikes, then heading out on the trail for two weeks.

There’s no shortage of high caliber trails in the Cascades. The general idea is to hit some subset of: North Umpqua Trail, Middle Fork Willamette, Alpine, Eugene to Crest, Waldo Lake, Phil’s / Mrazek, Mackenzie River Trail.

Pretty much every trail I’ve ever heard of in Oregon.

I got a massive collection of GPS tracks, some maps, and some idea of how to piece all this together. But we have no set agenda, no pace to set.

We’re going pretty lightweight, but we do have a tent of sorts and a pop can stove. No racks — this is a singletrack tour after all.

There are a few possible show stoppers: poison oak, mosquitoes and snow being the big three. I’m sure we’ll run into all three in some quantity. I had a systemic reaction to poison oak on a previous visit, so I’ll be extra careful, use technu and try to wash off whenever possible.

After Climb or Die I’m now really feeling the heat, so I’m very much looking forward to trees, shade and cool temps.