We rode a boatload of good trail today. That’s the summary.
It rained hard last night, and we awoke to fog. A few miles up our climb a pickup pulled over and asked us for directions. As they left I asked if they stayed dry last night. “Oh no, we got real soaked.”
We did ok. In a major downpour things are going to get wet, but sleep was good.
At day 4 and 100 miles in, my memory of the 3/4ths of a day I spent planning this thing starts to fade a little. Yet, many times today we proved it was a beautiful little red line to follow on the GPS.
First up was a hidden turn to the Metolius-Windingo (sp?) Trail. Even with the GPS we missed it and almost gave up trying to find it. Glad we didn’t — the singletrack took us quickly in to deep rainforest woods, weeping with mosses. “I get the feeling it never really gets dry in here….”
The trail got a little HAB-ey as we neared Charlton Lake, but was still good bikepackin’. We crossed the PCT, turned our noses up at it, and continued dropping on great trail, down to Waldo Lake.
Waldo was out of the way for us, for sure, but I have always wanted to see it and ride around it. Now’s our chance.
The grumpy camp host informed us it was the 2nd clearest (most pure) lake in the world, with no inlets or outlets. Sure enough, I’ve never seen such clear water, and the deep blues and greens were something else.
The trail, also something else. Perfect ‘bikepack tech’, with plenty to keep you busy but minimal elevation change.Â
Halfway around we ditched the bikes and switched to hiking mode. Our destination was Waldo lookout, in the Wilderness area the trail around the lake parallels.
10 feet after the Wilderness register the trail almost disappeared into brush. Soaking brush. Last night’s deluge was still getting us wet, even though it was afternoon!
We gave it a good go, following the trail until the next junction just to check that it might get better. But with soaked shoes and shorts, plus sketchy footing, and many log crossings, the fun factor was minimal. We flipped it.
Win some, lose some. It was still a good break from bike shoes and chamois.
At the next opportunity, we took a dip in the crystal lake, just because we could, and because the sun was out. Yay for sun!
We wrapped up the rest of the loop around the lake, got water, then proceeded to blast some nice singletrack down to Gold Lake campground. As we took a short break, talking to a family camping, lo and behold, who rolled up but two bikepackers! So people do bikepack singletrack in Oregon. Awesome. They were in a hurry to get back to their car, so we didn’t get to chat long. They rode a couple of the trails we did today, and must have been on a one nighter. I wondered how they fared in the big rain last night….
Eszter motivated for the evening push towards Fuji Mountain. I was lagging in caloric depletion, and a little frustrated from having my bike ride like a pig due to all the gear/food weight. She crushed the 1000+ feet up towards a little lake called Birthday Lake. We camped an equal distance between Birthday and Verde lakes — hopefully for minimal skeeters. But they are decently strong. Not crazy enough to make cooking dinner and hanging outside impossible, but enough that we are VERY stoked to have the tent. They can buzz around out there all they want, we are sleeping in luxury tonight.
Plus… it’s relatively dry. Only a few sprinks today.
Fantastic. So glad you saw others bikepacking. You can fat bike to the Gold Lake shelter in winter. I hear it’s awesome. I have only snowshoed or xskied there. Wish you could see Indigo Lake, above Timpanogas…and trails are for bikes. Most gorgeous little indigo colored lake. Jealous of your trip. Thanks for sharing it!