So close, yet so far.
“Come on trail, take us down there!”
“No, not hike-a-bike up!”
All we wanted was access to the emerald green river we have been following for 50-some-odd miles. We were roasting, having just ridden through a burn area and with temperatures in the mid 90’s. But…. the trail kept climbing, steeply, and away from the river. Occasionally we’d hear or see it closely, but only with a steep drop or cliff between us and it.
I forget which figure in Greek mythology is doomed to eternity wading in water but every time he goes to drink it, the water level drops or disappears. So close, yet so far. It makes it just that little bit more torturous. The Umpqua River — always audible, often visible, but practically impossible to get to its goodness.
We could have, and should have, stopped to cool off earlier, when we had better river access. But for some reason we wanted to complete the ‘segment’ we were on (all 4 miles of it) so we could feel like we had accomplished something (I guess?) after lunch. We can be silly sometimes, and we definitely paid for it, with temperatures in the mid or high nineties.
Eventually the trail, very near our exit, did drop down and give an access trail to a very sweet swimming hole. Relief was instant in the icy cold water, but the damage was done.
The N. Umpqua trail is very, very rideable, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Far from it — it works you over with endless granny gear climbs that you can just barely eek out. It’s great, great riding, but it does wear on you, especially after a couple days on it.
The first half of the day was glorious — the trail climbed high and gave a huge view off some basalt cliffs. Then we rolled through the power plants and the crazy play-dough extruded rocks. We met a family out backpacking the trail — way cool. We rallied mucho fun trail.
Then, there was the Dry Creek store, just a short distance off the trail. A burger, soda, and resupply. Heaven. But it got hotter and hotter as we were there, and we figured our next dip in the river should be in about 20 min. If only we had taken our joke a little more seriously….
We did eventually exit the trail and took an evening hour to pedal up Steamboat creek a few miles to the falls …. where we found a campsite complete with dipping spot — soak #3 for me, which really helped get the core temperature down again before settling down for a warm night.
Tomorrow we have a road closure on FR38 to negotiate (hopefully we can get through?), and a big climb, plus a bit more of the Middle Fork Wilamette Trail, then it’s into our first actual town in a week — Oakridge!
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