After we crossed the river into Oregon we headed south on SR35 passing to the south of Mt Hood. This was one of the nice parts about this area. We could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, and other mountains as we headed further into Oregon. The weather was just beautiful and we were on a very scenic ride. We turned off of US26 on to NF42 (Google shows it as "Oregon Skyline Road") which led us through Cascade Range of the Mount Hood National Forest. This was a great road and super scenic as it wound through the forest.
Dan was leading and took us on some type of road that narrowed to a single lane with occasional turnouts for vehicles coming the other way, though we saw none.
I can't find it online, but it was really cool! We ended up at a "T" that was NF46 which turning left took us to Detroit (didn't know Oregon had a "Detroit" either) where we stopped for lunch.
We sat at the Korner Post Restaurant, had a nice lunch and later chatted with some nice guys on a couple of older, but super clean BMWs. We headed south on SR22 which connected to US20 for a bit until we turned off on SR126 heading west.
I believe we followed the road past Cougar Dam on the west side. That connects up with Forest Road 19 which winds its way through the forest eventually dropping us off just north of Oakridge at Westfir. SR58 runs through Oakridge, so after getting gas, we headed southeast to connect up to US97. We stopped in Chemult to pick up groceries for the night's meal. This is what Dan and Bill had decided before the trip.
I had said I'd be cooking most nights to save money and enjoy the camping aspect more. They decided that'd be a good idea too, but rather than buy freeze-dried food, they'd pick up food at a grocery store that was easily prepared at a camp. This turned out to be the best way to travel. The food was much better and far cheaper when split between two or three people. So after getting the food, we rode south on US97 to SR138 which led us west toward Diamond Lake which was our first campsite for the trip, just shy of Crater Lake. The day's miles were 462 which at that point was the longest day in the saddle I'd had at that point. In fact, when we stopped for lunch at Detroit we were all commenting how that 50 or 60 miles of twisties can really make you tired, but boy was it fun! By the time we got to Diamond Lake we were all pretty tired.
I was trying to turn my bike around and ended up dropping in the dirt. No harm but my ego! The campground was pretty crowded, but Dan, having some foresight for this problem had made a reservation. So we set up camp and got to work cooking dinner. It turned out to be pretty good: Stew, french-cut green beans, and I think some rice-a-roni. Now, I don't know what the elevation was, but we knew it was pretty cold, so this would be a test of my fleece liner.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
The fleece liner failed the test. I was cold most of the night. Not freezing, but pretty dang cold. I decided that was not going to cut it. Talking with the guys that morning made me realize I'd need more insulation.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
