Tim:The trails at this point were pretty straightforward. The best part were the views of Mt. Adams. Tom was moving pretty quickly but I was able to see the mountains easily enough. My goals was to keep Tom in sight so that I would be able to gauge the terrain a bit better. This worked pretty well until we encountered the dust! The other part I had to keep track of was to make sure and keep an eye out for Dave. I needed to wait at crossroads etc. so He wouldn’t take the wrong turn. I messed up 2 times but we managed to figure it out!
Further along the route is the Guler Ice Caves which I thought we had accidentally passed, but it turned out we stopped to check the map at just the right spot. It’s not even a 1 mile detour.
The cave is actually a lava tube which about 500-600 feet long. You need a really bright flashlight to enjoy it, but in the main area that you first enter from the stairs leading down, there is still snow and further in clear, slippery ice. It’s like walking into an icebox which felt really nice! We didn’t explore much and actually only saw the shorter end of it, but it was really weird. It supplied the ice for the towns of Hood River and The Dalles in pioneer days.
Tim:One thing I learned about the ice caves is that General George Mclellan (of Civil War Fame) led a troop of soldiers through there on an exploratory patrol.
We got back on the route and road along Peterson Ridge past Deadhorse Meadow and decided to figure out a place to stay for the night. The campground at Trout Lake Creek sounded good, so we rode down to the campground. This was a great place to have for our first camp. Right beside Trout Lake Creek which was rushing by nicely. There were no fire restrictions so we had a campfire to enjoy after setting up camp and fixing dinner.
As warm as it was, Dave and I just left the rain fly off our tents, which we did most of the rest of the trip.
Tim:This campsite was my favorite spot. I loved the sound of the river and the opportunity to have a campfire. It was an awesome first day!
This was a great first day, though at 60 miles a bit short. But tweaking my back earlier left me with something of a pinched nerve which was radiating pain down my legs. This was a first for me and it hurt. A lot. I got to sleep, but it was to get worse before it got better.
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.
