8-1 Saturday

Sisters, OR to McKenzie Bridge, OR - 61.57 miles

It was weird looking at the elevation profile for the remainder of our trip. Today was to be our last pass, Santiam Pass, with an elevation of 4817 ft. And the rest is, "All down hill" as they say... That saying hasn't held true once this trip. We celebated at the top of the pass, then peddled hard to savior the high speeds... our last chance. A sweet downhill it was but you had to pay close attention to avoid the frequent rocks scattered on the shoulder of the road with RVs screaming past you at every turn. There was often a bunch of weird rock to either side of us that we guessed was some sort of igneous rock... to steal a reference from Dustin's Blog. more later...

7-31 Friday

Ochoco Pass to Sisters, OR - 72.15 miles - Trip Total: 4138.43 miles

Don's Dinner was open again for business and he pumped out egg and cheese sandwhices. Thanks again Don. We cruised down from the pass into flat terrain for most of the day... back into the desert. Cruising through Redmond was a bit confusing as Chris and I added a few extra miles to the total trying to get back on route... as if 4,000 miles wasn't enough already. We were happy to cruise into Sister at the end of the day and find the group at a nice campground, the city park, where I could get wifi from our picnic table... nice. After I made dinner at the campsite, I met up with the rest of the group at the Three Creeks Brewing Co. which is owned by Mason's cousins. I caught up a few more blogs and enjoyed the company and laughs of the rest of the group. Great day...

7-30 Thursday

Mt. Vernon, OR to Ochoco Divide Campground at Ochoco Pass - 80.9 miles

Continuing through the desert today the temps rose steadily into the high 90's again today. A steady climb of 2,000 ft. across 25 miles wasn't so bad, especially with the cooler temps of the morning. Passing through the John Day Fossil sites we found ourselves crusing through carved revines in the mountains...

It was like a scene out of Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark. The terrain was gorgeous with an array of colors panning through the layers of rock that the roads cut through. Each layer, millions of years old, represented by different shades of red, brown, orange, pink, purple... As the day moved on, so did we, moving up from the town of Mitchell at 2795ft on up to the top of Ochoco Pass - 4720ft.

It was one heck of a climb, and the heat.... well.... we've gotten used to it by now. Camping at the top of the pass was great with the climate changing the terrain drastically from what we've been used to lately... the desert. Tall lush pines hundreds of feet tall with moss and dense tree cover everywhere. The stars tonight we're unbelievable... maybe the best yet... maybe.

7-29 Wednesday

Baker City, OR to Mt. Vernon, OR - 89.92 miles

Three climbs each averaging 1,200 ft. in climb were to be the extent of our day, followed by a nice downhill into camp: Sumpter Pass, Tipton Pass, & Dixie Pass - 5082ft, 5124ft, & 5277ft respectively. On the elevation profile they look 3 twin peaks, one after another across 30 miles. From the desert that is Baker City, we ascended into the lush forests of the mountains, overlooking lakes and crystal clear rivers.

Just like the last week, it's been getting hotter everyday we get closer to the coast as today was in the high 90's. Apparently Portland is experiencing record highs at this time. Amanda and I decided to take a pit stop for endless fountain drinks at McDonalds. A sweet tail wind carried us the remaining 20 miles as we followed the river right to the campsite, an RV park. I love campgrounds with showers. Mason and I tossed the frisbee around for a while before dinner... I'm going to miss this life as we only have a few days left...

7-28 Tuesday

Brownlee Dam to Baker City, OR - 82 miles

Wow, another blessed morning of Don's Diner, whipping up pancake after power packed pancake. Big day today... we have finally crossed into our final state... Oregon, wow! We could literally see Oregon from our campsite, right across the river.

We made the cross, and almost instaneously did Amanda, Daniella, and Kristen got flats. Apparently by the, "Welcome to Oregon" sign there were these plants with burrs in them that stuck into their tires. I dont know why the guys were lucky but it made for an interesting morning anyway. More incredible views today, from the mountains to the high plains, and back to the desert.

It was almost hard to appreciate the views of the day as our heads were drooped down over our handlebarbags trying to ignore the heat. I felt like a slug for the final 20 miles between the heat and the headwinds but I finally made it into Baker City.

A special thanks to Dustin's mom for sending a box of goodies, the chocolate chip cookies were awesome. We stayed at the Mtn. View Holiday Trav-L-Park por gradis, Thanks so much Carrie!! Man I love showeres at this point, feeling like I scrubbed off a year's worth of road grime.

7-27 Monday

New Meadows, ID to Brownlee Dam - 75.31 miles

Another day of high temps well into the 90's and interesting terrain into the desert. The first half the day was mainly downhill, a long slow sloping grade. Not much to report during the middle of the day, except for the views. Incredible spanses of desert and dry mountains.

While riding, we had the company of millions of locusts that made crunching noises as we rode over them.

I also found an Idaho license plate that is the newest edition to my bike... sweet. We road along the Snake River until the end of Idaho. The river turned into a resevoir where we camped at the bottom of the damn at McCormick Park, one of Idaho Power's Hells Canyon Recreation Facilities just past the Brownlee Dam.

We enjoyed the cool river and lounged by the tents the rest of the day. Once again, the stars were epic!

7-26 Sunday

Grangeville, ID to New Meadows, ID - 89.39

We awoke this morning to thunder storms and the pitter patter of rain on the tent. It was only temporary and nice to listen to for a little while before we crawled out of the tent and were greated by another famous Don's Diner special... pancakes... my favorite. The ride started with a climb to the top of White Bird Hill Summit at an elevation of 4,429 ft.

We cruised down the side of the mountain range all the way into White Bird at 1,518 ft. The rest of the ride on the day was through the Salmon River Canyon, where at one point Chris and I decided to go to the beach... quite literally.

We've been cruising along these gorgeous rivers for days now so we bring along our bathing suits just in case. Unbelievable that this exists in Idaho, very relaxing before we got back on the bikes for another 40 miles! The rest of the day was a climb up to 5,020 ft. into New Meadows.

On into town for endless rootbeers at Subway and soccer and frisbee with Dustin at our campsite, Dorsey Warr Memorial Park, where I also enjoyed some wifi from the tent, awesome.