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...