Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Another Wonderful Day

Tonight we’re in the Willamette Nation Forest at the Ice Cap Campground on the McKenzie River. This is a very lovely very primitive U.S Forest Service campground. There are no showers or electricity and no cell phone reception. The water is very cold. I almost got a headache rinsing my hair as part of a very quick and very cold sponge bath. The beautiful Koosah Falls are less than a quarter mile from our campsite, making a lovely white noise in the background that later should lull us to sleep.

The weather was gorgeous again today with temperatures reaching the low 80’s, no humidity and a little tail wind. As we left Eugene, both Mary and I made a wrong turn which added about 4 miles to my 80.75 total riding distance. Most of the route was on Highway 126 along the McKenzie and Blue Rivers. It was stunning. I took pictures of mountain flowers and small water falls surrounded by rocks covered with most and ferns. Unfortunately it takes a long time to load them. Please use your imagination. For the last 5 miles, I rode up a very steep grade, which went very well. Tomorrow the grade will be the same until I cross the Santiam Pass at 4,817 feet. This will be my first mountain pass ever. From there it’s downhill to Redmond and on to Prineville. Because of lodging, this will be another shorter day of about 75 miles.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I'm happy you were able to enjoy the falls on the McKenzie. The "best water anywhere" you filled up on in Eugene comes from the McKenzie River. --- Merlyn