Mt bike ride around Mt Hood Oregon September 2012

 Portland, OR - Corvallis, OR
(but first.....let's ride around Mt Hood)

Columbia River Gorge



Airport Hotel



It's been awhile since we've been able to get away for a bike trip so when Hap's oldest nephew Bob said he was getting married in Portland OR, it seemed like a perfect opportunity. We have done several bike trips in WA and OR on road bikes so decided to do something different. I heard about a Hut to Hut Mt bike ride around Mt Hood www.cascadehuts.com and thought that sounded like fun. This will be a ride on trails and gravel roads around Mt Hood on our mt bikes (as opposed to our tandem or road bikes). Several years ago we did a Hut to hut trip from Telluride, CO-Moab, UT and had a blast. All we have to carry with us is clothes and tools,parts and a sleep sack and the huts are stocked with the rest. There was a choice of 3,4 or 6 day tours. Well if your gonna go may as well make the most of it, so we signed on for the 6 day trip. Back to the wedding....might as well jfinish by riding on to Corvallis, OR where Hap's family lives and where the wedding was taking place. After we leave the last hut on day 6, instead of riding back to Hood River we will be riding south to Oakridge, OR, spend a couple more days mt biking their trails, and then ride on to Corvallis. Mileage?? Not sure about that yet. We'll let ya'll know when we figure that out! 



Columbia River Gorge



Columbia River Gorge

We flew to Portland OR two days early so that we had a couple of days to get to Hood River, OR, the starting point of the ride. Hood River is east of Portland on the Columbia River.These two days wouldn't be long days, just enough to stretch our legs and spend time riding along the Columbia River. Should be a beautiful ride. The first day was a beautiful sunny day. We had a map of biking the Columbia River Gorge from ODOT so we thought it should be smooth sailing. Maybe 35 miles or so...... have you ever heard the expression "cycling isn't an exact science"? The route said we would be riding on and off of Interstate 84 for most of the day. We opted to take the scenic route instead of the interstate at one point. It was beautiful, great riding. And it was nice to be away from the heavy traffic. We have done alot of interstate riding on our bike ride around the perimeter of the US, so we knew you had to really watch riding in all the junk/trash on the side of the highway. Although riding mt bikes with knobby tires made it not quite so bad. Speaking of tires....since the second part of this ride will be on the road we decided to carry smooth road tires with us and change them for the long days on the road. So we have with us one spare knobby tire, 2 tubes for that, 4 smooth road tires and 4 tubes for that. That's a whole lotta tires! But we thought it would be worth it. Between the knobby tires, the headwind and the traffic it made for a fun day!

What do you mean "Road Closed...Ya gotta go Back.."



So we head off on the side road which was Old Rt 30. We stopped in Troutdale, at the visitor center and asked about the route ahead. The lady was really nice, explained all of the landmarks, waterfalls, Rt 30 etc and said its a great road for bike riding! She also said there was a pretty side road up to the top of the mt that had a really pretty view and would be a great side trip. Just ride up, look at the view and come back to Rt 30. After we left I looked at the map and what she said was to climb up to 4000 feet in 14 miles look out and ride back down.....yeah right..maybe another time! Off we go secure in knowing we are on the right road, no question about it. We started a very long climb of 5-6 miles and almost at the top there was a sign that said "Road closed in 1000 feet".....???...and another "Road closed in 500 feet"....hey Hap what does that mean? It's ok Diane I'm sure we can get through.... We crested the hill and headed down the mt just as a road crew man, stopped us and said you can't go any further. Excuse me? Uh you have to go back. Your kiddin right? Go back to the store (that we had just left) and you can go down to I 84. So we ended up climbing back to the top, going the direction we just came from and then down to I 84. We thought we were riding 35 miles remember? It ended up being 55 miles. Ah well, thats cyclin! Question for ODOT.....if you are going to have a road closed....can you please put the sign at the beginning of the road.....just sayin.....



Bonneville Dam-this is the closest we got!

 

"Dag" Wish I could see the dam.....

 I wanted to see the Bonneville Dam also, but we got there just after they closed. No problem we thought its not that far back from Cascade Locks where we spent the night. So we decided to get up the next morning, ride back on I 84 and see the dam. When we got to the dam, we were told by Mr. armed guard that bikes weren't aloud on the road back to the dam......your kiddin right? I asked why don't you have a sign posted that says that. He said we do, it's down the road (the one we're not aloud on!) a bit, you can't see it from here. So we peddled back to Cascade Locks and headed to Hood River. We rode on and off of I 84 again today. The scenery is beautiful! Although Lots of traffic on I 84 again. The weather was a sunny 85-90 degrees. The first day of the ride is from Hood River to Surveyors Hut. Basically we are starting on the Columbia River (sort of at sea level) and climbing to about 5000 feet. The ride may be a tough one riding up the mt on the trail. We have ridden from Hood River up to Mt Hood before on the paved road and with a fully loaded tandem on that trip. I think that one was from Seattle, WA-Crater Lake, OR and loop back to Portland. I remember how hard it was on the road. Let the fun begin!

Hood River - Surveyors Ridge Hut

PBJ Break



Hey Diane the turn is right up there!



Whew! What a day. I don't generally talk about distance or how much climbing we do, because it doesn't really matter to us. We just want to make it someplace safe by dark. For this trip we brought our new and improved lights that actually work very well. Instead of using a "pen light and compass" to feel our way around in the dark.As long as we make it by dark...... Anyway, we climbed 6100 feet in the 29 miles for today. And that was on gravel/dirt/rock road/trail. It was fun though! And we made it by dark! Bonus! It was sunny when we started and warm but as we got closer to the top it got windy and turned chilly. The organizers recommended that we use a GPS for this ride, so we have one with us in addition to our maps and directions. The GPS is new for us so Hap is learning as we go. The directions were pretty good though we didn't have any trouble finding the hut. And we didn't have any do-overs either. We only saw a couple of trucks. One of them came right up to my rear bumper...did I mention we were on gravel roads in the middle of nowhere?...where ya goin bub? I was trying to navigate a steep hill, slick gravel and a tight turn.... sorry this is my road right now.....ok now you can pass me.....



Surveyors Hut

We found the hut right where it was supposed to be. Don't you like it when a plan comes together! The huts are stocked with food, water, 4-8 bunkbeds, propane stove and lights and a bivy. We are limited to two liters of water/person/day. Oh and no showers in the huts! We made some pasta, peas and had canned peaches for dinner and hit the sack. Two tired puppies in the hut tonight!

Surveyors Hut - Dog River Hut



Mt Hood view at Surveyors Hut



Solio solar charger

On todays ride we had gorgeous views of Mt Hood. Once again we started out by climbing on gravel roads. It was a shorter day today but we were planning to drop the panniers at the next hut and then do some trail riding. But first....lets see how that GPS thing works. Since we won't have electricity for the next 5 days we don't leave the GPS on all of the time. But it seemed to work. We had a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries to work with. We also had a Solio solar charger for charging our phones, MP3 players. We climbed, and climbed oh I already said that. Well, when we got tired of climbing and climbing we went downhill for two miles and THEN...yep...we climbed back up....Yeah! That was fun Hap, I hope we getta do that again. The Dog River Hut was smaller than the first one. But still had the same set up. We left the panniers and got on the Surveyors Hut Trail that went back down to the Surveyors Hut that were had stayed in the night before. The trail was great. We rode almost back to the hut and then looked at the views of Mt Hood. A couple of riders stopped as we were looking at the scenery. The trails had alot of loose, sand on them. That surprised me. But then we thought maybe the "sand" we were looking at was actually lava dust mmm...not sure. We are in the land of volcanos. We aren't very far from Mt St Helens either.



Hap riding Surveyors Ridge Trail



When we got back to the hut I fixed some rice, beans and chicken (canned). Maybe I should've been a cook....NOT..just kiddin Hap. It just takes better cause we are starving. We played a fun game in the hut called "State Sequence". It is the same as "Sequence" but it used State Capitals which you had to know. Kind of fun! We won't mention who won because someone gets grumpy when  he loses. I went off to the Bivy which was located maybe 50 ft or so from the hut. When I was coming back I saw a streak of brown flash past. You wanna see how fast I can run??? Turns out it was a deer that had been standing close to the hut and Hap had been watching it. Hey Hap do you think you could have mentioned something about a deer before I walked way over there?

Dog River Hut - Eight Mile Hut



I "think" it's this way....... I mean "I'm almost sure" it's this way....

 When we left Dog River Hut (by the way we never did see a river! (We were looking for a place to take a bath and do laundry) It was chilly! And since we ended yesterday with a 1.5 mile downhill, guess what we started with today! Tights and layers were the order of the day at least until it finally warmed up later to maybe 60 or so. It was sunny so no complaints about temps. Hap made us some pancakes to start the day so we were fueled up and ready. On the ride today we didn't have many views of Mt Hood. We didn't see any traffic or people all day. It was a fairly short ride to the next hut so we dropped the panniers and went in search of trails. Actually we were looking for a stream to do our laundry in. We are carrying 3 pairs of shorts, sox and shirts so I really wanted to wash some stuff out. Of course we couldn't find the trail that was supposed to be "right there ya can't miss it!" We were trying to find Knebel Spring Trail. We took what we thought maybe might could possibly the right one. And like Hap always says "Its going the right direction.." So off we went. Oh, remember the GPS well apparently we don't have the exact trail maps for this area so we don't have exactly what we need. But it'll get us close, says my navigator. As we started on the possible trail, we saw some bear tracks. At least they aren't grizzly bears like they have in Montana or we would be worried. I just talked a whole lot as we were riding UP the trail. At the top, or we thought was the top we asked a girl who came up the trail. She said yep your on the trail. We went down the hill and found we were on eight mile trail and it would take us close to our hut. AND we found a stream so I could the laundry. The downhill section of the trail was great! We came out pretty near the hut and found our way back and it was before dark! For dinner we had spaghetti, wine and pears.

Eight Mile Hut - Barlow Hut




 

Awesome Shower!



For breakfast we had some oatmeal, pears and coffee before leaving the hut. The start of course was up, but only 2 miles up. Like I always say could've been worse....it coulda been rainin....We did have a short section of pavement as we climbed to High Prairie. Then the road started to deteriorate from there. We went from gravel, to dirt, to dirt with gravel, then dirt track with boulders, then dirt track with boulders and ruts where jeeps and logging trucks had driven. When we got on the worst section (oh and by the way we are climbing a fairly steep grade while negotiating this), we weren't sure if we were on the right trail. We're having some fun now aren't we Hap! According to the map our next turn was 2 miles up the road, but it really looked like this was our turn. Mmm...maybe the GPS? Oh that's right we don't have the right maps in it. We stopped for our PBJ break and decided the trail had to be further. As I was following Hap up the road navigating throught the maze of rocks, boulders, divets, ruts etc. I was thinking about all the rocks and the different shapes of the rocks and maybe I should name them. Then I watched Hap riding on a narrow strip of dirt ahead of me, and I was thinking "wow that looks narrow, his tires could slip off the side of that, no he made it, must be ok, oh look at that rock what would I call that one, should I go on that narrow strip.....slam...down I went...ouch! My front wheel had hit a huge boulder that I should've seen. I was ok. It was just amazing that so many thoughts could go through my head in such a short period of time! I decided for todays ride I needed to have my two speed bicycle: UP and DOWN. Going up this road I was going 3 mph and going down I hit a blazing 6 mph! We saw a truck heading up the road we were coming down and he was really having a tough time navigating the road. Looked like a bunch of hunters. We came out on a paved section of road that took us down to the White River. Finally a great downhill on smooth pavement. The fastest I could go was 33.5 mph. Darn. We crossed the river then turned onto a dirt road that was called Barlow Road. It was the first road over the Cascades to the ocean. We followed Barlow Rd for awhile and then turned onto a smaller trail that lead to Barlow Hut. We had a pleasant surprise when we got to this hut. We found a solar shower bag in the hut! Awesome! We heated some water, put it in the bag and hung the shower bag on the front porch. Hap was the look out in case someone came up the road as I took my shower. Then we traded places. It was nice to be sort of clean after many days of no shower. For dinner we fixed Rice, chicken, soup and pears.



Good coffee at Barlow Hut! Thanks Hap!

Hap on the road to Barlow Hut



Barlow Hut - Lolo Pass Hut

We started the day with oatmeal, canned fruit and coffee. We road back to Barlow Road and began the long climb up to Rt 26 and Government Camp. Another steep, technical climb. We climbed for 1-2 hrs and came to a place where men were replacing some pipes across the road and had the whole road closed. And heavy equipment was blocking the road! Hap walked up and talked to the workers and asked if we could walk through. The guy said we could but then said "didn't you see the road closed signs". No we didn't, he pointed up the road where we were going and said the signs are up there. We didn't come from that way............We carried the bikes over the culvert and kept climbing. When we got to the end of Barlow Rd and Rt 26, we finally saw the "Road Closed sign". Mmmm... maybe they should put them on both ends of the road! Now there's a concept. 

Climbin' Barlow Road



Does this really need a caption??

The total climb on Barlow Road was 6 miles. It got steeper near the top. When we got onto Rt 26 we decided to check out Trillum Lake. It was supposed to have some beautiful views of Mt Hood. The road to the lake was DOWN, but the views were spectacular, as you can see from the pics. We climbed back to Rt 26 and Governement Camp which was a small town that caters to skiers in the winter. We stopped at a restaurant for a burger and fries. Boy did that taste good! While we ate I did laundry next door in the laundromat. Our plan was to ride to Lolo Pass Hut for our last night. Then tomorrow ride back to Governement Camp, stay in a hotel (with a shower!) and head south on the road to Oakridge, OR with hopefully a stop in Sisters, OR which is supposed to be beautiful. We left Government Camp on Rt 26 for an amazing downhill on the highway. We went 8 miles downhill to our turnoff in Rhododendrum. We made a right hand turn, onto a trail and immediately started climbing again UP to Lolo Pass Hut. Not sure why they can't put the huts at the bottom! We climbed 3 hours up to the top of Lolo Pass. Tough climb! We were getting concerned that we weren't going to make it before dark! But remember our lights so we were good. At the top of the pass we turned onto a gravel road and started a long downhill. Then we climbed back up the gravel road and finally found the hut. What a view! 

Barlow Hut





Diane's cookin!



Since it was our last night in a hut, I decided to cook (or at least try) something special.....uh oh.... Here are the ingredients: black beans, stewed tomatoes, and green beans over mashed potatoes. I know....but it was good anyway. Or maybe we were just starved again.

Lolo Pass Hut - (back to..) Government Camp

Hap

First off we started with a huge downhill back to Rt 26 and Rhododendrum. The views were really incredible. It was a paved road until we got to the bottom of the climb. Instead of taking the "easy" way and ride the road up to Government Camp (remember the downhill yesterday-well today we have to climb back up!) we decided to take the fun way back up to where we were. We took Bridal Trail 5 miles up the road. It was a nice climb on a smooth trail until we had to cross over Rt 26. Then our nice smooth trail turned into a steeper, narrow, rough trail. We went four miles UP and stopped to check our map/GPS. As we stood there a cyclist coming down the trail stopped to talk. We had been seeing alot of cyclist coming down the trail as we were going up. It sure looked like they were having fun! The guy who stopped looked at our bikes with our loaded panniers (gear) and said "are you riding that up the trail?" We said yes and he left laughing. Why was he laughing Hap? At one point the trail passed close to Rt 26 so we got back on the road into Government Camp. The Best Western sure did look good. Hap changed our tires from knobby to smooth tires for the road portion of this trip. I did laundry and.....well look at the hot tub right next to the laundry. Guess I'll have to wait in there.......... For dinner we went next door and had fish and chips. And of course some of the microbeers. It sure was nice to have a shower, good food and a comfortable bed!



Mt bike tire (left) / Road tire (right)


PLAN A: Take off mt tires and put on smooth tires because after Government Camp we will be riding several long days 70 + miles. The smooth tires will make for much smoother riding!

PLAN B: Mmmm.....we don't need a plan b because plan A is going to work!

More on Plan A and Plan B later!









Government Camp - Detroit Lake

"Diane's Cross Bike-road tire on front/mt tire on back

Detroit Lake, OR

In the morning we tried to find a bike shop in town to top off our tires with air. Hap used a hand pump to change all four tires which was alot of work, by the way. We found a rental shop that had a pump, but as we were leaving the hotel a guy started talking to Hap about our bikes we were wheeling out. Hap asked him if he had a pump and he said yes but my wife has it in the car and she's not here right now. We thanked him anyway and went out the door. As we were going out the drive Hap noticed a lady drive in and stopped by her car and said her name and asked if we could use her pump. Boy was she surprised since she couldn't figure out how Hap knew her. We pumped the tires up and road through town. I noticed a thump thump in my front tire so we stopped to check it out. The bead wasn't fitting right so that's why I had the thump. I'm going to make this a quick story but actually we spent several hours in town outside the rental shop trying to get the tires to fit right. We ended up with a smooth tire on the fronts and mt tires on the rear. We are starting a new trend. Remember Plan A and B above? Well, we skipped clear over Plan B and went directly to Plan D (Dag how did that happen?). But we got it together and headed for Detroit Lake. We had about a 70 mile ride ahead with no idea of how many hills / climbs we would have and it was after 12:30 when we left. We started out by going down Rt 26. Just before making our turn we came upon a hay wagon that had lost it's load in a turn. Hay was all over the road/on both sides. Lots of traffic in both directions. We needed to move to the center of the lane to avoid the hay so I put my hand out to let traffic behind know what we were doing. Thank goodness "Melvin" wasn't following us. We all made it around the hazard and made out turn on the exit. Only after Hap almost missed the turn and I was yelling at him to turn! We were going pretty fast down hill at the time, so it was exciting! The route today was really pretty but we didn't spend to much time looking at scenery. Oh, I forgot there was another hay wagon that lost its load just up the road. I think it must be an epidemic! We had a really pretty downhill through a park, that I wish I could ride on my lightweight road bike. It was an awesome downhill! We stayed at the Detroit Hotel and walked across the street for deli sandwiches, brownies and beer. Today was my birthday and I just wanted to sit and watch football on TV. Not very exciting for a birthday, but I had food, shower and a clean bed. Thanks! For tomorrow, we have a decision to make. There is a big fire over the Cascades at Sisters, OR where we had planned to go. It looked like it was right where we were going to be. I called the Fire Incident Command to see what the status of the fire was. He said the smoke was really bad in Sisters. He said there was an air quality warning. And the fire was close to the road we would be bringing back over the Cascade mt range. We opted to not go to Sisters and just stay on the west side of the mt range.

Detroit Lake, OR - Rainbow, OR

Leaving Detroit Lake "Hap coasting downhill"



Hap and Mr. Oregon U.



Which way Hap?

We stopped for a real breakfast before leaving Detroit Lake. Our decision to not go to Sisters was reinforced when several couples in small sports cars pulled up at the restaurant and told us they had just come from Sisters. They said it was terrible. They had just come across the pass we were thinking of going over. Thanks Lord for the direction! We knew that we were going to have a long climb to Rainbow but what we didn't know was that we when we started climbing right out of the gate, we would be climbing for another 30 miles! But remember that ol' sayin' " It could always be worse..................: Just keep peddlin you'll get there! At one point I was chasing I mean following Hap downhill. I was riding as hard as I could downhill and just couldn't keep up with him. It was crazy I couldn't figure out what the problem was. Finally I yelled at Hap and said somethings gotta be wrong....somethin...it can't be me.... He felt my rear (mt tire) and said mmmm....that's alittle low...he checked it and it had 20 psi (that's almost flat)....then he spun the front tire and it didn't spin freely....oh look at that your brake is dragging! mmm...maybe that's why it felt so difficult! Thank goodness it wasn't me this time anyway! We turned onto a busier highway and had a close call with an RV. We always say "There is always ONE" and this guys was it! He came up behind Hap very close to his wheel. The RV was planning to pass at the same time as a car that was coming toward us. When I do the math....we weren't all going to fit! He slowed just enough to let the car pass coming toward us. He was so close to me when he went by that I could've had a conversation with the passenger, he was THAT close! I just don't understand sometimes. But nobody died and we all got to where we were going. We got to Rt 20 and turned right towards Eugene (where we were going to be in a few days). We stopped at a store for something to eat, we were both starved then headed out again. Another cyclist came up behind us. He had just come over the pass from Sisters. We asked him how the smoke was and he said "oh it wasn't that bad..I only spent two hours where I couldn't see or breath very well...." Then he said he was a student at Oregon U. Oh maybe that explains it........ He was going into Eugene so he went on his way. We were flying down the road when all of a sudden at the same time we realized that we were passing our hotel. It was supposed to be another 5 miles away (downhill). Thank goodness we didn't go blasting past. We had enough climbing for one day thank you very much. The hotel let us do laundry in there washer/dryer. That was really nice of them. We went across the street for a great dinner and watched some football games.

Rainbow, OR - Oakridge, OR

A smoky Couger Reservoir

Couger Reservoir

I need a banana break...................

We had breakfast at the Iron Skillet and then turned off of Rt 20 (that went to Eugene where we would be in a couple of days) and head south on Rt 19 toward Oakridge. I'm not sure what I expected of todays ride but we sure didn't expect what we got! Rt 19 was a narrow winding low traffic road that cut through the forest to Oakridge. We started climbing right away. The smoke from the fire was pretty bad in the am but cleared as we moved further south. We climbed up to Couger Resevoir. It was beautiful although the smoke made for some low visibility. We spent all day climbing, and more climbing. Most of the day we were riding next to a beautiful river. We rode 70 miles today, I don't know how much of it was climbing but I'll just say most of it! Finally we got near the top, we knew we were getting close when it got steeper, and I started my three mph climbing again. The downhill into Oakridge was a welcome relief! When we finally got to Oakridge we couldn't find the hotel and finally we found it at the far end of town. Whew what a day! But we're still smilin.......or at least half of us is! We stopped at the grocery store for some food/beer and had a snack before riding back (to the other end of town........) for a great dinner at a cafe. The plan for tomorrow (Plan A at least) is to put our knobby mt tires back on and hit the trails around Oakridge. Are there any flat trails around here Hap?

Oakridge OR (Mountain bike day! Yeah)


The Flat trail along the river



We stopped at the bike shop and picked up a map of the mt bike trails. But first lets try out that coffee shop, read the paper and just sit. How about that?? We found a trail along the river (it has to be flat doesn't it?) that we started out on. But then.....mmm...what about this trail over here it doesn't look that bad. After all the name of the trail is Flat Creek Trail. How bad can it be? But first you have to find the trail.......how about that GPS Hap? Oh that's right it doesn't have the right maps in it. We have a map it must be around here somewhere. This road goes up the trail must be UP there! You guessed it we started climbing up a trail. Flat Creek trail remember? Not only a long steep climb but it got narrower and narrower. Scary! Don't mess up and fall to the right. It's a long way down. We got to the top, took a power bar break and then had to go down that narrow, steep trail. That was alittle scary but we made it. All in all it was really a nice trail. Our legs were just alittle tired from 12 days of riding, including the last three 30 + miles of climbing EACH day! We're aloud to be tired aren't we?

Oakridge OR - Eugene OR (I told you we would end up here!)




We stopped at Mcy D's for pancakes and then rode west toward Eugene. We had two choices of roads. We could either take the main highway (i.e. smooth road) or a gravel road that went alongside a beautiful reservoir. We opted to leave our mt tires on so of course we went the funnest way (i.e. funnest as defined by the Eaton's). It really was a pretty road. But it of course was hilly, sometimes steep, sometimes not. We climbed all day again of course. Not sure why we would expect anything else. We stopped for a power bar break and just to take in the pretty reservoir. The weather has just been awesome this whole trip. This was really a surprise for riding in Oregon. I thought that Oregon was a wet state. I had planned on rain and temps of maybe 50-60 degrees. Boy was I wrong. We have had sunny warm weather every day. There was only one day that we even had to wear our tights. We didn't have to wear any of our Gortex raingear thank goodness. Perfect weather every day. Remember how I keep saying it could be worse. It would have been very difficult to do some of the climbs we did on the trails/gravel roads in the rain!
When we finally got to the top of the hill, we had a fun downhill to lunch! Let's eat .... again.... pie? You have pie? ..... Bikin sure does make you hungry. We left our lunch stop all fueled up for the trip back into normal society. Back to traffic...cars, and humanity. One thing about Oregon that is just awesome are all of the bike trails, most people are much more tolerant of bikers (except for one RV! I wonder if he knows that he is the one....remember there has to be one!). The ride into Springfield / Eugene was smooth sailing. We even found a bike trail close to the hotel. When we got to the hotel I asked her if there was a store close by. She started to name several places...if you want real food go here..if you want this you could go there....if you want...wait I said.. we just want some beer and chips/salsa. Oh just go across the street. Perfect...thank you very much. Nice hotel! Today was Hap's birthday. Since our birthdays are so close together we just celebrate them together. So today Hap and I are 122 years old. I'll let you do the math! We ordered pasta and salad for dinner. It didn't taste good and we didn't order enough so dinner wasn't the greatest. Sorry about that Hap!

Eugene, OR - Corvallis, OR (the final riding day!)
Breakfast at the hotel was really good. But then we were starved! Getting around Eugene was really easy with all of the bike lanes. Now that's the way to build roads. Before we left town I decided to stop at a mall and buy me some pants to wear to the wedding. Remember the wedding? That's why we came to Oregon! We had shipped a suitcase with clothes to Gail (Hap's sister) and Walt's house. I thought I was going to be wearing a dress but somehow managed to bruise/cut/slash my legs and thought pants would be better. I hate shopping so it didn't take me long! Hap waited for me outside and off we went. Today was the first and only day the weather has been overcast and even a few sprinkles. It was cooler, maybe 50 but eventually the sun came out. We stopped at a cafe for some food. We were hoping for some good pie. But the waiter said we don't have any pie but there's a place across the street that sells pie. Hap said can I go buy some pie and bring it over here. She said sure. He went across the street but came back empty handed. They only sold whole pies. I told him he should've bought one and we could've shared it with everyone in the cafe. Oh well! We got back on the road. We are riding in the Wilminette Valley. We finally found some flat ground! The are has a lot of agricultural farming. We couldn't figure out what the flat fields, that had a layer of gravel on it that looked like it had been rolled. We finally figured out it was sod farms. Corvallis had an amazing amount of bike lanes, very easy to navigate. We arrived at Gail and Walt's and were welcomed with birthday cake (German Chocolate), homeade ice cream (cherry, chocolate). We celebrated our birthday with the other birthday girl, Katie.

We spent three more days in Corvallis, attending the wedding, spending time with family. It is always fun when the Eaton's get together. Bob and Annette's wedding was beautiful. They looked so happy. What a great time!

Oregon 2012

It's been awhile...but we're back.!!!! Stay tuned for another Eaton Adventure Cycling! More to follow............................

Rochester, NY - Franklin, NH and return! Sounds simple doesn't it!

This trip almost didn't happen! We had been talking about visiting a friend in Franklin, NH. But we only had two weeks to work with. We decided to drive to New York, leave the van and do a loop up to NHampshire. We had some friends in Rochester we wanted to see also. And I wanted to see Niagra Falls. So a bike tour was born! We figured we could ride 900-1000 miles during this time. I already had the Northern Tier Bicycle Route from Adventure Cycling. The section I had went through Niagra Falls and went all the way to Bar Harber Maine. We decided to use this map, then head south to Franklin, NH. New York State DOT sent us some "recommended" bike routes across the state that went through Albany NY to Buffalo following the Erie Canal. I will try to put a map somewhere on this page if I can figure out how to do THAT!

You can check out more pictures from the trip at www. flickr.com/outbikin

Just a week prior to leaving Hap's dad passed away. So that made it difficult to do anything let alone get ready for a bike tour. Hap rebuilt the rear wheel (it was damaged from our year long tour), went over the bike, and I got clothes, etc ready. We kept thinking hey we are only going for a two week bike ride. That's nuthin.....seems an awfully short ride...but let's go.

Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1 Rochester-Sodus Point

We left two days later than we thought, on Saturday we loaded the van and headed for New York. We didn't have time to start in Buffalo like we wanted so we drove on to Rochester and spent a great evening with some "ol" friends of Hap's. On Sunday we left the van with them and started out the Erie Canal. Let me just say that we started out great when we got lost within one mile and couldn't find the trail. As we were looking at the book I bought "Cycling the Erie Canal", another cyclist rode up and said the trail starts right over there. We were maybe 50 yards from the start! The trail is really nice but it is a cinder, gravel trail. OK for our tandem but it sure slowed us down. We only rode 20 miles on it at first and then got off it and rode north toward Lake Ontario. Our second oops was when we went to look at our County map book. I pulled it out of the trailer only to find that we had our OHIO county atlas. Does that tell you how this trip was going to go?

It was really great to get on the road again. There isn't anything like being out on the bike, in the hot sun, (it was really HOT, and not that dry heat either), watching out for the crazy drivers, looking for a place to sleep, hoping for a nice shower and of course the most important. What are we going to eat?? Oh and I almost forgot to mention that when you haven't been riding a loaded bike and you first start your legs do say, hello there, I really don't care how much you have ridden! It's a whole different animal.

The route (Seaway Trail) to Sodus Point was fairly hilly, but we did have a good shoulder, low traffic volumn and we were still speaking to each other after the hectic start to this ride. That's always a plus, when you ride a tandem! We stayed at South Shore RV park on Lake Ontario. For dinner we had.....are you ready.....drum roll please....freeze dried beef stew over rice.

It was a beautiful morning for riding. We rode into Sodus Point for breakfast. It was a great spot looking out on the Lake. We saw two cyclists in town but didn't get a chance to speak to them. The route today was alittle hillier, and busier we were still on the Seaway Trail. We noticed a "noise" in our front crank. Mmm.....what's that I say to my mechanic. Turns out he had changed the rear cassette cogs but not the front ones. Isn't that something you should do, says I? Well, sometimes but they looked ok. It's just a little noise. But just in case we stopped at a bike shop in Fulton, NY. They didn't have the right size. The chain ring that was making the noise was the small one in the front which is our Granny gear. For loaded tandem touring this is our most important one. We always want Granny to come out and play when we asked her to. But my mechanic said she should be alright..................I hate it when he says "should be". Never mind that we are heading into the mountains in Vermont and N Hampshire. We stopped for lunch, PBJ at a little park. and then rode on to Texas NY and camped at Jellystone Park with Yogi. Dinner? Couscous and green beans and almonds.

Monday, August 2 Sodus Point, NY-Texas, NY

We woke up to another beautiful day. Another HOT one! We are riding into the Adironadacks now so the terrain is much hillier. Alot of steep, long climbs. I didn't know that I could sweat so much. Several of the hills required alot of standing on the pedals. Granny came out to play thank goodness, but I am not sure she was the happiest. Maybe the noise we are hearing is groaning! We met another cyclist finishing a cross country tour. We are also riding into more forested areas. It was really pretty. The campground we found for the night was Styes Brown Barn Campground in Texas. Of course it was the bottom of the hill. But then it was just following some of the rules of the bike ride: The campground shall be either at the bottom of the climb or at the top! The owner was really nice. He had a great set up. He had a kitchen/dining area/tv room/playroom/banquet hall that he let us use. It was nice. Then I read on the wall that this used to be the dairy barn and we were staying in the cowbarn. After we set up the tent, the couple we saw in Sodus Point showed up. They were from Philly and riding from somewhere in NYork to Philly. We started to cook dinner inside and realized it was pouring down rain. Elliott and Sarah ended up sleeping in the cow barn but we slept in our tent. Dinner tonight? Mac and cheese, salad and hamburgers.

Wednesday, August 4 Texas-Boonville, NY

We started the day with breakfast in the cowbarn. Elliott and Sarah started riding with us in the AM. There were once again alot of steep, rolling hills (hello granny??). There was one very long, steep climb over Blue Mountain that was memorable. The humidity and heat was up there again. As we were riding we heard one of the most feared sounds of biking. Pinnnggg..... Uh oh...that wasn't a broken spoke was it?? Well as a matter of fact yes it was. We said good bye to Elliott and Sarah. It didn't

take Hap long to get it changed more annoying than anything. Standing on the side of the road and sweating is not any fun! But the rest of the day went well. The climbing continued but bike and bodies held up! For dinner we had Rice/beans/carrots/ and Peanut butter sandwiches. We camped at Hideaway hills. It was right on a little lake. I was hoping for a swim, but the lady said oh you are not allowed to swim. It was an ok campground, not that clean but our tent was clean on the inside! We met a couple who said if we needed anything to ask. Hap did his typical sad man walking around the campground looking for a beer routine so he went over to ask his new "friends". He was successful and came back with a cold one! We finally finished watching a movie I had brought "Mr. Limpitt" an old Don Knotts Movie where he turns into a fish. It was one of my favorite movies growing up. I know, what does that say about me? It took us four nites to finish it!

Thursday, August 5 Long Lake, NY-Ticonderoga, NY

It started raining just before we got out of the tent to pack up. So we waited until it slowed down and then rode over to the Long Lake Diner for breakfast. It was about a 4 mile uphill ride in the rain. We were quite the hit in the diner with our "train" sitting out front. One lady came over and asked what we were doing and asked if it was ok if she gave us some brownies she had made. We couldn't be rude? What could we do? We only had a few showers the rest of the day. Then the humidity and heat started again. I think I like riding in the rain better. Just before Ticonderoga we had a major climb (have I mentioned that it was hot?) and then a huge downhill. What a great view from the top. THAT'S why we climbed up here.....There were not any campgrounds around so we decided on a hotel tonight in Ticonderoga. It wasn't fancy.....and you probably wouldn't stay there if you could drive somewhere else. We rode into town (downhill-3 of them!) got our laundry done. Then rode back up the hills (3 of them) to a Walmart and picked up dinner. Rotisserie chicken and salad.

Friday, August 6 Ticonderoga, NY-Killington VT

We rode over to Walmart for breakfast. I had been wanting some yogart and it is difficult to get it when you don't have a refrigerator. From the hotel we rode to the ferry to cross Lake Champlain and go into Vermont. It was a beautiful, sunny hot, humid day. We started climbing as soon as we got off the ferry and didn't stop for the day. We didn't have a Vermont county map book so we stopped at the first store for one. We hadn't decided our exact route down to Franklin (surprise, surprise). We stopped at one town for suggestions at the local info center. And of course we got lost. Hap has renamed us as "Mr and Mrs Missed IT". How many times can you turn this bus around? How did we get here? That's odd.........We broke another spoke today.............mmm...Hap what's that all about? It'll be ok we have spares. We ended up in Rutland, VT on a Friday nite, during rush hour, riding Rt 4 (main road out of town!) and climbing 10 miles to Killington. I don't think anyone passing us that day really liked us very much. I swear we are nice people. We did have a shoulder thank goodness, but it was a very LONG climb. There was a hotel near the top............Hap did you see that.........what.........?Did you......do you...........WHAT?....nevermind! We got over the top of the climb and made it to Gifford Woods State Park just as it was getting dark. I asked if they had a campsite and she said, we only have one do you want it?? Do we want it? NO we WANT to climb back UP the mountain, in the dark and ...........nevermind. The campsite was really nice though. The temperature dropped below 50 degrees that night. It felt like it was freezing after all our hot weather. I put on my heavy shirt and my down vest. I told Hap I was going to wear it at least once since we carried it all that way. But then it only weighs 10 ounces! We got showers, fixed dinner (spaghetti and peas) and went to bed.

Saturday, August 7 Killington, VT-Grafton, NH

For breakfast we had oatmeal and fruit. The weather was hot, humid again. We were on Route 4 for much of the day. There was a nice shoulder. The first part of the ride was downhill (remember the 10 mile climb yesterday). We stopped at a bike shop to buy more spokes (just in case). It is a beautiful area here. We have been up here several times to ski at Killington. We saw several covered bridges. In Woodstock, VT we stopped at a deli for great sandwiches. Woodstock was a very busy town. We saw some kids jumping off a big rock into the river. We rode some nice backroads around Woodstock to get off of Rt 4. We crossed the river in Lebanon and found a rail trail that went all the way to Grafton where we were spending the night with Nancy Carr. It was slow going on the trail. So we finally gave up and got on the road. Nancy lived on a beautiful little lake. It was a little hard to find. But Mr and Mrs Missed it, made it with only a couple of do-overs. Nancy fixed us a wonderful supper of beans and cornbread. We sat out on the deck by the lake to eat.

Sunday, August 8 Grafton, NH-Franklin, NH

We ate breakfast out on the deck and said good bye to Nancy. She gave us directions to Franklin where her mother, Marcia is in Peabody Home an assisted living facility. That is the reason we wanted to ride up here was to see Marcia. She lived in Circleville for years before moving to N. Hampshire to be closer to her daughter. It was another hot sunny day. But we didn't have far to ride. We spent several hours with Marcia, eating lunch and visiting. It was so good to see her. We stayed close in Franklin and went to a nearby hotel. The owner of the hotel was Sarah. She was a hoot. She also had a border collie that looked just like our Katie. Except that hers was much taller. We rode down the street to get our laundry done at the gas station (that' how they do it in NH!). For dinner we ordered a pizza that was delivered. Then we just enjoyed the air conditioning!

Monday, August 9 Franlin, NH-Claresville, VT

So who said bicycling was an exact science? The only thing I have written in my notes today is 2 more broken spokes! How is that possible? Mmm...something must be going on....ya think? It was a hot, humid day today again. Lots of climbing and beautiful scenery. It didn't take Hap long to fix the two broken spokes. But now we are thinking. We only have 3 spokes left! Maybe we need to go to Plan B? Do we have a Plan B? We rode to Wigan State Park (back in VT). It looked like it was going to rain so we opted to stay in a Lean To. We set up our tent underneath a really nice wood Lean to. We cooked stir fry for dinner. It did rain off and on all night. So the extra $7 we spent was worth it. It was a beautiful campsite on the river.

Tuesday, August 10 Claresville-Manchester,VT

We ate oatmeal for breakfast and then headed down river for about 5 miles. Then we turned west and started climbing. It was 10 miles UP! A long very steep climb. A car went by and I said Hap why are they laughing, as we were standing up on the pedals. Within 10 miles we broke another spoke AND found 2 more spokes cracked.....uh oh.... Now this is getting exciting. Hap fixed them, and we spent all day climbing toward Manchester. We stopped at a town and asked where there was a bike shop. They said 15 miles from here in Manchester (where we were going). Hope the wheel holds together until then! What can we do but keep ridin! The roads we were on were really good roads for riding. And the scenery was just awesome. We had another huge climb up to another ski resort and then 10 miles of down into Manchester. But the wheel had another idea. Howabout I break one more spoke (remember we only had one spare one left)? How does that sound? Yes, you guessed it just before the crest of the climb. Think standing on the pedals??? We heard THAT sound again. Pinnnggg..... Instead of fixing this one it wasn't too much out of true Hap said it would be ok to ride easy into town. So we spent 10 miles of incredible downhill, coasting and braking. Don't ya just hate that? We found the bike shop (at the bottom of the hill) and he did have what we needed. Hap made a call to the tandem guru he bought the new rim from and they decided that the "pattern" that Hap used when building the wheel was wrong. More on that later! Hap bought 56 new spokes, we found a hotel about a mile away (uphill ofcourse) and Hap completely rebuilt the wheel. We walked next door for dinner. Whew what a day!

Wednesday, August 11 Manchester, VT-Scotia, NY

We started out the day with Hap riding the bike, without any bags or extra weight (including me) back to the bike shop to use their truing stand to finish up the wheel. Needless to say we didn't start riding until around 11am. I had looked at Google map for our route for the day, Google has a bicycle route option now. Bad choice. Google doesn't recognize either how hilly the route is OR if it paved or not. At the top of one VERY steep climb, the road turned to gravel. This isn't going to work! We turned around got on the closest state highway and headed toward Scotia. That ended up being a bad route also because Rt 40 was the main route in/out of Albany/Cohos NY and there was not a shoulder. And of course it was rush hour. We got off that road asap and found our way back to the route. We were trying to find the start of the Erie Canal. The next thing that happened was that a bridge was out and we ended up making a big detour around it. After all that we finally found the trail in Cohos and then we saw a sign that said Trail Closed-Get off! Well, not exactly but it might as well. We got off the trail and came down onto a very busy highway, somewhere. We didn't know where we were AND it was getting dark. Remember our late start!? A cyclist stopped and gave us some directions. We put on all of our lights. (total of 5 + I had a flashlight in my hand!). We looked like a christmas tree train. Hap asked a guy at a traffic lite if he could see us and he laughed and said oh yeah! By the time we got to the Arrowhead RV campground it was after dark. We quickly set up the tent, walked over to the laundry room to do laundry and called for some pasta from a pizza place that delivered to laundry rooms! No trouble sleeping that night!

Thursday, August 12 Scotia, NY-Herkimer, NY

The day started with breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. Bet you will never hear that from us again! We started out riding the gravel Erie Canal trail but the going was very slow. We got out on Rt 5 to make better progress. There was a nice shoulder and not much traffic. We were going to Utica but stopped short in Herkimer just because it was just so hot. We rode into Herkimer and asked at a nail/beauty shop about a motel. She recommended the America Best inn just up the road. We went down, checked in and walked to Ponderosa for dinner. Then back to the hotel to enjoy the air conditioning.

Friday, August 13 Herkimer, NY-Plainville, NY

We got an early start (for us-9am) with breakfast at Denny's. We really needed to pick up some miles so we decided to get on Rt 5 and not ride the trail today. We were alittle behind schedule due to the wheel problem. The route was flatter than we had been riding. But it was once again very hot and humid. We moved along better than any other day due to a nice tailwind. At 3p we decided to push on another 25 miles (for a total 91 miles for the day) to make up some of the miles. Everything was going great until....we came up to an area of about 10 miles where there was a huge mall. The traffic was very heavy and the people were in a hurry to get to the shopping. It is amazing the chances that people will take in cars. I guess if someone has to die so you can start shopping sooner so be it. I had a really hard time with this section. Sometimes on the back of the tandem because I am not in control of anything, just sitting there watching cars come at you can be very unnerving. But Hap did a great job! Once we got away from there all was good again. We got to Sunset Park campground and set up camp. It was a nice campground on a small lake. We headed over to get water to cook with and was told we couldn't drink the water from there. We had to get water back up hill at the "spring". That would have been good info when we were checking in. So off we went in search of water. A couple came over and asked us over for a bonfire. After our shower, the showers were really dirty and dinner (beef stew, rice) we sat around the fire with about 15 people. During the night Hap got a really bad stomach ache. Not sure what that was about, very unusual. But the next morning he was fine.

Saturday, August 14 Plainsville, NY-Rochester, NY

We started with our usual oatmeal breakfast before heading out on Rt 31 toward Rochester. It was very hot and humid again. We were very glad we had ridden the extra miles the day before because we had a side/headwind and we were both tired from the long day before (7 hours in the saddle!). We were paralleling the Erie Canal trail so we decided to get on it off and on to give us a break from the wind. It was nice being away from the traffic. But the gravel sure slows us down. We stopped for an ice cream break. We had alot of hills towards the end of the day. And then just when you thought it was over, the lady was starting to warm up, yep you guessed it....p.innggg.... Was that a .....? Yes it sure was. We had 30 miles to ride in this trip and now we are once again standing on the side of the road, in the heat, changing a spoke. Ah well....that's bike touring. Hap fixed the wheel and I fixed us PBJ sandwiches. We arrived in Rochester before dark that's the main thing! We went out to an Indian restaurant with Bev and Lance to celebrate our return to the real world.

Wrap up

All in all a great trip. But a difficult one. I think we were alittle spoiled at having time to take our time and not have to do certain distances every day. You can do that when you are on a year long trip. We loved traveling in the New England states, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up there again soon. We didn't have enough time but then that happens. The most important part of this ride for us was visiting with Marcia. It was great to see that she was healthy, happy and very well taken care of. As far as the wheel, well, one thing I that came to mind when all of this happened is that bicycling is NOT an exact science. You just don't know what is going to come up. When we were standing on the side of the road, with only one more spare spoke after breaking 7, our thought was don't panic...just work with what ya got and keep peddlin!

Until next time......

TOTAL MILEAGE: 900 MILES

TOTAL FUN: PRICELESS

My favorite picture

Spray Lake early in the morning!

Details details

Here are some pictures of how we cook our food, filter our water, and pitch our tent!

The rest of the story..........

We made it home yesterday after a very long day of travel. We got up at 4am to get to the airport. Taking 2 bicycles, trailer and gear through customs went pretty smooth. The flights were all good. And the bikes and gear made it home without being damaged. One of the pictures shows Hap pushing the big boxes through the airport.

I wanted to fill you in on our last few days of riding before we got to Banff. We had a good nights sleep beside a beautiful flowing stream at Weary Creek. It was a cold start to the day though. 40's. This day turned out to be the hardest day of the trip. We had to climb over the Continental Divide at Elk Pass. The weather was sunny and warmed up to the 80's. We started on a gravel road and then turned onto a trail that went up over the pass. There was a small tree over the trail and I decided that my bike could jump it! Well, maybe it could....if it wasn't attached to a trailer. I hit the tree and fell over. I wasn't sure where I was falling so as I was going down I grabbed a bush. Hap had to help me get up, I was trapped under my bike. Just after that happened a group of about 6 cyclists were coming down the trail. They stopped and we chatted for awhile. What a small world. They were all from Missoula and one of them was "Julie" that worked at Adventure Cycling. Adventure Cycling is the group that makes maps for cyclists. We have been a member for almost 20 years. One of the others knew one of Hap's old neighbors who now lives in Missoula. And we thought we were in the middle of nowhere! We climbed to the top of the pass. It was a tough climb. There was a picnic table at the top so we stopped for lunch. Then we headed down what we thought was the right trail. Guess what? Yep! We were on the wrong trail. We rode right into a watery bog. I was first and by the time I realized i was riding in water it was too late. There were logs laying across the trail so not only was i through water, I was trying to bump over the logs. So....you guessed it...I got stalled and couldn't go. I knew I was going over so I jumped off. Now I am standing in calf deep black mucky water. Yuch! Hope I get a shower tonight!

We finally reached a gravel road and started down it but we weren't sure which way to go. We turned around and saw BIKE and an arrow written in the road. We figured the group we saw had marked the route. That helped alot. Now we knew which way to go. We ended up in a parking lot in Peter Lougheed Provincal Park. There were several campgrounds but we weren't sure which one had the showers. We had stayed here on another cycling trip several years ago. We went up the road just a short distance and saw a campground sign and a picture of a shower! Yeah! We were at Bolton Campground. We stopped at the campstore to register and then had a heck of a time trying to find our campsite. We finally found it, set up camp, cooked freeze dried spaghetti and headed to the showers. There was a line to get into the showers and when it was my turn a girl said, that shower (that I was going into) only had cold water. I said "it will be better than the cold stream we have been standing in for our bath! It turned out to be a HOT shower.

The next morning was really chilly. Our campsite was in the shade while we were packing up. It was 11am before we finally left. We rode a paved road out of the park and then turned on a wide gravel road. Then the climbing started again. Everyone had told us it would be all downhill after Elk Pass.....right! We saw a moose on the side of the road. There was more traffic on this road and it was pretty dusty. But the scenery was incredible. I hope the pictures show up ok for you to see. There wasn't a suggested campground so we planned to just pull off the trail to camp. Oh I forgot, we were told that we were in the grizzly bear roaming area and to take extra care. Remember bear spray, 30 feet, then lay down in a little ball! We passed a lodge called Mt Enigedene so we stopped just to see if they had any rooms/cabins. It was a nice place for $350/night! But she said that includes dinner and breakfast...no thanks. We kept going hoping to make it to Canyon Dam.

The route turned onto a very narrow trail next to Spray Lake. It was beautiful. But it was also alittle scary. We did alot of singing, talking and whistling......Yo bear..... The trail was fun, more fun without the gear though. We made it to the dam and found a beautiful spot by the lake. We pitched the tent, cooked dinner, and hung our food and cooking gear very high and very far away from the tent. We took alittle sponge bath. Before we got in the tent Hap decided to get more bear prepared. He got to tools out of the tool bag, our big knife, the bear spray and the binoculars. And then said NOW I'm ready. See the picture above.

I slept really good because I knew that Hap was watching out for the bears. Helicopters were constantly flying up and down the lake. Apparently it was to take people up to a lodge on top of the mt.

The next morning we fixed our usual oatmeal, peanut butter and bread for breakfast. The route was now on a gravel road that was closed to vehicles. Check out the scenery from this ride. We rode to Goat Trail that took us into Banff. Before heading down the trail we ate the last of our bread. Guess we better get to town!

Banff Canada

Hi everyone, well here we are in Banff, CA on Saturday, August 22. We actually arrived here on Thursday. Today we are packing the bikes in boxes, tying up lose ends and plan to take a shuttle to Calgary tomorrow. Our flight back to Ohio is Monday morning. I haven't been able to post a note since Sparwood so for now I will tell you what has happened since arriving in Banff. We are in the Banff library and time is limited. On thursday we rode into Banff. The trail into Banff was called the GOAT TRAIL. It was mostly downhill BUT it was also MOSTLY ROCKS! Try that with a mt bike and Trailer or with bags on the bike. Poor Hap didn't have a full suspension bike like mine. Sorry about YOUR luck! I can only say my new Giant Trance bike has been awesome. It has really made a difference in my back. Which by the way is still attached. Back to the story enough about my new toy! The trail was beautiful. I will be posting pictures when we get back to Ohio. So stay tuned! The mts are awesome and the weather was great. It was a good ride into town. We only got lost or should I say had a view "do overs". There were several waterfalls and bridges lining the trail.


We arrived into Banff behind the Banff Hot Springs Hotel. (An impressive sight!). It was very odd to go from riding in the middle of nowhere to a hustling, bustling tourist town. It is very beautifully nestled in between the mts and alongside the Bow River. The first thing we did was to ride to the bike shop to make sure our boxes we had arranged for were there. And yes they were. So Plan A was in force for the moment...... PLAN A: We had arranged with Sister Sonnie who has a Parcel/Post store to have our stuff sent via Fedex to Ohio. We actually arrived in Banff a day earlier than we thought we would. The reason..we ran out of clean clothes and hadn't had a shower for two days! And there was no campground or shower in sight. I called the Driftwood Inn and they said we could check in a day early. OK. PLAN A still a go!





Friday we got up, ate breakfast in the room (oatmeal, bananas and peanut butter). And took off to ride a trail that was recommended by the bike shop. Rundle River Trail. He said that it was very rooty and rocky and you would either love it or find it very frustrating. Doesn't that sound like fun! Of course that's the trail we want. After all we have just ridden 400 miles pulling all our stuff, that should be easy. We took off on our LIGHT, no gear mt bikes. We decided to ride to Canmore Nordic Center. That is where the 1998 Calgary Olympics held their Nordic events. And it is the Olympic training center. The trail was 10 miles long. Piece of cake........... off we go...the first thing that happened was we couldn't find the trail. I hate it when someone says "you can't miss it!" Doesn't he know who we are? We finally found the trail and started UP. Although we didn't realize we were climbing. It was a beautiful trail along the Bow River. And he was right there were lots of rocks and lots of roots. But other than that it was perfect. We rode through tree lined trails with lots of moss on either side, across rock fields, over bridges, one section of very narrow trail just on the EDGE of the river (Jill you wouldn't have liked it!). The last 3 miles or so was in the Nordic Center series of trails which was more double track. But uphill Of course. We went to the Nordic Center for a snack of Pita bread and Hummus (mmm good) and an apple and coke. Then we headed back. Oh did I mention we are still in bear country and there are signs everywhere of watch out for the bears? That makes it alittle more interesting. Hap had his bear spray though so we were safe. He left his noise makers and knife at the hotel (you'll have to wait until the next post to see what that means!). The ride back was even better. We started with a neat, fast downhill (watch out for those roots!). I kept leaving Hap behind on the downhills and then he would catch me on the ups. Remember the full suspension that you said you don't need Hap???? About half way back a girl (and guy) passed us......uh oh .... game on! (does anyone know me very well.. the part about the girl "passing me?" Let's just say that I passed them back in short order and had to wait for Hap at the end of the trail. It was one of the best mt bike rides I have ever had. It was awesome. I wish we had trails like that in Ohio. Oh and the girl......mmm...where did she go? We stopped at the grocery for dinner supplies and headed back to the room. Dinner was a salad, nuts and a turkey sandwich.



So back to PLAN A. Today we called FED EX just to double check what we needed to do. They first told us that they would email us the info, fill out the form, there you go.... Hap got the email, printed it out but didn't quite understand how to fill out the customs form. So he called back. This time they said we could't even use FED EX in Canada unless we had a CANADIAN account. Uh OH! So now what? PLAN B: Take the bikes on the plane with us. We have done this for 20 years. Usually just ride to the airport and they sale you a box for $10, no problem. We thought why are we taking a shuttle why not ride to the airport. It's only 80 miles. We had an extra day to do that. OK. PLAN C: Ride to Calgary Airport, box up the bike and the BOB trailer and fly home. Should we call to make sure they have a box at the airport? Remember that time???? OK, so Hap calls the airline! NO, we don't have any boxes. Now we are at PLAN D: Box the bikes and trailer in Banff, shuttle to Calgary Airport, shuttle to the hotel, shuttle back to the airport at 5am Monday morning. Are the shuttles big enough to carry the bike boxes? Remember that time...? We call the hotel first.....let us check and call you back....yes, but that shuttle doesn't run on Sundays......mmmm....will they fit in a mini van?? Of course we say.....mmm.....yes that will work. Now we call the Banff shuttle....do you take bike boxes? Yes that will be $10.30 for each bike....Alrighty then. Now we have $175 to fly each bike, $175 for the trailer, plus the shuttle......



So here we sit in the library. Everything arranged, bikes in boxes, trailer boxed. Only a few questions left to answer. How do we get three boxes through customs? Can we take our bear spray? What about our stove and fuel bottles? Remember that time....................?



I have to say that even though the cost is higher than expected. This trip has been awesome and worth every penny. We have had an amazing two weeks of just riding and being together. In spite of the cold, wet weather it has been wonderful. We have decided though that it is much easier just to ride home. So look out for the next trip! We don't need no stinkin aeroplane. We for sure would have ridden back into the US if we had known all of this hassle was going to happen. But when you travel like this you just have to be prepared for PLAN A, B, C, or D or ??? But remember it's all good!

I will be posting pictures when we get home and also more about our last four days of riding! So stay tuned.

Sparwood British Columbia Canada

Hi everyone,
We finally made it to a computer to put down some notes from our ride so far. Today is August 15, 2009. But I am going to start our journey at the airport in Kalispell, MT. We made to Montana, our gear that was shipped made it to Montana, we got off the plane ok. But the shuttle that I had arranged to pick us up for the 20 minute drive was not there. Mmm...I called and he said oh your here now! Yes our plane was delayed in Denver but we would still like a ride. Otherwise we are going to have a long walk at 9pm in the dark, down the highway. He finally came about an hour later. He sure was cheerful. Me .... not so much. Have you ever noticed how cheerful people can be when your NOT in the mood? We arrived at the Hilltop Hotel in Kalispell and found our two bikes and extra box of camping gear in our room. We spent a couple of hours putting them together, sorting gear and making plans for PLAN A. (Ride to Whitefish to get on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route). The first day of the ride was a pretty short day. But it gave us a good opportunity to check out our gear and make sure my new rack was working. A short lesson on racks and bikes.....I just got a new full suspension mt bike. Giant Trance. We were hoping that the suspension would help my back! The bike is awesome, I love it. But the color?? White...why does it have to be white? Back to the rack lesson. On all our other trips we have used rear and front racks. But with a front suspension you need a special rack. We rode the last time on the Great Divide with just rear racks. So we thought the same would be ok for this one. Hap did alot of research and found a rack that looked really good for a full suspension bike. The problem is that there are no places to mount the rack with the suspension and my new DISC (yeah!) brakes. Does anyone see where this is leading yet? On the way to Whitefish Hap noticed the rack "wobbling". We both were carrying maybe 50 lbs or so. Oh let me tell you about the traffic. It was a sunday morning and we passed alot of churches. This part of the ride was on regular paved roads. Traffic was whizzing by pretty close. We decided all of the churches must have let out at the same time. And if they happened to kill a cyclist on the way home from church oh well! Sorry about that. That's a sensitive point for me! I cannot get this target off my back. We stopped a couple of times and Hap did what he could to make the rack more rigid. That's why we carry so much extra rope, straps and duck tape! When we got to Whitefish we first stopped at Snappy's Sporting Goods for Bear Spray. It looks like a small fire extinguisher that is actually pepper spray! The directions say to spray it at the bear when he is 30 feet from you! Yeah right! Oh and then lay down in a little ball and "pretend" to be dead. We rode on into town and found all the bike shops closed of course. It was sunday. They gotta ride sometime. We decided we better not leave civilization until we fixed the rack situation. So we found a campground in town, stopped at a subway for sandwiches, took a shower and went to sleep. Hap saw one of the dreaded SPRINKLER HEADS near our tent so he went into the camp office to ask if they went off at nite. She just said "I don't know.." I bet she would if she ever had one go off in the middle of the nite on HER tent. But then after paying $26 to camp we thought maybe we should get a BONUS shower!
Monday, August 8
We woke up to a gorgeous bright sunny day. Temps in the 90's. While we wer packing up a guy from the next site came over. He was driving a big RV BUS. He started talking about the bicyclists on Route 93 (the main route through the area). When I heard him say "You just never know if the bikers are going to stay on that white line or not, ESPECIALLY on those blind corners". I had to walk away (see reason in paragraph number 1!)
So now lets get to the story of the rack. We went to Glacier Cyclery and met the owner Ron, who has done alot of touring. He had just the rack that we wanted for my bike but couldn't find it. Oh and by the way when we took off my rack it had already started to bend and we hadn't even gotten off the paved roads. After much discussion, wavering, hem hawing, figuring, calculating, and lots of other stuff. We ended up buying a new BOB (beast of burden trailer) and renting a front rack for me. This process took about 4 hours! We finally left the shop after 1:30pm. Me now pulling a trailer and a front rack with our sleeping bags. Whew! It seemed like the right thing to do. Because we have a trailer at home we knew this set up would work. We left Whitefish late in the day and started climbing past Whitefish lake. It was beautiful. We were on rough 2 lane dirt, rocky road. A few cars passed us but now many. It was great. It was a difficult ride though. I gave it an eight on Diane's Rigor Scale. We reached Upper Whitefish Lake and set up camp. An awesome campsite beside a crystal clear lake. There was a few people there fishing and kayaking. We even had a picnic table. For dinner we cooked freeze dried Terryaki beef. It wasn't that great but it was food. We sure didn't have any trouble sleeping that night in the 39 degree temps.
The next day we fixed oatmeal for breakfast. The road we were on was pretty rough. We had a couple mile warm up and then started a pretty tough climb. We stopped at Red Meadow Lake for lunch. The downhill leaving the lake was as scary as the going up. I went up the hill at 2.7 mph and down the hill at 3.0 mph! I decided I only need two gears for this ride first and second! Or go or stop! We haven't seen any bears on this ride yet but we did see lots of bear poop. And it is true what they say bears do love those berries! We got to Tuchuck campground late. There was a group of seven guys already there and a couple from Holland. It is fun to have other cyclist to talk to. The girl from Holland came over and said if you want to wash in the stream go ahead, my husband will look away. I laughed and said, it doesn't matter just make sure he doesn't laugh at me! The water was freezing but it sure was nice to get clean! For dinner we had our favorite freeze dried meal of Leonardo de Fettucini. It tasted especially good tonight. I am sure we are burning loads of calories. The Rigor scale was 8 again today!
On August 12 we rode from Tuchuck Campground to Eureka. Oh, I forgot to tell you about the sign at the campground. Watch out for grizzlies. Apparently this is part of the ranging area through Glacier Nat. Park. We are riding just to the west of the park. Good thing we bought that bear spray. Remember 30 feet! And do you THINK I have a tape measure? We woke up to pouring down rain. It is really nasty when you have to pack up in the rain. It was about 45 degrees or so. We packed up fast. For breakfast we ate a couple of power bars. Leaving the campground we immediately started climbing. It was a tough climb in the rain. We climbed for four miles over Whitefish Divide. It was beautiful and once we got warmed up not so bad. We had some wonderful views of Glacier Park too. We saw more bear poop and lots of Huckleberries. When we got to Eureka we decided to stay in a hotel. What a concept. That might have been the best shower I ever had. It rained all day. It finally stopped long enough for me to ride back to a laundry mat. We stopped an ordered a pizza that was delivered to the Ksanka Motel for us. We took everything out of the bags and dried out.
August 13 we rode from Eureka to ELKO. Yes you guessed it we woke up to a downpour again. We stopped and ate a good breakfast and then rode the 8 miles to the Canadian border at Roosville. We were on Hwy 93 for the ride to Elko. It wasn't bad except when it started to rain harder. The canadians have a great idea with their roads also. A berm! What a great idea. When we almost got to Elko it really poured. I could only see a few feet in front of me. I had called a hotel in Elko and make a reservation. Good thing because it was their last room. There was another group of 8 cyclists there looking for a room. They ended up getting a ride to another town. The room had a kitchen which was great. We cooked dinner, emptied all of the bags AGAIN. And dried everything out AGAIN!
August 14 we decided to ride a short day to Fernie. Hoping the weather would change. It was cooler today in the 40's. We had oatmeal and juice for breakfast. The road was a dirt road following the Elk River to Fernie. A pretty ride, but a cold one. We are in a beautiful valley with mts on both sides. The views are great. Wish we could see the tops of the mts.! We got into fernie and stopped at a Bagal shop for a sandwich. I found a room at the Raging Elk Hostel for $55. It was pretty clean but it looked like they were working on it. We had a great view of the Fernie Ski Hill. Looks like a good place to come back to. This area is know for its mt biking and skiing. There were 4 bike shops on Main Street. One of the shops was clear full of the Giant Trance Mt bike like mine. (without the racks! or BOB) I washed all of our clothes out in the sink and we hung clothes lines across the room. Now that was a sight. But I hate to wear dirty clothes. Its kindof funny when we ride like this. I even forgot to bring a comb for my hair. I don't think the bears will even notice! Maybe that's why they have to get within 30 feet! Just after we got to the hostel it really started raining hard again. But by the time we got everything washed and hung up it was just alittle drizzle. We walked back up town and found a burger and a beer. Neither was very good and both were very expensive. We should just have cooked at the hostel. Next time! We also stopped at the grocery store for some supplies. Back at the hostel we played some cards. And somebody won!
August 15-Todays ride...It was alittle brighter this morning but colder. In the 40's when we left. No rain though so that's a bonus. We rode a shorter ride today waiting hopefully for some better weather. Today the ride was all highway. It was beautiful but not too exciting. We are just riding north up this narrow valley with beautiful mts on both sides. We arrived in Sparwood early and went to the Mt View Campground. I washed everything out again. And we finally found a computer at the library to use.
So far the trip has been good. Challenging and problem solving but then that's why we do this isn't it?? Otherwise life would be boring. We saw the best t shirt saying that I think we are going to adopt! Here it is:

Confidence is the feeling you have before you fully understand the situation

Until next time!
Hap and Diane

Continental Divide Trip Part 2 Whitefish, MT-Banff

Hi there, it is time for another trip on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Tomorrow we will be leaving (on a jet plane) to fly into Whitefish, MT. The last time we rode the divide we went south from Whitefish. this trip we are heading north to Banff. Should be a great ride.....that is if you like riding in the middle of nowhere, with nuthin sept the trees, wind, weather and of course the wildlife. But then I think the wildlife out there will be better than the "wildlife" we have been seeing driving on the roads of Pickaway County lately!
Here it is 1pm and we have finished all the packin except for tying up some loose ends, finding plane tickets, reservations we made. You know simple stuff like that. We didn't have much to pack, clothes for a couple days, rain gear, cold weather gear, down jacket, heavy gloves.......hey this isn't MY first rodeo ya know. I 've been out in the wilds before with Hap. At least this time we have a compass. GPS..naw we don't need no stinkin GPS. You know Hap's motto "You can't be lost if you don't care where your going!"
Not sure how much posting I can do on this trip. We aren't taking the computer and the bears probably won't let me use theirs. But I will post as often as possible. Hopefully you'll get them email alert or whatever you call this.

Later. Gotta get some sleep before the sun comes up. Details....details!