The first weekend in June is bike travel weekend, and I had signed up many moons ago to do this. Originally, I thought that I’d still be on the TransAm, but my TransAm sorrows are already well documented in other blog pages on this site. I won’t resurrect a sad episode(s) in my life journeys on a bike. This current ride is one I’ve thought about many times, but not being completely informed as to the nature of the road, figured that an adventure would best reveal what was up. Originally, I wanted to do a ride out of Eugene, OR, traversing the Aufderheide Drive, but I discovered that a portion of the road was closed due a landslide, so a potential disappointment was avoided. For this ride, I was quite sure that three days would be necessary to complete the ride, having a fear that I had lost some of my mojo, and wishing to go lazy. Well, I did go lazy, but other factors were a problem. The weather was beautiful, and the natives were out in droves. Every campsite, or even, possible campsite, were occupied. It would have been easiest to do this during the week, but then I would have missed the “official” bike travel weekend.
I started my journey from Lew and Carol’s house in Happy Valley, OR. Lew is my brother a year older than me. I wished to bypass Estacada by going on backroads from Carver past McIver Park on Springwater Road. Interestingly, I had ridden this as a cycle tour in the early 1970’s with a friend, Ron Hansen. We had no clue what we were doing, and on discovering (at that time) that no overnight camping was allowed in McIver Park, stealth camped in some dude’s front yard a bit down the road from the Park. The next day, we got up to the dam on the Clackamas River, and realized that we were too exhausted to go on. After all, we were overpacked, and not knowing about panniers, were wearing traditional 1970’s framed backpacks. It was not too cool. Contrariwise, this current adventure had all the amenities of current technology, and travel was a joy. Already I could see the mountain (Mt. Hood) in the background.
Leaving Lew and Carol’s
Mt. Hood from Springwater Road.
I continued to ride up the Clackamas River road, discovering what a joy it was, with wide shoulders, courteous drivers, and tons of cyclists, most being road bikers, out for a beautiful day. As a kid, we used to frequently go rafting down the Clackamas, and I didn’t recall any of the rapids, but noted that many expedition guides were out conducting this clients down the river. It was a bit different in the 1970’s, when we would use smaller rafts, expecting to be flipped in the most challenging rapids, yet never wearing life vests. It’s surprising that we survived.
Very nice road shoulders on a beautiful river.
Rapids on the Clackamas River.
Ripplebrook Store and Ranger station
I arrived at Ripplebrook at noon, wasn’t tired, and wasn’t ready to give up for the day, so opted to start up the road to Timothy Lake. It was a beautiful forest road. Nearing Timothy Lake, I discovered that some of the road was NOT paved. There were 7 miles of gravel road, minus ½ mile several miles in that were paved. Regardless of that, there wasn’t a lot of loose gravel, which made travel fairly easy, even though it was steadily a 3-6% uphill grade. Sixteen miles out of Ripplebrook, I finally arrived at Timothy Lake, an artificial lake created by Portland General Electric.
The dam is currently being rebuilt
My tent and bike at Gone Creek campground
Timothy Lake, with Mount Hood rising up in the background. Lots of boats were out on the lake.
I arrived at Timothy Lake at about 4 pm. There are 4 campgrounds circling the south portion of the lake, and like the last time I tried camping at Timothy Lake, the campgrounds were totally full. Like last time, I needed to beg somebody to let me mooch off of their campsite and take a small portion to set up my tent. You can see the tent of my gracious host behind my tent. I could have gone 2 miles further to a horse camp frequently utilized by PCT hikers, but it still ruffled my dander that these campsites do not provide hiker/biker sites. The horse camp did not have a supply of water, which I desperately needed. Oddly, the “drinking water” of the campground had a cloudy white appearance, and so I still used my water filter to clean up the drinking water.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191210093501if_/https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/2750180832
I slept well, and woke up at 5:20 the next morning with nearly cloudless skies. I was on the road to a very chilly morning by 6:20, knowing that I had some serious climbing ahead of me, and thinking that I might make it to Zigzag with some effort. Highway 26 out of Timothy Lake has a pass to go over, that is actually slightly higher in altitude than Government Camp. There is a significant drop, before you start climbing again up to Government Camp. After Government Camp, it is mostly downhill, with just one climb of about 2 miles of 6% grade as one nears Sandy, OR. I arrived in Zigzag by 9:30 in the morning, much earlier than I anticipated, and then Sandy, OR at 11 am. Stopping in Sandy for lunch, I then arrived at Lew and Carol’s house before 1 pm, passing through Boring and Damascus.
Blue Box Pass
Government Camp
The road out of Government Camp, with wide, ample shoulders for bikes.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191210093501if_/https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/embed/2750180863
So, what have I learned on this trip.
- Go light!!!! Reconsider everything that is packed for necessity.
- You haven’t lost your mojo… but, be real when you plan your adventures.
- I’d love to return to this area. It is VERY favorable for cyclists.
- I need to discover better ways to combine hiking and biking. This will possibly include day trips on foot, so need to bring actual hiking shoes. On thishis trip, I brought my Walmart special sandals for camp, but which are horrid to walk with around the camp.
- I’m ready for another adventure!!!!! I haven’t had soreness or discomfort as was so typical in the past after long ventures.
- I’m always ready for others to join me. It just is more fun with somebody else. Sign up!
- I really, really, really love the Northwest. The only other places that tempt me is western Canada/Alaska, and Idaho, Montana, Colorado. I might also be tempted with Cafilornia, like riding the Pacific Coast/Sierra Cascades loop.
- I still love backpacking. I have a number of backpack trips on the works this year, a few with either Jon (son) or Russ (friend) or…. YOU!!!!!
ps, remember, you can click on the photos for a full view.
