Eastern Oregon – Day 14-16; Central Oregon Scenic Bikeways. Camp Creek Campground to Mitchell

Day: 14 – Two Wheeled Cowboys
June 11, 2023

Distance: 83 miles (585 total)
Camp Creek Campground to Spray

Just like we promised ourselves, we got up early to beat the heat.  What we were not anticipating by leaving at 6am is riding in the super cold. We both broke out our full fingered gloves for the first time and rode with our puffy jackets for the first 10 miles.

It was a very foggy morning. On our first bend we were confronted with a couple cows grazing in the road.  As we rode by slowly we apparently scared them into a stampede. They ran with us for a good solid couple of minutes. Stupid cows run away not with.  Eventually we managed to get out in front of the heard and over the cattle guards. But all morning we were in and out of cattle guard areas spooking more cows.

Because I’ve been having trouble dialing in my odometer, it was about 5 miles behind my gps. That means the odometer read 500 miles today instead of yesterday.  Unfortunately it reached 500 miles right in front of a house with a loose dog that started barking at us while we were trying to capture the moment. The dog kept it’s distance but it was still rather unfortunate.  Luckily at some point the owner did come and grab their dog, so we were able to snap a couple pictures while the odometer still read 500.

The morning ride was still stunning, lots of beautiful downhill. And lots of happy scenic cows. We both really enjoyed riding along the river (especially when it’s flowing the same direction that we’re going).

When we got to the highway junction it was time for our uphill into Long Creek. We took a quick break and removed some layers before tackling the approximate 1000ft climb to the top of Ritter Butte. This climb was definitely steep and difficult, but it was exposed to views almost the whole way up. It was cool to look down at the John Day River middle fork, knowing we had just been down there.

Long Creek was at the top of the plateau. So there was still 9 miles to get to Long Creek after reaching the summit, but it was mostly flat beautiful prairie.

In town we stopped at the Long Creek Mercantile and treated ourselves to pancakes! We had barely made the “breakfast” cutoff time by about 20 min. The breakfast for lunch was exactly what we needed. We ended up staying at the Long Creek Mercantile for about an hour and a half enjoying the food, wifi, restrooms, and shop.

Fueled up on syrup and carbs, we were ready to tackle the baby climbs out of Long Creek.  We got moo-ed at as we slowly climbed the hill. I’m not sure if the cows were cheering us on, or telling us to leave, but either way there were some crazy noises coming from them.

Once we hit the real downhill (there was a tricky false downhill first) the real magic began.  It was about a 12 mile downhill into Monument, and it was just absolutely stunning. The landscape was gorgeous. The downhill was fast. I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked simply because I didn’t want to stop, and I didn’t want to use a hand to lose access to a brake.  But man, this downhill is a competitor for that downhill into Dayville. So good.

Monument was our original goal for the day at around 57miles. But we rolled in at 2:30 and were feeling pretty strong after that sweet downhill and since the upcoming miles were mostly downhill as well, instead of stopping for the night we stopped for an ice cream and rest break and then carried on.

The next 14 miles to Kimberly felt slow, but somehow magically every time we’d check our speed it would be like 12mph. What a good problem to have.

Since it was the hottest part of the day we were pretty regimented with taking a shade break every 30 min max to keep our bodies cooler. We took a longer break at Lone Pine Recreation Area (our first bailout campground after Monument) and used the river access opportunity to dip our hats, bandanas, shirts, and sun sleeves in the North Fork of the John Day. Pure bliss.

For the last 15 miles into Spray we switched from riding the Old West Scenic Bikeway to the Painted Hills Scenic Bikeway. A head wind had picked up making even the downhill feel difficult. We tried to convince ourselves that the wind was at least keeping us cool. But it was still a headwind.

Overall I was very pleased with the Old West Scenic Bikeway. Technically we didn’t ride the western edge of it, but based on the parts we did ride, it was spectacular. 10/10 would ride again.

Unfortunately we did have one car that did not give us enough space. It scared the bajeezus out of me as they passed within an arms reach of me, and then shortly after, Andrew. Luckily nothing bad happened, but damn I wish drivers would remember the size and speed of their giant metal death machines.

Tonight we’re camping at the Spray Riverfront City Park. It’s pretty basic, but has water and trash cans in addition to the pit toilets, fire pits and tables. Stepping it up from the previous night. It also had access to the John Day River which we of course jumped in as soon as we arrived to cool ourselves off and sorta bathe ourselves. Slightly less stinky. Count it.

Oh and did I mention, this is officially the longest single ride we’ve ever done! New record! Go team.

What We Ate

Breakfast: Oatmeal and coffee
2nd Breakfast: Protein bar and trail mix
Lunch: Pancakes, hash browns, 2 eggs, finally not instant coffee
Dinner: Tasty bites Indian food (vindaloo, vegatable korma, madras lentils) with couscous
Snacks: Bars, trail mix, honey stroopwaffles, nerds gummy clusters, fruit snacks, ice cream

Day: 15 – Too Damn Hot
June 12, 2023

Distance: 37 miles (622 total)
Spray to Spoke’n Hostel, Mitchell

We rolled out of camp around 6:15am knowing today would be hot (high of 88). Unfortunately 6:15 wasn’t early enough because by 7:30 we were already over heated.

We started in good spirits while it was still cool and mostly downhill. We actually rolled into Service Creek before their grocery store was open.  We debated waiting for them to open to grab a Gatorade for the road, but knowing small town shops, the hours always come with a huge “ish” asterisk, so we decided to carry on Gatorade-less rather than wait.

We had three big climbs today. Luckily each hill slightly shorter than the last: 1400ft, 1000ft, 600ft.  Honestly I don’t remember a whole lot from the ride. I mostly spent the entire time staring at the asphalt trying to convince myself we were almost to the top. I tried to remind myself to look at the scenery, but the heat was really wearing me out today.

We took a shade break at every 300ft of elevation to try and break up the climb. (I usually also took a bonus mini shade break halfway between).  The downhills were always too short, but they did at least do a little to cool us off.

Because it was so hot neither of us were particularly keen on eating our packed bean burrito lunch, so instead we pounded on Clif bars all morning and pushed through to Mitchell. Once in Mitchell we did end up getting burgers, beers, and beds, but the mantra didn’t have the same motivation that it did the first time we came through.  Instead we struggled our way onward convincing ourselves it actually was a good idea to leave the shade and ride on after every very much needed break.

Luckily the last 7 miles into town were mostly all downhill. There was one stupid steep like 100ft hill, but we don’t need to talk about that. We were able to appreciate the views a little more on the downhill. And the added downhill breeze made a world of difference to the ride enjoyment.

We arrived at the hostel just before 1, where to our delight, Jalet had cold lemonade and freshly baked cookies welcoming us.  We spent some time chatting in the air conditioning before realizing we needed a real lunch, so we headed back over to Tiger Town for beers and veggie burgers.

The afternoon was pretty chill, mostly recovering from the heat. It was also nice to take a real shower; it’s been a while.

What We Ate

Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee
2nd Breakfast: peanut butter burrito with almonds
Lunch: veggie burgers and fries with a beer each (Tiger Town)
Dinner: chili peanut noodles
Snacks: dates, trail mix, so many cliff bars, stroopwaffles, fruit snacks, cookies

Day: 16 –  Rest Day
June 13, 2023

Distance: 0 miles (622 total)
Spoke’n Hostel, Mitchell

Rest days are the best days. First we slept in to our heart’s content (which was still only like 7am but it was still awesome). 

We mostly lounged about and chit chatted throughout the morning. We did also do a couple of chores like laundry and dish washing (especially our nasty water bottles).  We also planned out our upcoming days including camping reservations at Belknap Hot Springs! (Since we’ll be landing on a weekend they have a two night minimum, so twist my arm, I guess we’ll have to be there two nights). 

Before we knew it it was already lunch time! We made our way over to the Mitchell grocery store to stock up for tomorrow and figure out lunch.

The afternoon was off and on movie watching, “Inspired to Ride”, and bike maintenance. Andrew got my dynamo working again with tape and zip ties! (Hopefully the fix lasts!).  He also did some shift adjustment, and some chain lubing. We’re just limping our bikes along planning to get a full overhaul service once we get back to Portland.

What We Ate

Breakfast: Cheerios, Texas toast and coffee
2nd Breakfast: N/A – our hobbit breatheren would be ashamed of us
Lunch: Sweet potato tofu curry
Dinner: We split a veggie chik’n salad and beyond burger with curly fries and had a beer each (Tiger Town)
Snacks: Cookies, baby corn, ice cream, potato chips

Can O’ Beans Count: 8

Ice Cream Count: 9 (in a surprising turn of events overtaking the beans, but who will win? Only time will tell)

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