Oregon Scenic Bikeways: Our Journey on the Sherar’s Falls Loop
Being the pro-bike state that it is, Oregon was the first state to implement scenic “bikeways” (and to my knowledge may still be the only state with them, although it does appear like Washington is in the process of adding some). These bikeways, are similar to scenic ‘byways’ but they are specifically designed to promote road cyclists. They range in length, difficulty, and traffic, but they all come with easy to follow signs and spectacular views. I hope to one day do them all! As of writing this post there are 17 in Oregon but, in talking to people, it sounds like they’re constantly adding new ones so we better get to riding if we want to keep up.
Since we’re still at the tail-end of the Covid-19 pandemic, to celebrate my birthday I decided I wanted to tackle one of these scenic bikeways. Since we are still early in our training for our upcoming Pacific Coast Tour, I wanted to choose one of the shorter routes. I also wanted to see something different from what we usually see in the Portland area, but I didn’t want to drive TOO far. The Sherar’s Falls loop fit the bill perfectly. We decided to make a day of it, taking our time on the ride and stopping to cook lunch at the White River Falls.
Distance: 33 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation Gain: 1700ft
Start/End: Maupin, OR
Direction: CCW
Drive time: 2 hrs from Portland
Landscape: High desert canyons, fields of sage bush, river rapids, and waterfalls.
Date: Sunday, April 25, 2021
Weather: High 60’s, Partially Cloudy
(AKA perfect for an exposed desert ride)
Being located right off the Deschutes River, Maupin is known for its fly fishing and white water rafting. While we saw lots of fisher-people enjoying the weather, we didn’t see any white water rafters – unless you count that group of ducks bobbing and weaving their way through the surf. I was excited to watch them take on the Sherar’s Falls but having wings (and brains I guess), they bailed at the last moment. Cowards.
There is much debate as to which direction you should take the loop. In the end we opted for CCW because that direction cited less traffic on the uphills (ie when we’re going really slow), and it allowed for a sweet downhill to finish up the ride. However, if it were hotter out I would consider going the other way so that you end along the river, and could easily cool off in the crystal clear water as needed.
Our Ride
River Canyons:
Instead of the official start location, at the Imperial River Company, we ended up parking at the Maupin Civic Center at the high side of town. They had public restrooms, a bike stand, and picnic tables scattered across a lawn of greenery – perfect for enjoying our premade breakfast burritos before beginning our adventure.
The ride started off really easy, we zoomed down the hill through town towards the river and across the bridge. We came across some sort of bike event and were scared for half a second that we had chosen a bad day, but luckily our paths only crossed for maybe a quarter of a mile. As we rounded the bend and started heading north along the Deschutes river, we could tell this was going to be a cool ride. The ride started off through impressive river canyon walls dotted with various wildflowers.
Feeling confident with the nonexistent traffic, I decided to whip out my phone and take some in-action snapshots while we road. If you didn’t catch my hint of foreshadowing, I crashed my bike not even 2 miles into our ride! In my defense it was while I was trying to put my phone away, not while I was taking photos. As I grabbed the zipper to shut my handlebar bag I ended up yanking the handlebars sideways steering me right into Andrew’s back tire. Suddenly I was on the ground and feeling stupid. Luckily the injuries were minor, and there were only a few scratches on Pablo (my bike’s name, short for Pablano, cause he’s green and a Salsa). My knee was a little skidded, and there was some minor bruising up my left side, along with the occasional muscle twinge in my arm – but nothing that made me feel the need to even consider bailing on the rest of the ride. So we rode on. Andrew did take away my “selfy-while-riding privilege” for the ride though.
We continued up the river still in awe of our unique surroundings, stopping to occasionally watch the fishers and snap some photos. We also saw a gang of Dodge Challengers rushing down the road on the far side of the highway. We were nervous they would be rounding the corner and zipping past us, but I guess they had other places to be. (We did eventually turn onto the road they had been on, and I pointed out to Andrew that my crash had bought us the extra time we needed to save us from being on the road right next to them!)
Waterfalls:
The Sherar’s Falls themselves were really neat – they weren’t your typical iconic waterfall, but they still looked very intense. I would not want to be in the water there. They installed a fish ladder as well, so we’ll have to come back in the fall to watch the Salmon!
After we were done ogling at the falls, we had our first ascent for the day. We started making our way out of the river canyon and into the high dessert plains. After about 500ft of climb we were rewarded with a brief downhill / flat into the White River Falls State Park. These falls were your stereotypical jaw dropping falls. Being in America, they had been turned into a dam at some point, but then later abandoned after major dams on the Columbia River were built.
We decided these falls would be the perfect spot to stop for lunch. Andrew has been experimenting with meals in preparation for our long tour, so he opted to improvise one of our regular meals (pasta fazool) to see how it would work while camping. Beans for the protein plus pasta for the carbs, it was the perfect combination of fuel and flavor. And from the perspective of the person who didn’t do any of the cooking, it looked relatively easy as well! Since it was my birthday trip, Andrew had also bought us some Moonstruck chocolate truffles to enjoy with our lunch.
Scenic Views:
As we left the State Park, the sky was starting to get dark. There were ominous clouds looming in the distance with visible rain streaks– and we were heading straight towards them! There wasn’t much we could do so we just kept going, hoping the Cascades would continue to catch all the rain. Eventually we did turn Southward, and as we did the sky seemed to get a little brighter. I guess they aren’t lying when they boast 300 days of sunshine over there.
Our second climb (1000ft) was a killer. I pedaled my way slowly up and Andrew grew impatient with my pace having to constantly wait on me (a problem we don’t seem to have on the tandem). Andrew’s back tire also started to leak air, but luckily it was a slow enough leak, he only had to stop a few times to pump it up, and not actually need to change or patch it. While the uphill climb was rough, we did have a bit of a tailwind encouraging us along, and the views over the edge of the road were motivational. I wish the car drivers would have used their whole second lane to pass us though instead of wooshing past way too close – but c’est la vie – something we’ll have to get used to I suppose.
When we reached the top of the hill we turned onto a street called Juniper Flat. As you can imagine it was dotted with Juniper’s, and relatively flat. (Although there was one slight uphill that I wasn’t happy to come upon.) Here we had what would have been amazing views of Mt Hood. There was just enough gaps in the clouds for us to locate it, but not much else. And those gaps didn’t last long either.
After turning off Juniper Flat we had the most amazing downhill coast into Maupin. This was the road we had driven in town, so we knew it was coming. Rolling hills, sage brush, and wildflowers dotted the landscape to the horizon, oh and some giant power lines, but we can photo shop those out right?
Summary
Overall the ride was pretty amazing. I would gladly do it again and likely will. It was nice to see a different landscape, and the ride was a good level of distance/difficulty considering we just started training for our upcoming Pacific Coast tour. Starting in town was really nice – and allowed for celebratory treats in Maupin after we finished! I was excited to take the single bikes out on an adventure, especially since we’ll have to start racking up miles on the tandem – apparently it can be unwieldy and Andrew wants more practice handling. I don’t know what his problem is – I find the tandem way easier.
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