Saturday, October 8, 2011
Stephanie had family business to attend to in the eastern part of Oregon and I had originally been attached to the idea of catching a lift with her out to Bend with my Azonic Steelhead (only bike currently working) to ride the Phil's network for the weekend before returning back to Eugene but unfortunately, she was headed to Redmond and not Bend that day. Quickly recovering from that blow, I decided on another plan and a good one at that. In fact, this plan might quite possibly be even more ingenious than the previous laid plans. I thought to myself, "Stephanie was driving the 126... The McKenzie River Trail is on the 126... There is a FREE (for students) bus from the bottom of the McKenzie River Trail back to Eugene. She could.. drop me off.. at the top.. on her way.. no harm done.. and I could ride all the way down and then catch the bus back home, no cost to me! I SHOULD TOTALLY RIDE THE ENTIRE MCKENZIE RIVER TRAIL.
And so I did.
It ended up being a spectacular day. Astonishing as the weather has been pretty darn lousy lately.
I had never been up to Clear Lake before, it was simply gorgeous. I opted for the more difficult trail, southern trail going around Clear Lake. Parts of the lava rock were down right nearly impossible. After that, it was all gravy. I think I dabbed once at Tamolitch (Blue Pool), but otherwise it was a great ride. Made it in just a few minutes over four hours, but stopped and talked to some people and had a nice break at the blue pool. It was an amazing day and I wish I could write more about it. Or post pictures. But I'm not really feeling creative and I didn't take any pictures.. so.. Yes.
Anyways, cheers to Stephanie for giving me a ride up there!
