Days 94 – 114: climbing high in the Cascades

After taking two weeks off the bicycles to spend time with family and drop Katy off for the remainder of the trip, we departed Tacoma, Washington and made our way over the Cascade mountains several times as we headed east and then south toward Crater Lake. 

August 21 – September 10, 2024

• Day 94 – Tacoma, WA to Emunclaw – 41 miles/1400’ climbing
• Day 95 – Emunclaw to Remote camp – 32 miles/3200’ 
• Day 96 – Remote camp to Little Nachas – 24 miles/1600’ 
• Day 97 – Little Nachas to Yakima – 50 miles/290’
• Day 98 – Yakima to Sunnyside – 35 miles/840’
• Day 99 – Sunnyside to Hermiston, Oregon – 63 miles/2700’
• Day 100 – Rest day
• Day 101 – Hermiston to Heppner – 47 miles/2900’ 
• Day 102 – Heppner to Condon – 44 miles/4200′
• Day 103 – Condon to Service Creek – 39 miles/2500’
• Day 104 – Service Creek to Mitchell – 25 miles/3200’
• Day 105 – Mitchell to Prineville – 48 miles/2500’
• Day 106 – Prineville to (north) Bend – 32 miles/1240′ 
• Day 107 – Rest-ish day in Bend – 11 miles/600′
• Day 108 – Bend to Quinn River – 49 miles/3400′
• Day 109 – Quinn River to Chemult – 47 miles/2000′
• Day 110 – Chemult to N. Crater Lake – 26 miles/1400′
• Day 111 – Crater Lake “Ride the Rim” – 39 miles/4100′
• Day 112 – Crater Lake to Mill Creek – 28 miles/280′
• Day 113 – Mill Creek to North Fork – 47 miles/4000′
• Day 114 – North Fork to Ashland – 30 miles/1600′

The Sanders hosted us before flying to the east coast, kept our bikes for two weeks while we were gone, received our packages and then hosted us again on our return to the Seattle area – THANK YOU!

After leaving Tacoma, we had a very tough climb after only one day back on the bikes – we needed to gain 5,000 feet of elevation to get over the Cascade Mountains most of which was in the last 10 miles of the planned route. Needless to say, we didn’t make it and set up a remote camp after climbing 3300 feet. The next day, after packing up a wet camp, we continued the journey over the pass and whoa this was the toughest climb we had attempted to date because of the route – climbing a gravel road at 13% grade was challenging enough and then we found ourselves on a 4-wheeler trial that ended up being 2 miles of hike-a-bike through roots, rocks, mud & a deeply rutted trail filled with water in many sections. Did we mention it was also cold and raining? 

Eventually we made it to Naches Pass where we quickly changed into some dry layers and prepared for the steep descent. The downhill was almost as challenging as the brutal uphill because of large rocks we had to avoid – pulling the brakes the entire way down required stopping just to give our forearms and hands some respite. 

After 11 miles in total on gravel and 4-wheeler trail we were ecstatic to make it back to pavement and had a glorious downhill ride through Wenatchee National Forest, until it started to rain 🙁 

We pulled into Little Naches campground cold, wet, and hoping for a campsite – the campground hosts said they just had a cancelation (yay!) and we were treated to a creekside site just as the rain subsided. We spend the next several hours attempting to dry our gear while making a hot meal to warm back up. 

The next day we biked almost all downhill into the Yakima Valley where we observed a robust agricultural region growing apples, pears and hops among many other crops.

From the wet farming in the Yakima Valley we made our way up to the high desert plateau toward Hermiston, Oregon where “dry farming” occurs to grow wheat. Since no supplemental irrigation is utilized it takes two years to grow one wheat crop!

We were so trilled to arrive at the home of Sam & Martie after a long hot day of cycling with no shade to give us respite from the intense sun. They were amazing hosts and spoiled us with showers, laundry, A/C, space & tools for bike work, delicious meals, and great conversation with fellow adventurers – THANK YOU!!!

After taking a rest day we began heading through Eastern Oregon making our way down to Crater Lake National Park. We had several tough days of cycling as another heat wave came through – when we knew it would be hot we set an alarm to pack up before sunrise and then start pedaling at daylight. We rode through the Columbia Plateau, the Blue Mountains, the Painted Hills and eventually making our way back to the Cascade Range – one fellow cyclist said we were “crazy to do all that extra elevation” but we enjoyed seeing the vast, remote, agrarian part of Oregon.

Eastern Oregon on our way toward the Painted Hills – as we started moving west out of the high desert we began seeing more trees.

In Prineville, Oregon we were hosted by Barbara, a graduate school classmate of Dustin’s, who he hadn’t seen in 20 years. It was a fun evening of catching up and remembering the fun times they’d had together in Berkeley. We were able to wash our salty clothes too! Thanks Barbara 🙂

At the Redmond, Oregon Starbucks we planned the next week’s segment and realized we likely would be able to make it to Crater Lake National Park for “Ride the Rim” day – this is a day where they close part of the rim drive to vehicles and it is inundated by bicycles. We had 6 days to make it to Crater Lake!

Our next stop was in Bend, Oregon – the first night we were hosted by Deb & Bob, a couple who had retired to Bend from Fairbanks whom we had never met before. They had hosted several Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) hikers previously and were fabulous in anticipating the needs of grimy, long distance travelers. Deb mended Dustin’s gloves & Patricia’s shirts while Bob rode with us to downtown Bend and provided sage advice on a bicycle route toward Crater Lake. Thank you Bob & Deb!

We took a much needed rest day in very cycle-friendly Bend where we met several people curious about the trip but honestly we were just exhausted and wanted to crash – at one point Patricia said, “We need to get these bikes inside and go incognito for a while”. Bend had such a wonderful vibe of curious, outdoor enthusiasts.

From Bend we spent the next three days making progress toward Crater Lake. It was still uncertain if the north entrance would be open because fire crews had been working on “creating a defensible space” in the area adjacent to the road. From what we understood the north entrance would most likely be opened before the “Ride the Rim” day so we plodded along in the direction of Crater Lake.

Patricia climbing around Mount Bachelor outside of Bend, Oregon, USA.

Much of the area south of Bend we rode through was formed from previous volcanic activity – this made for interesting geology and affected our night time temperatures. This land area is comprised of mainly pumice stone (which is 80% or more air) and does not retain heat. Previously in central and eastern Oregon there was mainly basalt rim rock which held the day’s heat and did not cool down very much at night. Now, with mainly pumice, camping at night was nice and cool.

Much of the route toward Crater Lake followed the very lightly traveled Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway which was a delight to cycle. Switching to busier highways with limited shoulder after such glorious riding was tough – no pictures of this because we’re totally focused on keeping the bikes away from cars & trucks!

We arrived at the north entrance of Crater Lake on a very hot (101F) day before “Ride the Rim” to learn that the fire crews were still working and the entrance wouldn’t be opened until 7pm that evening. We knew this was a possibility and had filled with water and “iced-up” at a gas station prior. Not wanting to back-track we tucked into the woods and attempted to find shade to wait out the road opening. Finally, we decided to remote camp in the woods and get an early start, when it was much cooler, to join “Ride the Rim”.

The next morning we were up and packed before sunrise to get an early start to cycle the 10 miles (uphill all the way!) to the rim of Crater Lake. We were passed by many cars, most of which were carrying bicycles, on the way up to the rim and even joined by a few die-hard cyclists. In the end, approximately 2,000 bicyclists participated in the event and it was epic! We are so glad we were able to make this work in our trip.

After the rim ride we camped at Crater Lake and were disappointed to learn many of the services we were expecting were lacking/broken – specifically showers, laundry, and food! Originally thinking we were to spend two nights we left after only one night because of limited services.

We’re now to the point in the trip that our gear is needing to be repaired or replaced. When one wears almost the same thing each day for this type of abusive travel and launders often, clothing breakdown is to be expected. We’re certainly learning what gear is up for the challenge, and which gear we won’t buy again! Most of our kit is holding up superbly however there are some astonishingly worn pieces: here are a few pictures of our degrading gear.

We are about to head across the state border into California. Determining our future route has proven challenging with fires, climbing and potential snow. When we were cycling in Alaska, the Yukon, and British Columbia there was essentially only one choice of route and it was so easy – now we have too many options we find ourselves in “analysis paralysis” mode often. As long as we keep heading south we’ll continue to make progress one pedal at a time.

We miss our little 4-legger, Katy, like crazy but have been thankful on several occasions when she has not been with us. We’ve pedaled through brutally hot temperatures on several days and we can’t imagine ensuring her hydration as well as our own. We get picture updates almost daily which we love!

Thank you to everyone who leaves a comment (here or on social media) – we do read them all, even if we don’t respond!

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