[trip-list] Over the Cascades

[drewish@katherinehouse.com]

OAKRIDGE, OR 07/02/02 - I went to sleep with coyotees howling last night and this morning woke up with two deer screwing around next to my tent. Three cheers for nature.

On the road I was just crawling along until I stopped and adjusted my seat. I'd messed with it trying to find a position that put less strain on my knee right after it started hurting. I should have left it alone, as soon as I put it back everything fell into place and the miles just started rolling by.

ST-58 goes right past Odell Lake before cresting the Cascades at  Willamette Summit. Odell Lake was made famous to most of my generation by an educational game of the same name in which you played a fish fighting for your life. It's a pretty lake but what really blew me away was the smell. It was like going to a craft show with all the scents of popuree [yeah, spellcheck that] drifting around. I must have looked like a total jackass riding along sniffing with my nose up in the air.

Dropping down the other side of the Cascade Mountains made me glad I was coming from 4000ft instead of 400ft. Almost all afternoon was steep downhill, it would have been great riding except a headwind came up and forced me to pedal the entire time to keep any speed.

The highway paralles Salt Creek for a few miles. I kept looking at it and thinking how the last shower I'd had was way back in Klamath Falls. Let me tell you those crystal clear mountain streams are freezing, I screamed like a little girl and couldn't even get in above my knees. I ended up alternating between splashing myself and sqweeling.

I stopped in Oakridge got dinner and a beer (they had Black Butte Porter on tap, I couldn't resist) then headed down the highway looking for a place to camp. I scored big time. I came across a closed Forest Service campground. I rode back and forth a couple of times just admiring the moss hanging from the trees, the rocks in the creek, the hand pump well, the bathrooms were even unlocked. It was all mine, and I didn't have to feel guilty about not paying.

andrew

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