Sisters to Blue River, OR

Yesterday was one of our "zero" days. This was a picture of the Mule deer who come to be fed every morning outside our hotel rooms. I spent a wonderful day with my sister Liz and my niece Aspen. They drove over to Sisters from Salem. We toured the town, sat by our pool and jacuzzi, and then visited Benny, one of Harley's (her horse's) offspring. After dinner they headed home and I packed up for another day of riding - our last Pass as we cross the Cascades and head to the coast!

It was 42 degrees this morning as we prepared to leave. We headed out of our hotel and turned onto HWY 242, the Old McKenzie Hwy. We would be climbing over the McKenzie Pass this morning. The Pass was just opened the week before, not because of snow, but because of construction. The nice thing about the Old McKenzie Hwy was that trucks and campers over 35' were not allowed to drive on the highway. This made for light traffic. I had on my arm warmers and leg warmers and gloves to keep warm. We started a gradual climb which eventually increased to 5-7%. Off came the gloves and vest, but it was still too cool to remove the arm and leg warmers. We were in forests of Ponderosa Pines. We reached an area just short of the top of the pass where we could see mountain peaks and a lava flow that occurred 1500 years ago!

The view at the top of McKenzie Pass, 5,324' was spectacular! We climbed to the Dee Wright Observatory, which looked like a bunker made of lava rocks. You could view several mountains from the panoramic view. Pictured from L-R Vicky, me, Carolyn, Marilyn, and Karen - with the Three Sisters in the background.

Back on my bike I was ready for the 15 mile descent. We put our jackets back on because the descent would be cooler. The road was in excellent shape after the repairs. The descent went from gradual to steeper grades with hairpin turns in spots. The biggest problem with the descent was that gravel would frequently be in the road, especially in the turns.

With eleven miles to go, we stopped at Proxy Falls, locked our bikes and hiked the 1.25 mile loop trail to the waterfall. Others stopped and joined us, so besides myself, Anne, Peg, Karen, and Barb came along. Pictured - Anne at the trailhead. We were now back in the lush were long and narrow. Back on our bikes again we completed the descent with Anne having a bear cross her path on HWY 242. At mile 37 we turned onto HWY 126 and took off for another detour to the Bill Knapp Hot springs. The hot springs was a pool you could swim in. The McKenzie River went through the area and people were rafting on it. The gardens surrounding the Springs were beautiful, but the "Secret Garden", which we had been told was a must see place, was closed to the public because of a wedding.

Back on HWY 126, we travelled another ten miles or so to a restaurant where several of us had the Northwestern grilled cheese - cheddar, bacon, and apple slices, very good. Across the road was our abode for the night - the Harbick's Country Inn. Tonight my roommate is Nancy from Metter, Georgia. Stats: 49.73 miles, 3hrs. 58min., fastest 28.1, avg. 12.5