TAT 2018 Post 10 07/06/18

Day 6 of 9 completed. Departed John Day, OR at 5:15 am heading to Prineville, OR via 165 miles through the woods.

Once again, we broke up into 2 groups primarily because of the departure time. Mike, Jeff and Terry wanted to start early so we would be off the trail before the afternoon heat. Steve, Jason, Woodrow and Matty wanted to have breakfast and leave several hours later.

As for the route, it is primarily in the Oregon mountains with lots of trails of different degrees of difficulty. Lots of gravel roads as usual but Sam (TAT guru) has continued to throw in some more difficult stretches to keep us alert. Mostly rough tracks with rocks, holes and even some mud through very dense forest in narrow valleys.

We are amazed that we very rarely see ANYONE while in the forest. Occasionally a single camper but only when we were close to the start or the end near civilization. We were in the woods for 100 miles today and all alone the whole time.

The trail can be extremely rough in places and you have to consider how much strain do you want to put on your bike considering that a breakdown could mean a very difficult extraction of the broken bike and its rider. Some of the guys like to blast through these sections but I prefer to back the speed down to put less stress on tires and rims. You think of these things when you are 50 miles deep in the woods and nowhere close to help.

It is beautiful country and outdoor lovers living here have so much to appreciate.

As I stated earlier, three of us left at 5:15 am just as dawn began. It was in the hi 40’s and expected to warm up later in the day. We all dressed in our warm gear and headed west. It took us 6 hours to ride the 165 miles and we arrived in Prineville, OR around 11:15. Although it was relatively warm at the start it quickly got colder the higher we rode into the mountains.  It actually got down to 32 degrees at one point; lower than we had expected. Jeff has a thermometer on his GPS so we are sure of the measurement. We had the clothes to deal with this but were sure glad when the temp began to rise later in the morning. As for the early arrival; the temperature was getting much warmer just as we got to the motel, so I would still do it again.

The 2^nd group arrived at the motel several hours later with only minor issues from what they tell me.

One disadvantage of the early departure was the likelihood of deer or some other critter jumping in our path. We did see several deer but kept a sharp eye out and speeds low until later in the morning.

Misc events:

I’m number 3 in trail through some deep forest when Jeff says over the intercom “Get a picture of that bent over tree”. I immediately locked up both tires trying to stop in time to get the picture and caused the bike to skid off the road to the right. As it went over the edge I just stepped off the bike and let it slide down. What I didn’t consider was I was in pretty deep gravel at the time so big mistake for me. I included the picture of the stupid tree and my bike in the ditch.

I mentioned in a previous post that Terry swears he saw a wolf cross his path on one of the stretches. Well today he is in the lead in some heavy forest and he says, “some big animal just went into the brush just ahead of me, I think it was a moose!” Neither Jeff nor I saw said moose but in the middle of the path were two big, I mean real big, piles of fresh crap. This is more evidence than he had with the wolf story so once again we give him credit for an unknown big animal sighting.

All I saw earlier in the day was a cayote running across a field, not nearly as exciting.

We did see lots of cows on and near the road since we continually rode over cattle guards. At one point we are on a track that has a steep side going up on one side and down on the other and there were 6 or 7 cows in the middle of the road. Terry eased up and started herding them down the road with his bike by revving the engine. It worked, and they finally trotted off to one side or the other. Terry needs a cowboy hat to complete his riding clothing.

Somewhere deep in the woods Jeff discovers he had a chain guide that had lost its bolt and needed fixing. Of course, he pulls a box of metric bolts out of his gear bag and has just the right one to do the job. I want him with me on all adventure trips because he carries his whole garage in those bags.

We did come up on a big tree across the trail but easily got around it through the woods.

BTW, thanks again Marty for being at our refuel spot waiting patiently for us even though the groups were several hours apart.

Tomorrow should be an easy day; I’ve said that before. 125 miles to Crescent, OR with what looks like half in open country and half in the woods. Weather continues to be excellent so not sure yet of our departure times or group configuration.

Enjoy the pics.

Ride Safe!