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Good weekend ender – Mt Bachelor opens

Ana, Laurie, Max kicking itWoo Hoo! The mountain finally opened today. It was a good day for sure – and long awaited by many.
By 8 am the Mt Bachelor webcam revealed that a select group was already waiting at the base of the Pine Martin lift for first runs – we were in our PJs – all comfy cozy. Early mornings and Sundays are meant for relaxation – unless of course the mountain gets epic snowfall the night before.

My only plans for this day involved heading out to thump to meet my bud Danno for a morning cup and cruising up to the mountain for some runs. Not bad for a Sunday.

After coffee it was off to the mountain! We arrived just after eleven and the lines were minimal, the snow was falling and the sky was clearing – at times. The kids had a blast and did really well. After about five runs and two hot chocolates we were ready to head home for some Pizza Mondo, beers, movies, maybe some  Halo 3 and a hot tub! Well – Laurie and I were ready for the beers part, the kids not so much.

It was a good day for sure. The only thing that would have made it great was all of us hopping in the hot tub after our day on the hill – like last year – this year Max will have to skip out on the hot tub action because of his burns and new skin, but there’s always next year. We made sure he was totally covered when we hit the mountain today, we got him a cool new old-school ski mask that covers his whole face – bank robber style. Let it snow, let it now, let it snow.

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Last Cog Wild Shuttle – From Swampy to Parilla

Cog Wild provided regular Shuttle runs all summer that would depart from the Cascade Lakes Brewing Co parking lot at 5pm every Tuesday and Thursday. Aaron and I decided to embark on their last one for 2008.

It was a short ride up to Swampy, I had a chance to catch up w/ an old friend – original owner/starter upper of Cog Wild – Woody – he drove us up with daughter riding shotgun. There was another rider with us (Peter) who was going to Dutchman, and would no doubt be riding the last hour or so in the dark – sweet.

The ride was fun. One of the highlights (next to wiping out a few times) was hearing Aaron scream in terror as he got stung by a bee (he got an ouchy) on the trail. The bee apparently was startled when I rode by and decided to fly into his shorts and sting him in the thigh – nice. Regardless of being stung he rode on – only to endure a whole different type of pain and suffering. Good times, good times.

The ride did offer up more than uphill climbs and twisty turns, there were the whoops – everyone loves the whoops – it’s like a BMX course tucked away in the Deschutes Forest waiting for kids of all ages to bomb down them! The views – great views, whether your riding in the dense wooded forest, popping out into an open meadow, cruising through creeks, or just stopping at a shelter to get a glimpse of the mountains.

We hit Swampy Loop, Sector 16, the Whoops (Frazzle now), Ben’s Trail, to Phil’s Trailhead. Fun to be had for sure. We ended up riding past the sunset, into the dark and to the 1st place off the trail on the way to town that had cold beer and food – Parilla Grill. My Fajita Steak Burrito was on! But Aaron’s Fish Taco was not happening. He got some other Burrito and that apparently was awesome because it was gone in about a minute – but I’ll leave the food reviews to BOR. ;^).

My lovely wife was kind enough to pick us up – two hurting units. Thanks Wonder Worman, your the best. :^)

You can track our trip at Everytrail.com.

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Bendo to Tulelake and back

Cool trip! From my benddualsport.com post:

Sweet weekend on the 610!
No mechanical problemos at all! And as a bonus, the morning of the ride the 610 instrument panel decided to work again! Sweet! Now I could tell how fast I was going. Handy.

It was my 1st ride that distance and back and my 1st solo trip to boot – so I brought a gas tank that I never used – um, I’ll never do that again – that tank was a pain in the ass on the way back – and at one point I had to stop cause it was hanging off the side – oops. (Yes I now acknowledge that was a dumbass move – carrying a tank? wtf?)

On the way to Tulelake I stuck to the east side of 97 taking the FS roads after LaPine, stopping on occasion to check the map – a good combination of dirt/street. No diggers, but at one point I slid off the trail – couldn’t make a downhill turn at about 40 – oops.
Some nice scenery – but the trails were a bit dry and super dusty – looking in the rearview mirror there was nothing but rootster dust. After about 5.5 hours hunger and fatigue set in, so I stopped at this kick ass Mexican hut in Merrill – Tacos a la Mexicana! (Once I download the pix from my phone I’ll post the location on el mapo – It was sooo tasty!) At the end of the day my friggin ars hurt. 6.5 hours on this bike will do that. ;^)
A good ride overall – but wished there was more trail than blacktop.

Here’s the trip from Bendo to Tulelake with pix and GPS stats:http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=47354.

The way back was grueling – 8.5 hours, aye caramba. It was mostly my fault for stopping so many frakin’ times and getting turned around. The blacktop was grueling and I longed for dirt – funny my ars didn’t seem to hurt when on the dirt/cinder/gravel trails.

Leaving Tulelake, I immediately hopped on the gravel through some massive powerlines – a couple of gated areas, but no big deal. Up and down some rocky terrain (where the extra tank decided to almost fall off) then through some mellow cinder roads. Stopped at a couple of gas stations – Bonanza – cool peeps, and one in Sprague River – cool old timer there. There was this dude there filling up his pick-up telling me all about the trails in that area (he had a CR) – and how he had a Husky chainsaw, lol. Cool dude though.
I popped on Lone Pine (missed that turn the 1st time) and headed toward Klamath Marsh.
Filled up in Chemult and headed into the Deschutes – fun ride on double track! This is the only part of the entire trip where I started seeing other peep on the trail – from this point on I would ride by the occasional truck/car/quad/ or thumper (no BMWs ;^)).

Had to cut my trip short and head through LaPine and cruise to the casa because the sun was setting fast, my rear tire had nothing left – I was slipping all over the trail, and I was getting tired – It had been about 7.5 hours.

Fun trip both ways check out my route back here with some pix of the ride, including one of Slippy, my rear tire: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=47796.

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Passing through LaPine

On the way back from Tulelake I took a different way back – this time crossing over 97 at Chemult to hit a couple of the many trails in and around the Deschutes Forest – It was a race against the sun but I saw an opportunity for a cool shot.

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To Tulelake on my 610 & GPS fun

Going to visit our friends who kind-of live in Tulelake. Half their property is in California the other half in Oregon – Big ranch with cows, sheep, chickens, etc. Fun to visit, kick up the feet on their porch and stare at wide open space that just goes on for miles and miles. This weekend is the Tulelake Fair! Woo Hoo! We went hmm – about 3 years ago and it was a blast – Ferris Wheel, haunted houses, slides, , shooting galleries, corn dogs, bbq, livestock, and disgruntled carnies. Good times.

This year I’ll be cruising down on my Dual Sport, taking as many dirt/gravel roads as possible to see the more obscure areas of this beautiful state, should be fun. With a spare tube, snacks, extra gas can, and other essentials, I should be in good shape. Luck favors the prepared.

I’ll have my GPS and will be making tracks and marking waypoints for future visits. If your into bringing along your GPS on outings and want to do something with all that data check out GPS Visualizer. I discovered it recently and it’s pretty cool. Once your there, you can take that data and send it to another site like Everytrail. You can make maps that detail your outing. Cool.

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Three Sisters Wilderness Hike

Flower with Green

We cruised out w/ our friends a couple of Saturdays ago into the Three Sisters Wilderness. It was a pretty chill hike so the kids enjoyed it. As we were hiking we noticed how diverse that particular area was – open meadows, groves, lava flows, lakes, and at points switchbacks  that cut through dense wooded areas.

Towards the 1st part of the trail we could have hooked up w/ part of the Pacific Crest Trail, it was cool to see some serious backpackers up the trail – no doubt in for the long haul.

We made it as far as North Matthieu Lake where we broke out some snacks and relaxed for a while – other hikers passed by some with kids, other w/ their pets – a good day for a hike for sure.

We started from Lava Camp Trailhead and the trail we popped on happened to open up that weekend – so we lucked out.

Here’s more info.

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1st ride on my Husqvarna TE 610

Cruised out w/ ad HOC last night on my 1st ride on the dirt w/ my new bike. It’s been years since I’ve been on a Dual Sport, but it was time to try something different now that my Ducati is gone (long story).

Why switch to a Husqvarna? I demo-d this bike last week and was instantly hooked. For me, this was/is the bike for Bend. I could ride to work (either my single speed or now my 610) AND I could ride the trails! So I bought one. :^)

The peeps at Bend Euro Moto dialed me out with everything I needed that I didn’t already have. Kathy Jo and David – Thanks! (Those guys are friends, and clients as well). :^)

I picked up my 610 at Bend Euro Moto on Tuesday afternoon and couldn’t wait to take it out.

So my 1st ride was awesome! Totally sketchy at some points, but for the most part a really good time, and can’t wait to get out again!
Even though it was a short one, it was plenty for me. Riding on dirt is way different than street, so there’s going to be a learning curve for sure.

We cruised out to Triangle Hill to catch the sun set behind the Cascades, it was an awesome moment. There’s more pix on my Flickr page of the mini adventure.

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12 Inch Day

Cruised up to Mt Bachelor this morning to take advantage of the new snow. The powder was so deep today, there was no alternative but to lean way back and point the board nose downhill. There’s something about gliding down a slope in deep fresh powder that puts a smile on my face (even now, just thinking about it).
A great day on the Mountian for sure.