Saturday, June 9, 2012 Conquered McKenzie Pass!!!!

McKenzie Bridge, OR to Redmond, OR (59 Miles)

Today marked a major hurdle for me, that is, the crossing of McKenzie Pass! Again the day started  on the cool side at 40 degrees and misty rain. Since, I hoped to see somthing other than clouds at the top of the Pass, I delayed my departure. At 10:00am I bundled up and started the first 11 miles climb from 1800 to 3100 feet altitude. I stopped in about 5 miles to shed a layer of clothes and talked to a fellow who was loading his pickup truck with wood from a fallen tree. Chuck was from Blue River, OR and was telling me about the climb that was ahead. He said to watch for the bears crossing the road and if it was a mother with cubs, I should turn and ride the opposite direction. At the 11 miles spot the snow fence was across the road where only hikers an bicycles were permitted beyond. At that point the ride had been through very dense evergreens and lots of ferns. Only a couple spots could you see a little bit of snow on the edge of the road. At the snow fence I took a pit stop and then talked to a couple who had spent the night in the woods in a tent. They were cutting their trip short after enduring the downpour of rain and snow on top of that. The couple, Sterling and Elton, were from Bend, OR and they let me take their picture.  Next, I was crossing the snow gate in the road and at the same time another older lady was also taking her mountain bike across the gate. Her name was Lara and she was from Corvalis, OR and had drove up for the day just to ride to the summit. We chatted for a while and I tried to encourage her as she struggled a little, but I decided to push on as she was stopping freqently and she had a lower granny gear than I did which caused her to progress slower. I already had it in my lowest gear and was climbing at 5-6 MPH. As I progressed, more snow started to appear along the road and was onto the road, at some points it covered the road with a dusting. I then saw a couple fellows coming down toward me and they warned there were some slippery curves in the climb ahead. I noticed that after a while I did not see their tracks in he road of snow cover, so they must have only went up part way and then turned around. I found out later that they did just that and then drove their vehicle around to the East side of the pass and climbed the East side to the summit. The further I climbed the more the snow started to cover the entire road. I also saw more animal tracks. I am not an animal track expert, but I am certain, the tracks were bear and large cat tracks. I found it was very old that the woods during the climb was totally silent. Wouldn't you think, a bird would chirp or something...no, there was silence. So, at 6 MPH, I had time to think, about bears, cougars, mountain lions, and the total silence. As I had nothing else to do, I start to pray for strength, patience and endurance. I prayed for sunshine, but had accept patience and endurance as it started to rain, then sleet, and finally snow on me, then the sun came out again (I was thankful!). The climb was tricky through the snow, with as much as 1/2 inch covering the road. You will see in the pictures below that at some time in the past, the park service had cleared the road to the point where the snow was piled higher than me and the bike combined. Remember, the last 11 miles to the top was closed to cars, so I only had to worry about me, maybe someone coming down from the top (not likely this morning) and wild animals. But I could see in the snow that, I was the only one that had come that far on that morning in that fresh snow. The 11 mile climb to McKenzie Pass (5400 feet) took me 4 hours (truthfully, I only stopped to rest about 6-8 times). Even though there were still some clouds at the top, the view was grand! Much of the landscape at the top was black lava rock from a lava flow of many years before. There were only a few trees. I could see some of the surrounding snowy peaks. I had to move a small snow drift from the out house door to go in. It was 43 degrees and very windy, assuming the wind chill was below freezing. I then layered up with clothes to make the descent. Before leaving I walked to the top of an obseration tower for a real neat view. Plus, I made another friend in a chimpmunk that was following me around, especially after I had gave him some nuts from my trail mix. As the cold was starting to be too much for me, I decided to head down the East side toward Sisters, OR. The ride down the other side was rather fun, as the snow was not on that side of the mountain and the 15 mile descent only took 40 minutes with no stops. Once I reached the bottom, I entered Sisters, OR. The weather was in the high 60's  and I probably looked like a nut case all bundled in my winter riding gear. The warth felt wonderful! There was a nationally recognized Rodeo going on in Sisters, so the town was very busy. There were lots of cowboy boots and hats in town walking around.  I continued on toward the days destination of Redmond, OR with a strong tail wind. The landscape nearly leveled off to flat and with the wind I could ride 25-30 MPH most of the way to Redmond.  I arrived at the Expo RV park at about 5:00pm. It was an amazing day! We celebrated the accomplishment with Pizza and Beer at the Straw Hat Pizzeria Restaurant. Tomorrow is a day off the bike! 

 How I it looked for the first 11 miles of the climb.

 As I approached the snow gate in the road, there started to be traces of snow.

 Sterling & Elton giving up on camping for now.

 Tracks from the two fellows that eventually turned around and me.

 You can see two of the switchback roads that I just climbed.

 ...and then there was one track, being me.

 The road ahead shows I am the only crazy guy climbing this side of the mountain this morning.

 My chipmunk friend.

 The lava fields

What a lovely self portrait!