Cycle Oregon VI

Sept. 12-18, 1993—Baker City to Oregon City

Cycle Oregon VI Tourbook

Day One: Baker City to La Grande, 60 miles

The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City is the place to pick up some historical perspective of the week ahead.  Then you’re off on your own westward trek.  Today’s ride is a comfortable cruise along the valley floor.  Take your time, loosen up your legs, and settle in for the challenges that lie ahead.

Day Two: LaGrande to Ukiah, 56 miles

From LaGrande, we cycle west through the Blue Mountains of the Wallowa-Whitman and Umatilla national forests.  After lunch at Camp Elkanah, you might drop by Lehman Hot Springs and take a swim in the medicinal waters.  You will be relaxed and refreshed for the final leg of today’s ride that brings us to Ukiah, a forest ranger station town.

Day Three: Ukiah to Ione, 66 miles

The Blue Mountain National Scenic Byway affords spectacular views across fields of wildflowers in which traces of pioneer wagon ruts can be found.  As we travel further north, we’ll skirt the edge of Willow Creek Reservoir and stop for lunch.  Then it’s a short afternoon ride to lone, a town that is small in population (250), but big on hospitality.

Day Four: Ione to Moro, 85 miles

“l don’t know why pioneers made such a big deal of this,” you say. ” This trip is a breeze.” Well folks, welcome to Day Four.  Today we begin realizing the difficulty of the pioneers’ journey.  Get those muscles warmed up over the first few miles because it’s all uphill to lunch.  Sure, then it’s fun plummeting five miles down to the river, but remember, this is called Oregon’s high desert country.  So it’s back uphill for five miles.  The reward is a great view of Mt. Adams.  Catch your breath, relax.  The route rolls from today to Moro.

Day Five: Moro to Dufur, 65 miles

Since you enjoyed yesterday so much, we follow with another bout of tough, and rewarding, riding. It’s light and easy to Grass Valley then turns into a series of curving, roller-coaster hills. Take a break at Sherar Bridge where we cross the Deschutes River. Here you’ll see the fishing platforms used by tribal members of the Warm Springs reservation. Lunch is at White River Falls State Park, complete with a shady grove overlooking rugged waterfalls. Don’t eat too much. After riding to Tygh Valley, where pioneers rested before attacking the Cascades, we press right on, ending the day with a 15-mile climb to Dufur.

Day Six: Dufur to Welches, 60 miles

Leaving the high desert at Dufur, we gradually begin our climb over the Cascades, riding through forests of lodgepole and ponderosa pine. It’s a beautiful ride to the crest, the morning studded with spectacular peek-a-boo views of Mt. Hood. Oxen found it more difficult to go downhill than up. Cyclists don’t have that problem. We sail downhill to dinner in Welches.

Day Seven: Welches to Oregon City, 58 miles

Our final day begins with a scenic 20-mile ride along the very road Sam Barlow pioneered in his first crossing of the Cascades. After lunch in Estacada, we’re just an afternoon’s ride away from Oregon City – the end of the Trail and the beginning of our celebration.