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Thursday stats

Start: Mt View RV Park, Baker City, Ore.

End: Bates State Park

The Daily Progress: 52.8 miles

Cumulative climb: 3431 feet

Cumulative descent: 2712

Elevation at endpoint: 4093

Food expenses: $0

Lodging expenses: $16

Dani's daily digest

After leaving Baker City, we didn't pass a town or even a store for the rest of the day. We biked past acres of Ponderosa pine and cow pasture.

At our 39-mile break, we took turns napping in our hammock, which we hung in a stand of tall pines. This rejuvenated us for the final climb and descent to the day's destination: Bates State Park. 

Bates preserves the land occupied by a timber town that was abandoned and disassembled in 1975. Now there is a campsite, a pond, and a modest network of trails. The hiker/biker campground has a little charging station with a sheltered shelf for one's gadgets, which is a thoughtful amenity. We picked a site with some stately trees and hung up the hammock. We shared the campground with a snake, a frog, many ground squirrels and chipmunks, one other cyclist on a month-long loop through Oregon and Idaho, and a legion of endlessly sprinkling sprinklers. 

A low-key afternoon of nothing in particular and an early bedtime was just what we needed after our action-packed day in Baker City. We're setting our alarms for 2:30 am to try and spot meteors. 

Notable animals (all spotted at Bates Pond): pied-bill grebe, common nighthawk, and cedar waxwing.