Day 3: To Delta campground, McKenzie river

August 3, 2013

Today will be another easy day. Upstream all day, but not much total climbing. I left Tony and Jeannette's house at 9:40. I took 42nd street north to Marcola Street which takes me east to Camp Creek road. Now I'm back on the Transamerica bike route.

99% of my route across Eugene and Springfield was on trails or designated bike lanes. It's very bike-friendly.

Camp Creek road is a wonderful country road on the north side of the McKenzie river. Busy highway 126 is on the opposite side of the river.

Unfortunately, Camp Creek road ends at highway 26 in Walterville. I got groceries at the supermarket, then continued east on highway 26. It doesn't have much of a shoulder and traffic was heavy. It's Saturday, the weather is great, and everybody is going up to the mountains. I had two close encounters with passing traffic. One motorcycle (surprisingly) and one motor home towing a boat. And a full 12 ounce can of something sailed a few feet behind me and exploded in the ditch.

Wikipedia: Leaburg Power Plant was designed in 1929 by noted Oregon architect Ellis F. Lawrence in the Art Deco style and includes motifs from Greek mythology sculpted by Harry Poole Camden.

The Leaburg power plant is the middle of three small hydro plants on the McKenzie river.

I had an expensive lunch at Ike's Pizza. The area has many houses and rental cottages, but not many stores or restaurants.

River Run Gallery has a metal sculpture garden.

I stopped to look around the Goodpasture Covered Bridge. It's unusually long and has an unusually large weight limit. Very stout bridge!

Goodpasture covered bridge from the bank of the McKenzie river. Highway 126 across the river.

Highway 126 follows the McKenzie river upstream, threading into the Cascade Range. Frequent views of the beautiful clear fast-moving McKenzie river. But few mountain views because the trees are so dense.

The mountains get steadily bigger while following the McKenzie river upstream.

I turned right towards Cougar reservoir, then promptly turned right again towards Delta USFS campground. It's at the end of a 1.5 mile dead-end forest road. No highway noise. The campground is at the confluence of the south fork and main fork of the McKenzie river. $16 buys me a table, access to hand water pumps and vault toilets, and a semi-private forest.

I arrived at 3:30 PM. The temperature was 88F, much warmer than yesterday. I had plenty of time to wash and dry clothes. And enjoy the lush forest. And use the Verizon 3G wireless service.

I have driven this highway several times, so it's already familiar. The scenery is somewhat monotonous. The traffic was very annoying, sometimes hostile. So overall this was not my favorite kind of day. I suggest avoiding highway 26 (Walterville to McKenzie bridge) during summer weekends.

On the road I saw two westbound touring cyclists. They are a regular sight on the TransAmerica bike route.

Distance: 47.7 miles (76.3 km)
Climbing: 1310 feet (397 m)
Average Speed: 11.3 mph (18 km/h)

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 146 miles (235 km)

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