Changing Plans

This is the route I planned to do. I think it was an excellent plan.

The map below shows my actual route because of a multi-day closure of OR 204 in the Blue mountains. I backtracked 29 miles downhill to College Place, Washington to rent a U Haul truck. I drove the truck to La Grande, then pedaled 22 miles to my reserved lodging in Elgin. The blue line, miles 207-290, is the route I drove in the U Haul truck.

Useless Statistics

403.7 miles in 13 days. That works out to a mere 31 miles per day. It's a tour, not a race, and there were many interesting things to see and do. The pace didn't feel lazy-I was still exhausted several times.

Highest elevation was 4300 feet on day 2 northwest of La Grande. I wanted to go above 5000 feet on OR 204 but it was closed. Lowest elevation was 600 feet in College Place, Washington.

3 flat tires. 2 from goathead thorns, 1 from a tiny wire. No other mechanical problems other than my seat mesh being near end of life with 8 large tears. I treated it gently. I ordered a new mesh a year ago. It was finally delivered during the tour.

Two notable first-time events:
I saw my first ever parade during a bike tour.
I rented a U-Haul truck to get around a road closure.

Old is Good

During my 2006 tour in northeast Oregon, one of my lasting impressions was that everything is more than 75 years old except for gas station/convenience stores. It was obvious that the population peaked in about 1930 and there was little need to build new buildings since then. This pattern exists in many rural areas, especially the Great Plains, but in 2006 I thought of it more as an economic defect than a historical feature. Since then I have developed more interest in history. Now I appreciate and actively seek to find places with mostly old buildings that make it easy to visualize life during previous eras of frontier travel, railroad building, and booms in mining, farming, ranching, or fishing.

Interesting Towns

Towns definitely made the tour route more appealing. The rodeo buildup helped me experience a signature feature of Pendleton. La Grande and Baker City are remote historic towns on the Oregon Trail. Milton-Freewater is the most pure irrigated farm town. Elgin and Union are charming small farm towns. The sole crappy town of North Powder also adds variety.

This tour had more historic lodging than any previous tour. At 3 of the 5 places, historic lodging was the only lodging available in the area. Another happy outcome of the population peaking in 1930.

   The Landing in La Grande (1900)
   The Mays Place B&B in Elgin (1890)
   Union Hotel in Union (1921)
   Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City (1889)
   The Lodge at Hot Lake Springs (1904)

Great Place for Bike Touring

The southern half of this tour is an amazing place for bicycle touring. Two large high desert valleys surrounded by giant mountains. Blue mountains to the west and north. Wallowa mountains to the east. The 134 mile Grande Tour Scenic Bikeway is an excellent building block for a tour in this region. 

I also highly recommend the Wallowa river route east from Elgin to Enterprise, Joseph, and Wallowa Lake. Ride the aerial tramway and have lunch at the mountaintop restaurant. I still vividly remember pedaling that route in 2006.

Heart

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The northern half of the tour has more mountain climbing and more dramatic changes in scenery. It crosses the pine forested Blue mountains twice but the Pendleton and Milton-Freewater region is arid low desert that resembles the Palouse region of eastern Washington. 

I enjoyed meandering between pine forested mountains, golden low desert, and sage green high desert ringed by mountains. The 3 regions are very different, but are all part of a trade and emigrant route that evolved from ancient footpaths, to the Oregon Trail wagon road, to Old US 30 and I-84.

Then and Now

I was much stronger when pedaling across northeast Oregon during my 2006 To Hell's Canyon and Back bike tour. The And Back part of the tour began with crossing the Wallowa mountains and the highest part of the Blue mountains. I pedaled from Hell's Canyon campground across the Wallowa mountains to Wallowa Lake campground. 2 days, 87 miles, with 8600 feet of ascent. Three days later I pedaled from Hot Lake campground to Anthony Lake campground near the Blue mountains summit. 43 miles with 5100 feet of ascent. I can't do that much climbing now. I'm grateful that I did it while I could. A growing number of my past bike routes would be impossible for me now. That sort of makes me feel proud and sad at the same time.

Final Thoughts

The tour pushed me close to my limits, but I know I had the ability to pedal OR 204 over the Blue mountains if the road was open. It's frustrating to create a challenging plan, be well into executing the plan, then have the plan foiled by a multi-day road closure.

I hit the sweet spot with the weather. High temperatures ranged from 75F to 90F. Mornings always cool. Best of all, no smoke and not a drop of rain.

I got exactly zero self-portraits during this tour other than my distant reflection in a couple of mirrors. That's the nature of solo touring if you don't do selfies.