72 miles; 2700 feet of climbing.  David: We woke in a bed – such a delight – and gradually got going. The first 20 miles or so was up and down through a lovely forest, and then a long downhill towards Chester (3 miles off the route but worth it). Continue reading Saturday 28th September: Child’s Meadow to Quincy →

Today was just one of the BEST days. We woke in our snug cabin, pleased that Elisa and Eli had also been able to share a warm night. Continue reading Friday 27th September: Manzinita Lake to Child’s Meadow →

Bernie: We did not linger long in Weed, which in the rankings is my second least favorite town (Chemult still bagging first prize). As we were slightly off route we needed to take a small road parallel to I5 for a few miles. Continue reading Wednesday 25th September: Weed to McArthur Burney Falls →

Got up early (cold) and packed up. Bernie not slept too well and so a bit drowsy in the morning. Continue reading Thursday 26th September: McArthur Burney State Park to Manzanita Lake (Entrance to Mount Lassen) →

 ML, our warmshowers host, had come in late on Sunday evening after we had both nodded off.  Her welcome was warm and it took us about 30 seconds to decide to stay for a rest day in her beautiful house. Continue reading Monday 23rd September. Rest day in Ashland: 0 miles →

David and Bernie both contributed to this:  We had our breakfast in the very pink dining room of the Prospect Hotel. Beautifully and tastefully done, but to honest the hotel wasn’t really our style. We felt managed to within an inch of our lives in the nicest possible way. It was all a bit too organised but it did allow us to have a lovely evening with Bjorn and Mika! Continue reading Prospect to Ashland (76 miles – a record!) →

Bernie: We woke to a fresh bright morning and had a fairly leisurely pack up. We were continuing to cycle the route but Tom and Carolyn were going to go straight up to Crater Lake and we hoped to meet at the camp ground the next day. We had considered the ‘Windego Pass Alternate’ which is a 30 mile route over the mountain on a dirt road but 3 things mitigated against this 1) I didn’t like the small section of dirt road near Sisters, 2) the 3 web postings I looked at all said it was awful and don’t do it 3) the forecast was bad with likely rain and thunderstorms. Sense prevailed and we took the ‘main’ route, which we knew would be a fairly tedious day ‘dog-legging’ down to the main highway 97, 15 miles along then climb back into the mountains. Continue reading Day 5. Crescent Creek to Diamond Lake. 60 miles →

David:  Today was one of those days that will stick in the memory for ever.  When I am gaga with memory loss due to one fo the large number of conditions that affect the declining mind, this day will be imprinted so strongly on my consciousness that I will keep returning to it.  It was long, tough and brilliant. Continue reading Bend to Crescent Creek Campground (near Crescent Lake) →

Bernie:  Woke feeling much more refreshed to a crisp bright morning.  The first few miles were easy down to Sisters a picturesque little town of clapboard houses and shops.   Continue reading Indian Ford to Bend: 30 miles. →

Vital statistics: 64 miles, 4300 feet of climbing (and no showers).

This is David writing today’s blog. We got to the cafe after 25 miles and asked if they had a wifi so we could post yesterday’s blog and got the answer “Hell no, you don’t even get cell service here!”. But we did get omlettes and coffee, and a glance at the local newsheet “The Canyon Weekly” which led with the news that “First day of school brings new Superintendent/Principal to Santiam”. The news item included the great sentence “A cheer broke out for Bob Zauner as the children learned he would be their full time PE teacher, re-installing our faith in the never ending energy and tenacity of youth”. Bless them – you don’t get that type of writing in the Guardian!

Continue reading Breitenbush to Indian Ford (Near Sisters) →