Deschutes River Bike Camping, May 5-6, 2010

Here are photos from a recent trip up the Deschutes River.  I've been here so many times and I think all of my family has read enough about this river, so I'll try to keep my comments brief.  Try.

First off, here's my trusty steed, saddled up and ready to go:

I've done this trip on a mountain bike before, and I think it's easier.  Though it is possible on a touring bike with large tires (40c), it's easier on a mountain bike with larger tires (2 inches).  Just a more comfortable ride.  On the other hand, this is the bike that I had available, and the drop bars came in handy for the occasional headwind.

I got a headwind and no rain, the entire ride upstream.

I once climbed up to the rim of the canyon, and came back down by these power lines.  They're abandoned now, and I wondered when they were put in, and what it was like to be on the crew putting them in.

I reached the end of the (barely) maintained path.  Beyond this point, there are several ornery portages past drainages for which there are no trestles remaining.  Beyond that is a good gravel road (public) with camprgounds.  A long loop awaits me, when I've got the legs for it.  More on the loop later.

I found a nice spot to camp.  While my dinner was readying itself (I love home made boil in a bag meals!), I took photos of the sun setting on clouds around the canyon.  While it's a beautiful canyon with big views, the fact that the best sun of the day only hits the top of the canyon rim (often obscured by irregularities in the canyon walls), while the rest of the canyon walls are in near darkness, makes it hard to photograph to its greatest potential.  The answer is to be along one of the high ridges at that time of day.  Simply requires doing.

I put up the tarp, just in case.  It did in fact drip a wee bit of rain shortly after I hit the sack.  Here's my camp the next morning.

There were several nice wildflower displays.  Here's one of small pinkish flowers:

And the ever popular lupine:

On the way back to my car, I saw rain clouds and heard thunder.  I hightailed it (well, not really all that fast, but I tried) to Colorado camp, where I sheltered under the outdoor awning of a concrete pit toilet.  No point getting wet if you don't have to!

Dramatic clouds at the mouth of the canyon.  Stacker Butte in the distance:

After arriving at my car, I decided to take a scenic drive around the canyon.  Up Fulton Canyon Road, up gravel and dirt farm roads, down state route 216 to Sherars Bridge, and up US 197 back to The Dalles.  There exists, in variations on this route, a terrific touring potential.  The only problems are few sources of water and few campsites.  It is possible to do the route, though.  Another option would be to simply ride around on the plateau above the Deschutes.  Either the east or west side of the uplands would be nice, though the east side is more open, and there seems to be more mileage of gravel roads.  A trip for strong riders, that's for sure.  Here's a taste.  It's almost Iowa like.

Hope you enjoyed!