Northern Point

I can’t help getting a picture of myself next to these huge trees...

Sadly, the first few were out of focus...

The DRT is a very long, very flat trail that just follows, you guessed it, the Deschutes River.  I’ve heard you can go almost 40 miles, although I don’t know if much more than 20-25 is rideable. Really a pretty a awesome place to ride so early in the season, although it’s a bit of a trek from Portland.  We had about 20 minutes of inclement weather but sunny blue skies for most of the rest of the day.

This looks safe right? (photo by Reyaz)

We made it about 15 miles before hitting a patch of goatheads where Reyaz got a double flat.  I had at least three pretty clear punctures but the sealant in my tubeless tires pretty miraculously healed it and I never went flat.  In addition to the double flat, Reyaz actually got two more pinch flats on the way back and we ended up walking the last three miles back to the car.

Winter camping is one of those things that’s always seemed a little beyond sane -- not necessarily unsafe but just a bit too miserable. Still, when I saw the class offered through Mazamas I decided to jump in and give it a shot. At worst I’d have a good story and learn some survival skills like snow cave building

Digging out our snow cave. Ben Yang came out and gave us a demo of some tools he created to dig snow caves and and showed us how to build an igloo.

The row of caves dug out in the bank.

The guide dug out hole with a table in the middle under a communal tent, which actually made a really nice place to hang out and eat. Enough people didn’t show up or left that we were all able to fit in at the same time to cook and tell stories. I think this, almost as much as the warm tent and zero degree bag, was what made it not suck.

I had originally planned to try to find a hike at the Ridgefiled Wildlife refuge in southern WA, but it turned out to be car-only to protect the wildlife. At least I did see a couple of bald eagles.

After a bit of aimless driving I decided to pick a spot on Google maps to point toward before I lost cell service and was drawn to a small patch of green labeled ‘Bells Mountain Trailhead’.  That turned out to be a great accident as it really was quite a nice place to hike.

The park itself was quite small but the trail went for miles and eventually connected up with some logging roads that would make for some killer gravel grinding on a bike. Clear-cutting further up the trail actually provided for some really spectacular views and some much-appreciated sun.