Day 5 - Rest, Day 6 - The Dalles to Crow Butte State Park

 Stats: 

Today's miles: 93 miles

Today's feet of elevation gain: 3,145 feet

Total miles traveled: 311.5 miles

Total feet climbed: 13,437 feet

It was a really good day of cycling. I was on the road from The Dalles by 6 AM, the forecast high temp had dropped from 94 to 88F (hey little victories) and a 25 mph wind was blowing up-river (tailwind). The ride to Biggs was crazy. There was a section of 3 miles on I84 where I never pedaled, since the wind was strong enough to sustain my normal speed. When I reached Biggs I stopped at the truck stop for a quick breakfast sandwich and coffee before crossing the bridge and beginning the 83 mi “limited services area” run on the Washington side of the river.  Perhaps I was a bit too cocky at that point, because when I came out of the truck stop, my rear tire had relieved itself. Damn those shredded steel belts on the roadside!

At least it was in a parking lot and it only took two tubes ( note be extra careful not to pinch/cut the tube when reseating the bead)

The next five miles were nerve wracking and painful since the bridge had no shoulder or pedestrian lane and the climb from Biggs onto Hwy 14 was 490’. By the time I reached the Hwy 14 entrance, I was completely humbled by the last 2 hours.

Bridge with no shoulder

Part of the climb from Biggs

As I’ve described, I’m into the dry high plains portion of the gorge. There’s really little population along the route. My conservative plan not knowing what the temp and wind conditions would be was to make it to Roosevelt by mid-afternoon and camp there for the night. I arrived at the only convenience store about 1:30. The place is a convenience store and café (8 tables) and they make a mean fajita burrito. I checked the map while eating lunch and decided to push on to the next potential campsite at Crow Butte State Park. The up-river wind continued all afternoon and I arrived at Crow Butte around 5:30. They have limited tent sites that the reserve for campers and they put the cyclists in an area between the park and campground, without specific camping sites. I picked a spot under the cottonwoods and given the strong breeze, soft grass and the intent to leave early in the morning, opted not to pitch my tent and instead sleep under the stars. You may need to zoom in to see it, but I woke up about 1:30 AM and saw the Big Dipper perfectly aligned between my campsite trees. Pretty cool.

Camp for the night

Under the stars 1:30 AM view