The Oregon Outback – Day 1

My new obsession with bike packing began back on the trail in New Zealand. On New Year’s Day 2024, I hiked with a great young German man that was something I’d never heard of – a bike packing racer. I had a million questions for him over the three days that we hiked together and he was more than happy to educate me on all of the gear. He had me at gear – I love it! Any kind of outdoor gear. I love the whole process of researching, buying and then using awesome gear in beautiful places. I take great care of everything that I’ve accumulated in our small but organized garage. I’m very proud of my collection and keep it all serviced, clean and stored in labeled bins. Scuba, cycling, climbing, mountaineering, paddling, hiking, rowing and swimming gear all live happily together. I aim to use it all at least once a month.

When I got home from New Zealand I bought my first gravel bike packing bike. It’s a sweet green Salsa Warbird and it rides like a dream in just about any conditions. It’s a strong commuter, an able long distance road bike and it handles beautifully on gravel and most single track trails. I kept my notes from New Zealand and started outfitting my new bike with a frame bag system from Revelate. I did two short trips – one on the Cascades to Palouse trail and then another from Victoria to Tofino but I was itching to try something big. I found the Oregon Outback trail online and it looked perfect. Just shy of 400 miles and point to point along the entire width of eastern Oregon.

I tried to get a few friends fired up to join me but it’s hard to find someone that can take off for a week at this time of year. I get it. I’m in a pretty unique situation and I appreciate it. I retired from my law practice pretty young and am now spending my time outdoors as a scuba instructor and bike guide. I am in good physical shape I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule. Most importantly, I have Bryan’s full support. He is always supportive of my need to be on these adventures.

To get to the start of this ride, I rented a car in Seattle and drove to Klamath Falls. It was a long eight hour trip but I stopped for dinner and a short hang at the local bike shop in downtown Eugene. I knew they would have some great advice for the ride. The owner was super helpful – he’s ridden it several times and he simply raved.

Logistics are always a little nerve racking but everything went great getting here. I got my bike tuned up and packed carefully. I’m in the middle of switching over to tubeless tires and there was a little problem with the set up on my back tire so I had to revert back to tubes on that one right before the trip. The drive down was smooth and I had a peaceful morning in Klamath before returning the rental car and heading on the trail. The first 50 miles are along an old railroad bed called the OC&E trail. It’s a mixture of paved path, forest roads and rutted bumpy cow pastures. As soon as I got out of town I knew I made the right decision. The weather was perfect and the trail was quiet. In fact, I haven’t seen another rider for the entire 65 mile length of today’s ride. Just cows, deer, a few snakes and lots of majestic red tail hawks. The trail did get pretty rugged at times and my hands were taking it all. I pulled my hands off of the bars and got a few electrical jolts of pain. Time for a break.

I stopped for short breaks in Sprague River and Beatty today. There isn’t much to these towns but their gas stations markets were a godsend and one of them even stocked fresh fruit! I had lunch in Sprague River and a really nice gentleman chatted me up an about the trail. He did it last June and he had some great advice about the next rough section into the campground. He was right on point – the next twenty miles into the first camping option rides through a recent burn area. Many of the trees have fallen across the trail and there was a lot of tricky “hike a bike” up, over, under and around fallen trees. I got to camp around 5PM and studied the area carefully before setting up my tent. I made sure I wasn’t in the path of any of these dead widow makers. I had just enough time before sunset to set up camp and make dinner. I forgot my cutlery kit so I whittled some chopsticks real quick while my tuna avocado noodle soup cooked. After dinner, I set out to hang my food bag but I also forgot my bear hang line. As I was stumbling around in the woods looking for a good tree, I found an abandoned line of rope just the right size (THE TRAIL PROVIDES!). I’m not sure what the bear situation is here but better to be safe than sorry.

It’s great to be out here alone. I don’t mind spending time with my thoughts, some good music and a quiet night next to a stream. Every time I head out into one of these adventures, the first few hours of escaping the world are my favorite. With every pedal stroke I could feel myself relaxing, noticing the birds and other sounds of nature. My phone becomes a navigation tool again instead of a source of stress scrolling terrible news stories. My focus turns to what matters – water, food and how my body is feeling. These things aren’t easy but that is the point for me. It is my way of making the decision to refocus my attention on what is real and exercise what control I have. Getting through the rough patches of these days makes me happy.

I went to bed super early and had a great sleep. I had that recurring billing sheet nightmare again. In my law firm days, I had to account for every six minutes of my day on my billing sheet and turn those in daily (I’m not making this up). In my nightmare, I haven’t completed a billing sheet for several years and I have to go back and try to recreate my time or I’m in big trouble. I even developed a plan last night of having ChatGPT start if for me. My nightmare was partially lucid and I talked myself out of it again by reminding myself that I don’t have to do that anymore. It always takes me a few waking moments to really convince myself. It’s a great relief to wake up in the woods and let that pressure slide off of my brain. I’m ok. I get to make some coffee, watch the sunrise and rattle down the trail on my bike.