Bandon to Crater Lake and Fort Klamath (From the icebox to the blast furnace!)

August 6 2013 – As usual, we planned to get going really early. And didn’t. But that was ok since Bandon was socked in and only 46F (8.8C) this morning. We could happily wait for a bit. We finally got ourselves mobile and went out the bikes to grease the chains up before heading on.

We also had to clean up the visors. We haven’t really had any bugs to speak of at this point, but riding through yesterdays fog left a fine speckled film of salt on the shields. Here’s a tip, don’t spray Plexus on a salty shield, it just makes a streaky mess. Into the sink it went after that mistake. I should have thought that it wouldn’t work, I’ve tried windex on a salty boat window. Freshwater trumps salt every time.

We rode down into the old town and found a deli where we bought two massive cinnamon buns, two coffees, and two ham and cheese croissants to for later. The cinnamon buns were so big that we wrapped half of each up for later too.

As we drank our coffee and chatted a couple at the next table asked us where we’d ridden from and what we were riding, and we had a great chat with them. He had had a Triumph at one point and that meant a long discussion between he and Kirk. His wife looked at me and said “You’re on your own bike? You’re a strong woman!”

Strong?

Me?

Hardly. Personally I think I’m a wimp, if she’d seen me come of that highway yesterday she wouldn’t have thought I was strong!

Stubborn wouldn’t be far off the mark though.

All I said back was “It’s not for everyone.”

She said she liked being on the back, she could look around and not worry about what lay ahead. See, that’s what I can’t do. If I’m on the back, I’m just a bloody backseat rider and worried that he won’t see what I see. Thus I ride my own bike! It’s the same reason we don’t have a two person kayak, too many captains! The ship would go down as we debated which way to go. 🙂

Out of Bandon we took highway 42S and what a wonderful stretch of asphalt that was. It was banked beautifully, the twists and curves were perfectly engineered, and the pavement was exquisite! The only moment of stress was when Kirk stretched his right leg out in that “look out, there is something in your lane” motion. I blew it off as I couldn’t see anything, and assumed it was merely a rock in my part of the road. That’s all it usually is. I paid a bit more attention to that motion for the rest of today’s ride after banking to take the curve and was presented with a huge swath of road kill spread across half the lane! I don’t know what it was, but it was big, bloody, and pretty much everywhere.

When we hit the junction we stopped and I was practically jumping up and down with glee that stretch had been so much fun! Kirk said “You want to go do it again, don’t you?” Yes, yes, oh yes. But no time. So on we went.

A few miles on and I pulled off to add my pylon orange windbreaker over all the other layers I had on. I already had three layers of Ice breaker – a wool t-shirt, a quarter zip long sleeve pullover, and a thick fleece jacket – under my riding jacket. But that extra layer was a must. The fog was reaching farther inland than we had expected.

Kirk hadn’t seen me pull off right away, nor had he seen me flashing my high beams, blinking my turn signal, of heard me honking my horn. So I gave up and just stopped, and watched him sail off down the road. I’m getting used to it, so far he hasn’t gone too terribly far before he notices I am no longer behind him. Once I’d pulled on the pylon gear, I headed down to where he had pulled off, and watched a blacktailed deer saunter onto the road between us. Kirk was frantically waving his hand to warn me – yeah, like I’d missed a big animal between us on the road. I slowed and it seemed uncertain on where to go, I was just hoping it wouldn’t suddenly turn and dart towards me, but she eventually moved across the road and then bounced off and away, while I looked to make sure she didn’t have any friends to follow. All good. Not the first deer of the trip, but one of the closer encounters.

We turned towards Umpquaw National Park and entered Myrtle Point, where a police car tailed us for awhile before finally cutting off. Then that wonderful road we’d had earlier was balanced out by the shittiest 15 miles ever. Fresh road work, brand spanking new, fresh and still smelly, chip tar, complete with tons of loose gravel that was tinging off every part of the bike. Good thing touch up paint just arrived before we left, because I’m pretty sure there are a ton of rock chips waiting to be found when we finally wash these things.

What a nightmare! I hate loose shit on the corners, and there were lots of corners, and lots of loose shit. I was singing Dory’s “Keep on swimming, keep on swimming. . . ” in my helmet to try and stay loose and keep calm. It was a slow 15 miles and I’ve never been so happy to see an “End of road work” sign and was honking my horn in joy!

As we rode down out of the mountains the temperature started to rise, and rise, and rise. . . and it was time to pull over and lose the windbreaker and the thick fleece. Then down some more and into Winston where we pulled off after a bit of road work and stripped off the final long sleeved layer and pulled the liners out of our pants. The thermometer was definitely on high. We’d just gone from an icebox to a blast furnace!

A refreshing break by the river

A refreshing break by the river – cool rock formations

As we grabbed a drink of water at the rest stop an absolutely wonderful old couple fully entertained us without intending to. She was using the washroom while he sat in the truck-with-camper. Their dog was wandering around and we called her over to say hello, cute and friendly. When she returned, he went to the washroom, and when he came out the entertainment began.

He bellowed out to her across the parking lot (add fabuously wonderful southern accent here):

“So no there’s no more his’uns and hers’uns? Now there’s only their’suns? A man can get girl cooties, they dun’t even have any butt sanitizer!”

Oh, the look she shot and her body language? It was just an awesome few moments!

The road through Umpquaw Park was mostly wonderful. There was a long stretch of older and very white chip tar that didn’t bother me (after that earlier 15 miles it seemed like heaven) but Kirk hated it and said he’d slid sideways a couple of times on it. He hadn’t had any problems at all on the earlier stretch where I was in my personal hell. Different tires? I don’t know.

We stopped a few times for some nice photo ops, and at one place we pulled off and watched a longboarder riding UP the road. I asked Kirk if he’d seen the scary woman hitchhiking a mile back, “yes, anyone picking her up is taking their life in his hands. . . ” he said. As we stretched and had a drink of water we looked back to see her marching up the hill towards us. We pulled everything back on quickly and pulled out just before she arrived. I’m sure she was very nice, but she didn’t look it and we weren’t into a conversation.

A few miles on we pulled into a rest stop and stripped off some gear to eat our croissants. We watched a woman with a pressure washer cleaning the public washrooms. Either they were in really bad shape, or it was just easier than a spray bottle of cleaner? It seemed a bit like overkill. But who’s to say.

A rather extreme way to clean a bathroom?

The kid on the longboard showed up and was playing in the parking lot. At one point he rode down the hill and through the space between our two bikes and then jumped off the board and went running across the grass. He wasn’t so cute anymore and I said to Kirk that if he did that again, I’d have a thing or two to say, and suggest that he not do that again.

Another break to cool off near a river. The temperatures are a LOT hotter inland.

As we sat there, me with the camera trained on the woman pressure washing the mens washroom, Kirk suddenly yelled, “Time to go!”. When you have your eye pressed to a camera and someone says that, all sorts of things run through your mind, none of them good!

The sprinkler had popped up.

For whatever reason, more adrenaline shot through my body when he yelled that in a calm moment than had fueled me through that 15 miles of shit road! Go figure.

Eagle Rock in Umpquaw National Forest

The rest of the road into Crater Lake was uneventful, and the Park was wonderful. We had made good time, were there by 2pm, so we decided to ride the entire rim road today instead of tomorrow. We stopped at pretty much every pullout, and chatted with some fellow Vancouverites that had just come down 97 today.

Pumice Lake – Crater Lake National Park

Pumice Lake – Crater Lake National Park

The park is fabulous, and we spent about three hours riding around and viewing from various spots. As we came back around to our starting point, the park was filling with thick smoke. There are major fires burning nearby and the winds had shifted. We got lucky as when we came back to our starting point, you couldn’t see anything and the air was heavy with the smell of burning forests. We stopped in at the gift shop and found a wonderful Christmas tree ornament that made us think of Mom and will be perfect for the Christmas bear tree.

Wizard Island in Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

The road around the lake is fabulous; the only downside is the low speed limit, which we, and pretty much everyone else, were breaking.

Visitors Centre at Crater Lake National Park

The Phantom Ship on Crater Lake

Fat, well fed, chipmunks at Crater Lake

A cool rock formation on the edge of Crater Lake. It reminded me of some of the temples on Delos, except this was not made by humans.

Unusual rock formation on Crater Lake

White Bark Pines

Our bikes by Crater Lake

The last bits of snow are still present up here

Incredible blue water in Crater Lake – it has to be microbial based as the edges were almost rainbow shaded

Looking across Crater Lake

Inside Crater Lake

Then it was down and through smoke as thick as the thickest fog we have ridden through. The only difference was that it was hot and laden with the scent of burning wood.

Smoke shrouded farmland in Fort Klamath

Fort Klamath was our destination, and we could have fueled up at the park, but we figured we’d head into town and get a higher octane gas there. I guesstimated that I had about 30 miles worth of gas left and Fort Klamath was only 15 miles away.

Poor decision. Both gas stations in Fort Klamath are closed (some time ago by the looks of them) and the nearest gas is in the park, or 15 miles the other way. Well, at least I know I have at least 15 miles left in the tank, I’ll arrive on fumes, but I’ll get there.

Jo’s Motel – no complaints here.

At Jo’s Motel in Fort Klamath

The river behind Jo’s Motel in Forth Klamath

Our Motel – Jo’s Motel – is interesting. It’s an absent minded hippy-chick run place, complete with organic grocery and deli, and you better go with it, because there is nothing else in this “town” but a post office. There is no TV, no phone, no internet. But the room is clean, there are sheets on the bed, and there is hot water int he pipes. The bikes are under cover in their own carport, and there is a carport between every one of the six units. So it’s quiet. And we are glad we booked ahead to get one of the six rooms since there was a fellow waiting to see if the last taker actually showed up as he was looking for a room. He was a nice guy, rides a V-strom (but we didn’t hold it against him), and had a good chat with Kirk – another former Triumph rider – cult bikes I’m learning! When we asked how far for gas and he said 15 miles, he looked at me and called by bike a teacup tank! Excuse me, it’s 21L, that same as said favoured Triumph!!! 😉

We had arrived at the motel by 5:30pm, a record so far. Usually we roll in around 8pm.

The inside of an abandoned gas station/garage in Fort Klamath. No gas here.

An organic burger cooked up by the hippie staff, an old farm cat for company, an organic beer, some organic chocolate ice cream, a walk along the creek, a walk down the road to see what was around the corner (nothing), a bottle of organic wine, and we are pretty much done. The temperature dropped a bit with the evening, and the winds have shifted some of the thick smoke away, we can see the sky again, for now.

Around Fort Klamath

The Old Fort Klamath hotel, long abandoned.

The Old Fort Klamath hotel, long abandoned.

The Old Fort Klamath hotel, long abandoned.

Just an old garage.

Abandoned farm equipment in a smoky field

Another great day! Unfortunately the GPS tracker malfunctioned today, but we did about 390 km. I created the route via Google Maps as an alternative.  It was a lightweight day compared to the last three. Tomorrow is a biggie.