I promise I was trying to be more consistent. Truth.
But, when I was forced to wait nearly 2 weeks for my new internet service, I had to bail on last week’s report. I’ll try and make up for it today.
I only had the chance to ride twice last week, but both rides proved to be quality experiences with some of my favorite riding partners.
The weekend got off to an awesome (and sorta early) start when Jacob, Destry, Jared, and I started rolling up Scenic just after 6 am and just before the sunrise on our way to Kane Creek.
One of our goals was to finish most, if not all of our ride before we saw anything close to 100 degrees. Thankfully, the road that follows Kane Creek kept us cool and in the shade for most of the first long climb. The sun hadn’t been up long when we reached our first clearing.
Another 15 minutes or so of climbing and we were approaching the backside of John’s Peak.
Continuing around John’s Peak, we made our way up a steep rocky road that was a creek in the middle of a rainstorm the last time Jacob had ridden up it. Of course, that was back in February. It was a lot colder then. I’ll take the heat.
Having revived Jared, we welcomed his knowledge of the area as he pointed out a short cut to the road we were hoping to take back to civilization, Foots Creek.
Having successfully found our way back to Rogue River, our next mission was a lap on MOTR.
After MOTR, it was a simple hammerfest full of pavement back home. 5 hours and 50 miles later, we weren’t too overheated and we had a solid adventure under our belts before it was even time for lunch.
Trying to fit as much fun into 2 days as possible, Sunday found Ruth and I at Crater Lake ready to ride the Rim.
Parking at the Annie Springs Trailhead, just inside the park, we had a nice warm up before making the 3 mile climb up to the lodge overlooking the lake.
Neither of us had been to the lake when the sky was so free of smoke and we were treated with the deep blue water we always knew we were supposed to be seeing when visiting the park.
Deciding to enjoy the ride instead of suffering just to finish in a set amount of time, we chose to stop at several points in order to take in the views. We also took the time to interact with some of the tourists. It was kinda fun to hear where people were visiting from.
While there’s plenty of gorgeous views of the lake all along the rim, there’s also plenty of other vistas to take in if you’re able to pry your eyes away from the blue goodness.
Having done the mile out and back to the Cloudcap viewpoint every other time we had ridden around the lake, we passed on it this time in favor of getting an In N Out burger a little sooner.
After the Phantom Ship viewpoint, there were no more chances to see the lake, so we pushed up the last big climb with 12 miles to go.
No offense to my other buddies I’ve ridden the Rim with, but this was by far my best Crater Lake experience. Like I said before, the air has been very hazy with smoke on all my other trips. Plus, the company was a tad bit better.
What can I say?
