OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:22 pm

Day Two 7/17/11

Sunday morning: we were up early, had breakfast at a great local haunt in Christmas Valley. We started out on pavement, headed northeast going by the Christmas Valley Dunes and even went by a sign declaring the Back Country Byway, which in retrospect is not the OBCDR. On our way to the Dunes, we rode by Rick Aldridge’s Dad’s ranch on the left – small world.

We eventually came to the Dunes. Wow, out in the middle of BFE are these massive dunes! We all had to of course take a spin, have some giggles, pix and then continue on. This is about where the video (below) started out. Just after the Dunes, we were pleasantly surprised by happening upon the Lost Forest – what a cool piece of geological history! From there it was miles and miles of major expanse and big sky!
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http://vimeo.com/34330230

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Then we came upon a very sudden creek crossing – time for a Kodak Moment!
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Immediately after that we had to celebrate with anti-freeze, per the video. Then it was onward with more scenic vistas, historic buildings and just plain cool two-track roads! We stopped for a brief moment at the historic Camp Gap Ranch, which was rich in history of early days in highway construction. Here’s a badly-stitched photo, but you get the idea.
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Crossed Hwy 26 (Burns Hwy) heading north and suddenly were thrust into a gnarly, rocky section of two track (per video) – it sucked! We finally got out of that and into the higher-elevation trees. Wow, this really started to get fun now – awesome trail and two track! More historic stops like the pioneer Baby’s Grave with plenty of shrined toys placed nearby.
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We paid our respects and soldiered on. We made our way around to Delintment Lake, where we were to meet up with Scott and the chase truck. Only problem was, we got there and no Scott to be found! This presented a very real problem since there was no gas to be found and we were in the middle of nowhere. Now what?
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I went ahead and started to drive around the lake in search of Mr. Wilson. Out of nowhere was a torqued off Scott saying that his GPS had taken him on the worst roads available and he was madder than a wet hen. Wow, were we glad to see him though! We had a feast for lunch, topped off our tanks, and proceeded to move onward, as we still had a looooong ways to go to get to John Day! Before we left, I double checked Scott’s GPS settings for his truck and the ‘pavement’ option was disabled, which means its autorouting selected ONLY non-pavement – doh! He was now set up proper.
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From there we were making hay, but still weren’t going as fast as we’d like, plus we were infringing on Walt’s official cocktail hour of approximately 3pm. That’s when the infamous words from Walt came out over our radios, “Hey, we’re cutting into my cocktail hour, so put the leather to the mule!” I had Walt lead then and we put on a blistering pace doing our best Bubba Shobert imitations around the dirt-road turns eventually ending up onto the highway.
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Since it was getting late/dark, we hit the highway just north of Seneca and rode it north a few miles into John Day to our hotel. Upon arriving at our hotel, Scott was of course waiting, and the Hatchers were there too: Dan, Connie & Josh! The plans were for Dan & Josh to ride with us for a couple days, as they were staying at Josh's place in LaGrande. We quickly huddled up the bikes, got cleaned up and headed across the parking lot to dinner. As expected, the natives got restless! Notice in the video how the place was packed when we showed up in the bar. Then notice how we cleared out the place before we left - doh! Good times! During dinner, Scott told us of his misadventure with JW at the Bearcat Lodge in Seneca - too funny! Too bad we didn't stop by for laughs. After dinner we headed back and partied more while Walt pulled out his MP3 player. That's about the time I noticed all the bikes were cable locked together - but mine. WTF? Now why did Joe do that? Since a few of us were amped up, we decided to show Joe, so a few of us got together (when Joe and Scott weren't around) and pushed my 450 up the stairs and into the Hatcher's room for the night. We continued to party into the night and anticipated the morning as Joe woke up and would find my bike appearing to be stolen. :D Day Two's total miles: 235.
-Tom
PS: Randy - I'd like to point out, even though you whined about all the times I had my camera out, it's paying off now! :wink:
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:22 pm

Day Three 7/18/11

I awoke in the morning with Scott texting me, "U got your bike?". Dammit, this was supposed to be a joke on Joe. Well, he was rooming with Scott, so Scott must’ve been pulled into it. Of course I responded back with something along the lines of, “What are you talking about?” Clearly Joe must’ve been stressing due to Joe’s lack of locking my bike up. Eventually word got out and I pulled my KTM out of Dan & Josh’s room down the stairs, no doubt to Joe and Scott’s relief. Next time he’ll include mine in the cable!
Off to breakfast at the local restaurant. Nothing like a killer omelet to start your day of riding off!
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We donned our gear, prepped our bikes for another great day of riding nirvana. We headed down south of John Day across the highway from where we left off the day prior. Wow was this a smoooooth section of road that led us up to the Dry Soda Lookout Tower where Sandy happily greeted us. Josh and I were the only ones daring enough to hike up the eight flights of stairs to get to the top. Must admit it was sketchy and I was pretty jiggy making the trek, but wow was it worth it! Sandy was quite pleasant to visit with and even chimed in stories about the local Bearcat Lodge!
http://vimeo.com/34385702

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After leaving the lookout, we wound around the sides of the mountains on a very cool, old two track and eventually arrived upon another lookout at Frazier Point, where it was break time.
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Then it was simply a matter of following where the predescribed tracklog led us – so cool and put the ‘vent’ in adventure. Eventually we came upon the first major river crossing – yet another Kodak Moment!
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Then more winding through the mountains. Good Lord was the scenery stunning! Along the way, Mikey had his radio cable get caught up into his bike and/or damaged. We made a feeble effort to find the missing part, pulled out the anti-freeze and continued onward.
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We made our way to the town of Unity for petrol. From there we started again to cut into Walt’s cocktail hour, so decided to mainline it to Sumpter. Half the group decided to ride the tarmac out to Prairie City, then up to Sumpter. The other half went with me as I went by the seat of my riding pants and found an off-road shortcut that took us to Sumpter. Wow, was it sketchy, but awesome! Upon arriving at the hotel in Sumpter, we were tired, dirty and ready to cut loose! We met a great group of fellow riders calling themselves Wheezers & Geezers who we started benchracing with – great gents! One guy got in a fight with a tree limb – ouch. Walt and I promptly did an oil change on our trusty steeds.
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A shower later, we all ended up at the local Elkhorn Bar & Saloon in Sumpter. The natives again got restless (see video).
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After the bar asked us to not let the screen door hit us in the fanny, we relocated back to the hotel and pulled out my little guitar. Plus it was time for more drinks and cigars. The night pretty much ended with the hotel owner coming out and telling us to shut the Hell up - doh! Total mileage for the day: 175 miles.
-Tom
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:22 pm

Day Four 7/19/11

We all got up, knew our destination was Ukiah and, according to our info, some of the best views were in this day’s ride, so we were stoked! No idea what was going on with the first picture, but clearly Walt was NOT going to get any sleep with Daddy Hatcher around!
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We all walked down to the local restaurant where the local cutie waitress brandished her tattoos. Fun times right away!
I like Sumpter. Small town centered around kicking back and tourism. Check out the sign at the local gas station about the bird’s nest. We got all fueled up and headed out of town. Along the way we saw the huge dredging machine that is a key historic/tourist draw of the area. It was yet another beautiful day, or so we though. We also saw quad trails everywhere. So many that we decided it was time to hit some trails that appeared to go in the general direction of where we were going. Per the video, it was awesome and was a stellar way to start another day of riding in Oregon!
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http://vimeo.com/35226803
<<<<be sure to watch in HD full-screen mode!

After that damn fun piece of trail, we wound our way to the historic town of Granite. I was there for the first time last year, and it was just as cool going through it again this time. Granite has a wealth of gold-mining history. We decided to be smart and topped off our tanks at the only fuel station and headed back out of Granite.
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We then made our way up to the historic Fremont Powerhouse, which I’d heard about from numerous friends, and the place did not disappoint. Would be a great place to rent a cabin someday!
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Then we high tailed it up the road towards a lake area that a coworker had mentioned multiple times called Olive Lake. What a beautiful place, however the big, black clouds were looming on us, so we all decided to don our rain gear. That was a big of comedy as many hadn’t tried their gear yet.
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From there we headed out, and sure enough the rains commenced, plus we were heading into thick fog – dammit! All the beautiful scenery and we couldn’t see it! We would up over the top of the mountains and started dropping wayyyyyyy down, passing a logging operation along the way. Wow, was it cold, but once we hit the bottom, it thankfully warmed back up. We took a water and energy bar break across from Trough Creek Campground, fed the bears and soldiered on up the North Fork John Day Wilderness River. Was a blast and we were all on the gas, as this route had tons of challenges!
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As we started to break into the higher altitudes again, I went around one corner and got into a two-wheel drift! This totally freaked me out and we all stopped to take another break. Turns out I wasn’t the only one sliding around as everyone else chimed in also with the same feeling.
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We soon came to Hwy 52, had a pow wow on next steps. Everyone agreed that we’d had enough rain and fun, so bee lined it down the tarmac to Ukiah, where Scott already had our things waiting at the highly anticipated Antlers Inn Hotel.
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That’s when things started to get sketchy. Everyone got cleaned up in the sparse showers, then headed over to The Thicket, where we quickly befriended the bartender! The rest of the evening was sort of a blur as evidenced by the video. All I know is that Joey kicked my butt multiple times on pool! Total mileage for the day: 104 miles.
-Tom
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:23 pm

Day Five 7/20/11

After the hellious night prior at The Thicket, we all were up and ready to hit it again! We decided the day before that, if we skipped riding to Sisters, OR, we could spend an entire day in the Winom/Frazier OHV Area, plus save big bucks at the Sisters hotel, so a few phone calls, a pow-wow with The Antlers Inn owner and we were good! That’s what I really like about this group and our goals – if we want to stray from the general itinerary, do it! Another motto is: when the planning ends, the adventure begins!
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We suited up, fueled up and made our way East towards the local hot springs, where the trails started according to the maps. I also had GPS tracklogs from previous rides there. Unfortunately, this would be the last ride with the group by the Hatchers, since they had to make their way back to LaGrande. However they were able to hit a few trails with us before they exited. Before we hit the trails though, I wanted to show everyone the Shoe Tree. What the heck is the Shoe Tree you ask? It’s a tree out in the middle of nowhere that is covered with shoes. Who knows why, but it’s an obligatory Kodak Moment and a sight to behold. However, we rode for almost 10 miles east of Ukiah to see the damn thing and I finally gave up and turned everyone around to a chorus of sniveling and whining by all. Damn! (It turns out I had the wrong town. It was actually east of Mitchell, not Ukiah – doh! The pic below is from the year prior when I went by it on my road bike.)
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After that bogus side trip, we went by the (now closed) hot springs and started right out on quad trails. Woohoo! It was a beautiful day, no dust since it rained the day before and we were all feeling good! Our mantra throughout our sojourns has always been to not ride more than 70% of our capabilities. Why, you ask? Because getting injured or broken down out in the middle of BFE ruins the trip for everyone, so again we all made our pledge and pushed on into trail heaven.
http://vimeo.com/35449599
<<<<<be sure to watch in HD, full-screen mode!
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We eventually worked our way up the trails and higher in elevation. We of course zeroed in onto the single track and wow was it a blast! There were a few challenging switchback trails with a few steep climbs, but wow were they pristine. This is an awesome area!
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We made our way to a major intersection and Dan & Josh Hatcher parted ways with us. Was very sorry to see them go since it sure was a blast having them around! Being the trail hound that I am, I had plotted out an awesome loop with, what looked to be, epic single track. Soon we started getting into sections where there were trees across the trail. ‘Someone’ on a Honda 450 had a problem getting over it, while everyone else made it.
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We went further up, and then there were multiple trees across the trail. Since I figure I can slither through most anything, I decided to forge ahead, while the others stayed back and waited to get the okay from me on the radios. Boy am I stupid, and the rest sure were smart. Holy crap, I hopped log after log, then came upon a sidehill trail that was sweet, but had a couple of big logs across it. Man, I spent about 45 minutes or more getting under two logs, deciding it was too much for everyone and turned around. That’s when it got difficult. I don’t care what anyone says, four strokes are friggin’ heavy! By the time I got under and back up onto the trail again, I must’ve had about three cardiac arrests. Out of breath, I made my way back to the guys, who were thankfully waiting my return and helped me get my bike across the last few logs. What a futile effort that was! Too bad I ran out of video – was brutal!

From there we headed on back down to another, slightly used trail called Short Cable – awesome!
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We eventually made our way back to the hot springs and hit the highway back to Ukiah. The hot shower and cold refreshments hit the spot! While we waited outside in the balmy weather, we were accosted by a saber-tooth squirrel, who provided plenty of entertainment. Then out of nowhere a government truck pulls up and asked if we were riding the trails. Well yes we were. This gent, Jim Reynolds, then proceeded to talk our legs off and we had a great conversation. Turns out he was one of the main guys that works and maintains the trails and also part of the Northwest Trail Riders Association (NWTRA). He showed us a special saw that he packs with him that works excellent for trail clearing, which was a suggestion he got from Ian Caldwell. He was the man for the local area! If I/we ever go back, we will for sure contact him for a guided tour of the ‘good stuff’!
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Then it was again time to grace The Thicket with our presence, and befriend the bartender once again. Joe whooped our asses again at pool, and the party commenced.
This day’s total miles: 80
-Tom
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:23 pm

Day Six 7/21/11

After the hella night prior in The Thicket, we awoke ready for yet another adventure. What would it bring today? Who knows, who cares, we were riding, and it didn’t matter! The sun was again greeting us to another great day. Today we would again be back on a piece of the OBCDR tracklog, but since we find the basic route somewhat boring, we would of course take opportunities to find more challenging routes, specifically trail. We loaded up Scott’s chase truck, groomed the scoots and made our way out of Ukiah. We now have some very fond memories of Ukiah, although they may not have the same for us! (I wonder if Scott knows his timestamp is wrong by one day in his pictures below?) Today we would go from Ukiah to the speck of Spray, OR.
http://vimeo.com/35758723

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Scott Wilson photo.
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Scott Wilson photo.
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Scott Wilson photo.
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Scott Wilson photo.

We fueled up and headed west from Ukiah. There were a few miles of tarmac before we caught back onto the OBCDR trail, so we experimented with varying ideas along the way, all of which ended up as either dead ends or locked gates, as you can see by the GPS logs. It did not deter us though as we continued to try.
http://vimeo.com/35755998
<<<<<<<<watch in HD, full-screen mode!

We finally made our way to the Heppner/Morrow County OHV Area, of which I had some tracklogs from past rides I’ve done there. Once again, we were in nirvana, riding quad and single-track trails. We eventually came to a single-track trail that got steeper and steeper (see video) and eventually I made it to the top, however everyone else did not. Mikey stalled, then Joe, then Mikey got sick and chummed, so we all turned around to the bottom of said hill, took a break, and found an easier route out, then made our way to Spray.
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We eventually got to Spray, explored around town for the hotel, went the wrong initial direction down by the river, then eventually found it the other direction. Joe’s Honda had developed an oil leak that, if parked vertical (on Mikey’s bike) stopped leaking.
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Scott Wilson photo.
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After cleaning up we headed to the local restaurant, which of course had a neighboring bar – our kind of place. We befriended the wonderful ladies behind the counter, Barbara and her coworker with the sweet accent from Texas, and before long they were offering beads to Scott to show his tits, of which he obliged. Turnabout IS fair play!
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Then I got to talking to a local on my left swilling his beer and it turns out he was the head cheese at the Heppner OHV Park, where we just went through! His name was Simon Winter, we had many mutual friends from the NORA Club and we had some great conversations. Before long we were one, big happy family and had to get a group portrait shot by one of the locals. We once again partied into the night. One last look to ensure Joe locked my bike and it was time to hit the hay. Vacations are great. Total miles on this day: 97 miles.
-Tom
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:23 pm

Day Seven 7/22/11

We awoke to a spectacular morning in downtown Spray, Oregon. Joe's bike didn't have a puddle of oil under it, so the vertical parking worked. As usual, I was up early searching for morning coffee. Scott tip-toe’d into my room telling me to bring my camera, as Joe was snoring loudly. Sneaking back into his room, Joe woke up and the cover was shot.
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We donned our breakfast gear and headed to the local restaurant, which again was next to the bar. And the same two wonderful ladies, who were our bartenders the night prior, were now our waitresses and cooks. Soon enough, one of the lovely ladies brought out some bonafide Irish Crème for our coffee – yes!
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After that wonderful breakfast, we headed back to the hotel rooms and collected our gear and got ready. Like every morning, I had to compile a semblance of a route for the day, and then upload to everyone’s GPS. As I was finishing up everyone’s data, as usual, Joe was sniveling about I was the last one getting ready to go. I decided to shake things up, put all my gear in the back of the chase truck, went back into the room, slipped into my riding gear and then just walked out to my bike, hit the starter and took off up the street, with everyone still sitting in their chairs wondering WTF was up. I went up the road about a half mile and waited in front of the hardware store for grins. After about five minutes, sure enough, everyone came down the road.
http://vimeo.com/35952456
<<<<<<<<<Watch in full-screen, HD mode!

We had some laughs, and one of our favorite waitresses was there and came out to bid us farewell even! Then it was time to make our way towards Mitchell, OR. We headed out of town onto vast, open stretches of gravel road that presented us with massive expanses of incredibly beautiful prairies and ranges that eventually delivered us to Highway 26. We could’ve very easily turned west and headed to Mitchell, but that’s not what this trip was about, so we headed the other direction, then turned our way into the Ochoco National Forest. As we climbed our way into the high mountains, we were again presented with huge vistas. We eventually were back onto one of the OBCDR tracks and followed it. We were now on top of the mountains plateau.

At one point we came to an intersection and met up with three other motorcyclists who were also doing the OBCDR, but in the opposite direction. We had a great visit sharing experiences and tips. These three guys were amazed at the size of our group and our radio setup. To reciprocate, we were amazed that they didn’t have radios and were merely going my line-of-sight confirmation at each intersection. I of course had to get a few pix of everyone, when one of the riders looked at me and said, “Hey, wait, aren’t you Tom Niemela that puts on the Black Dog Dualsport?” Well, yes, that was me. Turns out he’d ridden the Black Dog a few times and was planning on bringing his buddies with him next time. It’s a small world indeed. Sorry, didn’t get the names of these guys, but they were from Eugene area I believe.
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We soldiered onward and soon came to a location called Scott’s Camp – a big, five-way intersection where a local firewood cutter, Allen, was parked. I decided to ask him for directions and, wow, I hit the Holy Grail of the area! Turns out this gent rides the area and knows all the backroads, since he himself maintained the local roads. We laid out the map onto the hood of his truck and he showed us a couple of local-knowledge routes to get us back to Mitchell. He also told us not to miss a great lookout just up ahead. Local knowledge always is the best!
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We went the suggested routes from Allen and it truly was incredible! We made our way west and soon came to the aforementioned lookout: Mount Pisgah. The view was absolutely breathtaking! And the USFS guy manning the lookout was very knowledgeable, friendly and even knew Allen!
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From there we backtracked a bit, then made our way down the mountains towards Mitchell. Along the way I saw another dotted line on the GPS in the Thompson Creek area, so we just had to at least try it! It turned out to be an actual cow trail, so it was basically single track with occasional cow pies! That trail eventually led to a two-track road, which took us back to the main gravel road. Soon after, I again had another brainstorm to try another dotted-line trail that took us wayyyy back into BFE up Camp Creek. It soon came to a clearing and we were all running around like heads with our chickens cut off. We had everyone wait there while Joe and I tried to find a route back to the main road just above us by about ¼ mile. Wow, that got interesting, but we eventually made it back up top. The others decided to go back out the way they came in, so we met them back down the road. Another adventure!

From there it was an easy ride back down into the valleys, then some highway into the berg of Mitchell, where we had reservations at the historic Oregon Hotel. What a great place, and sorry to say, the bear is no longer across the street due to too many harrassers and vandals making things bad. We got cleaned up and waited for dinner on the porch with our favorite cocktail of choice. Wake up Joey!
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Eventually dinner time came and we swarmed the local place, which hey, doubled as a bar – yes! As the lovely waitress took our orders, who shows up, but our favorite firewood cutter dude, Allen! We invited him to join and we commenced to benchrace and tell more lies.
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After that delicious meal, we headed back to the Oregon Hotel, prepped our bikes for the following last day and, well, hit the porch again! Soon this mountain of a man showed up. Turns out he was the boyfriend of the nice lady that ran the Hotel. This guy had stories! He’d worked in the oil fields in Texas, had been a professional boxer, had run ins with the Mob, worked on windmill farms, etc.
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After we couldn’t tell/hear any more stories and our eyes were rolling to the back of our heads, it was time for our heads to hit the feathers. Total miles for this day: 95
-Tom
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Tue Dec 27, 2011 7:24 pm

Day Eight 7/23/11

We awoke with the sun at the historic Oregon Hotel in Mitchell, Oregon and started into our normal routines to get ready. We decided as a group to forsake breakfast in Mitchell with our energy bars and coffee. We knew our last day would be a long one, and we didn’t want to arrive back in LaPine in the dark. So we prepped up, decided to stop traffic and do a group shot in the main street of Mitchell (okay, no traffic) and we were off!
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We had to hit about eight miles of tarmac, before we caught back on the original OBCDR track and headed southwest back into the Ochocos. We went about another eight miles of dirt road, then came to an intersection called Harvey Gap. Hey, what was this sign that said Green Mountain Trail? After much pondering over the GPS screens, we decided to go for it, as it looked to come out further on up the original OBCDR tracks. Okay, not really, but relatively close.

8.8 miles later, we realized we had just ridden a piece of heaven – that trail was so fine! The 30-minute video below is almost the entire length (forgot to turn on video until a few hundred feet into the start of the trail).
http://vimeo.com/36083248
<<<<<<Watch it in HD, full-screen mode!

After that sweet quad trail, we again pondered the GPS logs and how to find a way back onto the original route. We started down Johnson Creek, but it dead ended into what looked to be someone’s property, so about face we went back to the roads. From the road I could see a dotted line route below us on a place called Old Dry Creek, so we went for it! Wow, this was a gem and it looked like a few local quads had been on it. Another adventure!

After a few miles of this exquisite adventure, we descended into what appeared to be a ranch. Sure enough we started coming into irrigation, fields, cattle and horses. Soon we came to closed gates and they were even unlocked – thank God! We tip-toed our way through and even went by a truckload of ranch hands. We waved and acted like we knew what we were doing, closing all the gates behind us proper. Eventually we came out into the McKay Creek Valley north of Prineville and it was time to top off the tanks and have lunch.

Then we headed south from Prineville, past the Prineville Reservoir and into the Four Corners OHV Area, where I had a route calculated to take us over the top into Millican Valley, south again towards China Hat, then straight west over Newberry Crater and Paulina Lake. We were going WFO through this area, kind of like the horses heading to the barn!
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We pulled back into Rick and Debbi Aldridge’s place in LaPine, Oregon late in the afternoon in fine fashion! Wow, we had done it with nary a problem and so many good times, with incredible adventures! Scott was there ahead of us taking finishing camera shots, busted out our celebratory beers for us all and even had water and towels for us to get cleaned up.
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Total miles on this final day: 161 miles. A BIG thanks to Scott for being our premiere chase-truck driver, the Aldridge's for so kindly allowing us to invade their residence as a base camp, and of course all the great people we met along the way! Mad props to my fellow riders who all were solid the entire trip! When and where we going next guys?
-Tom
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You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.

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Tawmass
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Re: OBCDR - The Northern Halves Adventure - 7/16~23/11

Postby Tawmass » Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:14 am

And here’s our total trip miles. My odometer showed 1172.75 miles and the GPS totaled 1116 miles total!
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You don't stop riding because you grow old, you grow old because you stop riding.

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