Scenes from the Aufderheide Memorial Highway

While Brian rested up for tomorrow's Cascade Creampuff mountain bike race, Deb did a 60+ mile road ride up the Aufderheide Memorial Highway - which is part of the West Cascades National Scenic Byway.

It's one of the most beautiful, quiet forest roads. Deb saw three cyclists, 5 cars and a handful of friendly motorcyclists the entire day.

Independence Day Celebration!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck

We celebrated our Freedom by enjoying 24 miles of beautiful single track on the Waldo Lake Trail. The mosquitoes were digging their freedom too... But all in all, it was a great ride!



For the first time on our many Summer getaways, we actually ventured out past dark to partake of public 4th of July festivities. The city of Oakridge, population 3320, put on quite a show for such a small town! Bravo!

"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." ~ Benjamin Franklin

Westfir, Oregon

We arrived in Westfir on June 30 - and will be here two weeks. We plan to ride as many trails as possible and and preview the route of the "Cascade Creampuff." Brian is racing the Creampuff on July 12: 100 miles with about 18,000' of climbing.

Here's some of the route that we've already had a chance to preview. Our first ride was 36 miles with over 5,000' of climbing. About 2/3 of that was amazing singletrack through lush forest.




Will post more photos soon!

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Our second stop this summer is for four nights at the Diamond Lake RV Park. We're about 6 miles from Crater Lake National Park - and surrounded on all sides by the Rogue and Umqua National Forests.

Our first full day here we rode 55 miles on the road, stopping at various scenic lookouts to check out the many waterfalls. We didn't take a lot of pictures because the mosquitoes were vicious; and every time we stopped we felt we were being eaten alive. We hate mosquitoes - and wish that those responsible for the prohibition against DDT spraying would be locked in a room with thousands of swarming west-nile-virus and malaria infected mosquitoes and bitten mercilessly. ;-)

Yesterday, Deb's sister, Leslie, and nephew, Jamie, drove up from Ashland to see Crater Lake for the first time.
Today, after applying copious amounts of "Bite Blocker" with the latest and greatest bug repellent "BioUd" (which smells like barf, but seems to work), we hit the road for a 70 mile loop including the climb up to the lake. We went downhill for the first 25 miles, then climbed over 5000' to the Crater Lake Rim Road.

Here's Brian on a bridge over the Rogue River.
Crater Lake is truly spectacular!

It's beautiful here at the RV park too. We're right across the road from Diamond Lake, surrounded by a wonderful pine forest. Life is good.

Mountain Biking In Ketchum

We returned to Ketchum this summer because the mountain biking is so great; and also, it's sort of on the way to where we're going the rest of the summer.

Muffy Ritz has been a wonderful tour guide for rides both on and off road. Yesterday we went over Galena Summit down to Stanley to ride the famous Fisher Creek Trail. The climb is mostly on a fire road. The descent was heavenly single track. The views were incredible.

Today we rode "Adams Gulch" which was especially challenging, including lots of stream crossings. The views at the summit were worth the suffering... and the wildflowers were incredible!