Four Days From China Hat, Central Oregon Desert

great fun as usual live,,,, i really like the fort rock, xmas valley area,,, but you didnt stop at one of my favs, crack in the ground.

next time you do chili in the dutchie try a yummy thing i do do and lemme know if you like it. for the last bit of cooking mix up a cornbread mix and pour it over the top, let it bake and,,, fantastic.

Thanks @2 SPOT!

We stopped at the trail head, but the fellas didn’t feel like hiking in gear, which I get as it sucks . I’ve been before and hiked the length of it, damn cool place. Though I learned afterward that hiking through the slot has contributed to the white noise disease the bats are suffering, which sucks. Here’s a shot from earlier this summer when I hiked it with my wife.



Thanks for the tip on doing chili! This was a batch of goulash, but I love doing chili in the Dutch oven too. Will do the cornbread idea when I make a batch this winter...definitely that time of year

That's a great dog you have there, I had a Vishla a while back.
Nice report, looks like great riding .

Great report. My riding buddy, mentor, best friend loves to bail out of WA and head to Central OR and Eastern OR. He got me out there into the Painted Hills, Blues and Wilowas. Drop dead gorgeous playground you've got there!

Your videos are some of the best I've seen. Really top knotch. Thanks for taking the time.

Jonathan

Enjoying the ride report. I definitely need to expand my group of riding buddies. Thanks for putting this together.

Good report, pic's and videos as usual. I have a German Shorthair Pointer and wondered about camping with her in the cold. She's good running around in teens and twenties but I imagine she'd be chilly sleeping. Did you just use a dog bed and blanket?

Fantastic posts as always, man! Keeping me amped to get out of here in the spring!

Thanks @jonz! I have always liked GSPs, considered getting one after hunting with them back in the day (this is my 2nd Vizsla - not hunting him as I just don't have the time). And yep, when out camping in the cold like this, I have a bed and a big fleece blanket for him. The bed has 3 nice sides that enable him to curl up and the blanket tucks in around and generally stays put unless I get up take a piss and he things it's time to go...lol. He's pretty good about staying covered up with the blanket and when I've reached in to give him a pet, he's plenty warm.

@svo_jon, @Dusty Pipes, @eaglescan, @Mumbles24, & @Ginger Beard - appreciate you guys following along and chiming in! The daily ride reports might not be as exciting to follow as the epic reports; thanks for taking the time to chime in and keep tabs.

I'm going to get to the story from day 3, but needed a distraction from the deluge we had out here in the PNW this past weekend and put a longer video together covering the riding from days 3 and 4. And for the Tool fans out there, I think you'll like this one - was fun to edit to this song

Excellent as always @liv2day. With the mess the world has been in for what seems like much longer than 8 or so months, these types of videos and ride reports are a really nice treat. They help keep me sane, lol. I feel like I've seen all there is to see out here in the small corner of the universe where I live. Lots of trails and unmaintained roads to ride, which are great, but most of the time my rides look exactly the same: another trail through the woods. I know it could be much worse than living here but those long range open views and big mountains with various terrain look so inviting.

If I ever get my WRR mule out to Oregon (which has become a huge desire) I am going to look you up! And thanks again for the excellent soundtrack, love it!

Nice, thanks for sharing. What software do you use to clip everything together and to add the soundtrack with?

Thanks @Long Trail! Definitely look me up if you make the cross-country trek; happy to provide any intel, a shop with tools, etc, if you do. I feel very fortunate to live here, Pacific ocean 1.5 hours west, Cascade mountains 1.5 hours east, high-desert ~4 hours east, Oregon Outback ~5.5 hours southeast. And I haven't even started exploring the NE corner of the state on my little mule yet, which is home to incredible mountains and more. Having lived in most areas of the US, I'm glad to call this home - even with the dark winter months of unending rain (exaggeration, but not by much...lol).

Thanks @Dusty Pipes! I'm a complete hack at using Adobe Premier - have an old copy on my old Mac (ie 2011 vintage) that's still plugging along. It's far more powerful than I need and I could definitely do more on the editing side with it (ie color correcting, etc), but it's good for what I need.

Been remiss in keeping this report going; so it's time to hit day 3. Today's ride was going to be somewhat of a gamble, at least insofar as most any ride I plan is a gamble...I have developed a bit of a reputation over the years now . An aside on that, I've switched from using Google Earth and Mapsource (Garmin) to Gaia GPS as it has a ton of cool features including private property overlays which are usually accurate. That's not always the case though...

The day's route was 173 miles, taking us south from camp out into the high desert before cutting west where I hoped to get across the Gilchrist State Forest and briefly touch the Cascades before heading east back to camp. It was an ambitious plan and route, but I figured doable if we got started at a decent time.



It was still quite cold in the morning, so a fire was in order while coffee was consumed and we attempted to get our shit together.



This didn't bode well as we still had another night and it's not like rationing was in the vocabulary after the ride was done and we were sitting around the fire running our mouths.



Managed to get the yahoos roused and geared up before too long.



We made it as far as the edge of the campground when our DR rider attempted to slow using his front brake and had nothing; actually surprised he didn't skid into a tree upon discovering the lack of stopping power from the front .

Hmm...see anything wrong in this pic...lol.



Luckily, we were right at camp, so a quick look through the tool boxes and an appropriate width bolt was located...but not quite the right length. No worries, a spacer was also found



Problem solved, we were back at it. The bright blue sky and sunshine of the Oregon high desert is something I'll never grow tired of.





The route took us past some pretty cool volcanic rock formations, I stopped at one and decided to climb up and take a look - pretty damn neat.





Thought it might descend into a cave, but there wasn't much there beyond this.



Very pretty country out here.



Out of the forest and into high desert sage.







Unfortunately, shortly after this shot, we ran into a gate with private property signs all over the place. Seems I didn't zoom in close enough when planning the route in Gaia to see the road briefly cross a private parcel. Fack. We looped around the butte you see in the picture above and stopped in some shade to regroup and figure out a plan.





While we were stopped and I was looking at alternatives, our WR rider noticed more oil seepage. The new plan was to get the DR and WR riders back to a main thoroughfare so they could get back to camp and not risk a seizure, JP and I would make our way south and decide if we wanted to reconnect with the route or just wing it.

We navigated our way back to the town of Fort Rock and decided to stop for a beer - because beer.



Knowing we were going to be deficient on the whisky front for the evening, we asked the bartender if there was anywhere in town to get a bottle or two. Nope, closest place was Silver Lake, which was 17 miles to our south.

Well, sacrifices must be made for the greater good of the whole group, so we said the heck with the western portion of the route, we'd head south for sustenance and then pick the route up again as we headed north.

Silver Lake Mercantile - has a moderately decent selection of whisky...nice. And pumpkins.



To be honest, the ride north and reconnecting with the track east wasn't anything to write home about. Bummed I didn't get to explore tracks through Gilchrist, but there's a reason for the saying "next time".

We did get a chance to pay it forward though. While heading eastbound on an easy track; we came across a lone rider who not only had a bad rear flat, but he was completely turned around and wasn't sure how to get back to his staging area.



We figured out where we were in relation to where he needed to get to and decided to follow him back to his camp so he wasn't stranded if the rear tire called it quits. He made it back without a problem and we followed suit and made our way back to camp.

The two riders who booked back to camp early took advantage of the time and cut more rounds so we could have a nice fire for our last night.



And somewhat replenished on the whisky front, we got the evening going.



I'm a big fan of cooking over the fire and have a couple of Joe's Adjusta-forks for just that situation.







Grub done, it was time to sit around the fire and enjoy the last night.











While the day didn't go anywhere near to plan, it was a good day on the bikes, we had whisky for the night, and no major issues. A good day.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you seriously burn all that wood in one evening? Surprised you could get a pic with people anywhere near that blaze! Must have been freezing!

Grub looks good!

Jonathan

Thanks @svo_jon! We didn't burn all the wood that night - needed some for the next morning as it was stupid cold again. And the fire was damn hot - the ring around it got wider and wider as the heat radiated...was fantastic.

Time to put a wrap on this and call it done.

The last morning of the weekend was another cold sumbitch; not quite as bad as the first morning, but still mid-20s. Aside from simply feeling the cold as I roamed around camp in the early morning light, there was visual evidence of how far the mercury dropped.

The sun hadn't quite crested the horizon yet.



Apparently, leaving the pan to soak overnight didn't work out as well as anticipated.



This might be why most everyone, including this 1D10T, was moving rather slowly. Hey, at least there was still some BV for the coffee.



I'd planned a short ride of 80ish miles for the day, but by the time we got our shit together and the temps moved above the freezing mark, it was a little late to undertake. Most of us had between 4 and 6 hour drives to get home, so we opted for a short rip up to the fire lookout tower.



There was a ranger on lookout duty and we couldn't climb because of covid, but I still managed to get a couple decent shots of the view. It's much better from the tower...and I'm still kicking myself for not getting a few stills with the drone (doh).





Made it back to camp without issue, grabbed a group shot for posterity, and then commenced packing everything up for the return trek home.



And that's it for this one all. I do appreciate all the comments and folks following along, makes the time it takes to put these together well worth it. And given the craziness that 2020s delivered (and keeps delivering), these reports are an escape for me.

Until next time, keep the knobby side down out there.

What a great trip. Thx for sharing!