After visiting a couple of my friends in Eugene and Salem I set my sights on Bend. It had been two days since I left Arcata and I still hadn't had a chance to get any saddle time in on the mountain bike. I decided It was high time I remedy that, so I went straight to Phil's Trailhead upon arriving in bend and got the bike ready for one of my favorite trails, called Whoops.
If you are ever passing through bend to do a little riding, make sure you don't leave before you hit this trail. It's almost two miles of nothing but perfect berms and beautiful tabletop jumps with a few little gaps thrown into the mix. Any skill level rider will have a blast on this trail. If, you get to the bottom and you don't have a dust filled grin on your face, either you are having an exceptionally bad day (in which case you should go for another lap) or you might want to check your pulse because you're probably dead.
After a couple hours of mountain biking I wanted to get back on the road towards Wyoming but I wanted beer more. And to be truthful, no trip to bend is complete without a stop in at Deschutes Brewery. I limited myself to just one beer to celebrate a ride well done before picking up a few groceries and heading out into the high desert to the east.
Bend's city limits were the threshold to the longest and most boring stretch of driving I have encountered so far on my journey. But even so, there were times of tremendous beauty. The nights in the high desert rarely disappoint. Each night I was treated to a wonderfully clear view of the heavens. You can watch the Milky Way stretch from one horizon to the other. Once the moon rises, the landscape takes on a whole new quality . An eerie stillness falls over the scenery producing an inner calm that you never seem to notice is gone until it is found once again.
After much too much time in the driver’s seat on the long grind through eastern Oregon and southern Idaho, I was rewarded with a quick stop at Grand Teton National Park where I was lucky to arrive on a very photogenic day. The Grand Teton and it’s surrounding peaks and crags seemed to be the only things in the sky. Adorned by clouds, the shy mountains made their glory known for just an instant at a time, wearing their misty boas and snowy pearls like early twentieth century aristocracy looking out from a balcony in the sky.
Unfortunately, I could not stay in their gaze long. I was losing daylight and still had a few miles and a couple very steep passes to travel before the day was done. I had a date with a flock of chickens that night. I hate to stand chicks up.
No comments:
Post a Comment