Twitterpainted: Rolling Hills and Birdsong in Oregon Country This May

Last weekend in May
Welches, near Mt. Hood, Oregon


Last weekend, my partner Michael and I, along with our friends Michelle and Thomas, biked out to one of our favorite free camping spots beside the Salmon River at the Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness. It was buckets of fun. Weather included hot and cloudy, rain and cold, and warm and sunny days. Luckily, it rained on the middle day we were there (Sunday) so we just scrapped our plans for biking to French's Dome on that day and climbing to avoid slick muddy rock and dirty wet roads in favor of some delightful hiking up to the ridge above the Salmon River Valley. Even with the low-lying puffy clouds and drizzling rain, there was a beautiful view at the top and it was also nice to allow our bike-tired legs some alternate excerize.

There was one mishap that almost stopped our excursion before we could barely get rolling, though. On day one, Saturday, we were heading for the MAX train in the Rose Quarter of Portland to make up some time lost on our late morning start and I was attempting to shift up after cresting a hill. Unfortunately, though, I was instead suddenly thrown forward as Bonnie Blue Bell with her new touring tires came to a screeching halt. Appearantly, I am still not too savvy with my new derailer, which is set up backwards and causes my shifters to be reversed. When I thought I was shifting up, I was shifting down. My chain was thrown violently toward my wheel, got caught on the inner side of my cassette, and crunched off four spokes. (Wheel currently in the shop). Unwilling to let this sully our plans, the team of myself, Michael and Michelle puts our heads together and decided that they'd go get a car, pick me up off the side of the road, and we'd quickly go back to my house so I could switch to my lightweight non-touring bike, Lightning Storm. I just wouldn't be able to carry much of anything other than what I would need for the ride.

Lucky for us, again, our friend and Michelle's partner Josh had already decided to drive out that evening and meet up with us after his shift at the bike shop. He was also bringing out some of Michelle's camping gear then, so it was easy to drop mine off in their car. And finally we were ready to go again!

Throughout our three days at Salmon Huckleberry we biked, hiked, did some rock climbing and also engaged in some good old fashioned carousing (of course). The dedicated and steadfast nerds in our group also lead us on some quality plant surveys of the area. (False Solomon's Seal included).

On Monday when we headed back, the sun came out for us and made the 50 degrees and raining weather of the day before seem like the distant past. The traffic was pretty heavy the whole time (despite high gas prices), but we had no trouble with the wide shoulders of highway 26 or the familiar route.

It was so great to share an adventure with friends! Come join in the fun! Summer is around the corner and the time to bike is ripe!