2015-07-25 Day 27: Oregon!, Brownlee Dam, ID to Baker City, OR

Post date: Jul 26, 2015 1:43:26 PM

Miles Today: 82. Total Miles: 1539

Rode into Oregon then up and up and up. Jon and my plan was to just ride 40 miles but our plans are always flexible. At 1:00 in the afternoon we looked at our camping options in Richland, OR and just decided to go for Baker City another 40 plus miles and 1,500 feet higher up into the Blue Mountains. Today's vertical gain of 4800 was the highest of this trip and the daily mileage was in the top 3 of the trip. We were both ready to get off the bike seats after 8 hours in the saddle.

The geography provided tremendous variety again - riding from the bottom of Hells Canyon right on the Snake River up into the mountains here in Oregon. For you fishermen, the fish between Brownlee and Oxbow dams were really jumping. Now, we are looking at a dry high desert filled with sagebrush but it is Oregon sagebrush and that makes it beautiful. Tomorrow, Teresa and Marion are driving to meet us and we plan to visit the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. So tomorrow will have nothing to do with bikes.

Jon and I have picked up our pace and left behind most of the other riders that we were seeing on a somewhat regular basis. Climbing up off the river, I spotted another Transamerican rider ahead of me coming out of the campground at Oxbow. So, I picked up the pace and introduced myself. We ended up riding and visiting with Johannes from Switzerland all morning then bought him lunch to welcome him to the U.S.

We separated from him in the afternoon but ended up at the same motel here in Baker City. As is typical of Transamerican riders, he is very social, friendly, and communicative. He showed us pictures of his family and his post card perfect village in Switzerland which is just north of Interlaken. From a hill close to his home, he can see the tall mountains of the Berner Oberland region where Teresa and I visited 3 years ago.