Pedal On and On...: Day 3 - Another Fantastic Day!!

Welches, OR to Kah-nee-ta, OR

Distance: 66 miles
Time: 5.25 hr
Elevation Gain: 4,961 ft

Today was a beautiful day, cool with clear skys to start but warmed up to the high 90's as the day went on. We started the day with a bike ride to the Whistle Stop were we had breakfast. We then headed out on a 13 mile climb that started about a mile from were we ate. We road through a pine forest that lined both sides of the road. The road was fairly wide with a descent shoulder to ride on. Unfortunately, about half way up there was road construction going on that we could not ride through. We had to be shuttled for 3 miles around the construction and we missed out ridding by the closest we would get to Mt Hood, if was a fantastic sight. We got dropped off after passing the construction and road a few more miles to the SAG stop at mile 13.4. From the SAG we had several more climbs and reached the summit at 4,024 ft (Blue Box Pass). The views were fantastic and Mt. Hood is still very much close by, but now behind us. There were several good locations to pull off the road for photos. At about mile 43 we transitioned from the pine forest to the high desert. The transition was very fast, fist a pine forest, then the forest thinned out, followed by open range land with grassy fields, and lastly, a rocky desert with amazing rock formations. SAG 2 was at mile 45 in a dirt lot and during the last 20 miles there were more climbs and a final E-Ticket Ride down hill. We had one last climb to or home for the night which was the steepest climb of the day. We are roughing it tonight at the Kah-nee-ta Resort and Casino. Tomorrow we ride to Prineville and have only 60 miles and a couple of climbs. Friday is the hardest day of this trip, 117 miles and 3 mountain passes.

My GPS Rout

For the photos below: FC means Forward Camera, RC means Rear Camera