I had the chance to guide a 3-day mountain bike tour last week along the North Umpqua River NRT (National Recreational Trail). There are some huge fires along the route, unfortunately, so Highway 138 was closed from Tokotee Lake down towards Roseburg. That meant we could only spend one day on the Umpqua, before heading north towards Oakridge. On the way down we stopped for gas in Chemult and encountered the Bicycle Adventures crew who were escaping the Crater Lake area and looking for an alternate route since their road ride route was interrupted as well. I pointed them towards the Cascade Lakes and we drove off in opposite directions.
I shared the duties of riding, cooking, and cleaning with Woody Starr, the founder of Cog Wild Bicycle Tours. It was fun to catch up with him as we haven't ridden together at all this Summer. Our guests were a bunch of friends who flew down from White Horse, way up in the Yukon Territory of Canada. They were all pretty capable riders so the whole crew stayed together most of the time. The weather was warm during the day, but you can tell that Fall is on the way from the cold temperatures at night.
After leaving the North Umpqua we headed towards Timpanogas Lake for a couple days of high-alpine riding. We did a loop around Cowhorn and Sawtooth Mountains, with an out-and-back to Indigo Lake. The next day we dropped down the Middle Fork of the Willamette, which goes all the way down to Hills Creek Reservoir outside of Oakridge, Oregon. The conditions were perfect and everyone was excited about the riding, even if we couldn't complete the whole Umpqua route.
