Today was a tough but satisfying, in some ways amazing, day. Once again with great weather we left the hotel. We actually cycled to a restaurant for breakfast and left directly from there. Immediately we began an unrelenting 13 mile climb to the first SAG stop- not super steep but no let-up at all, which taxes the leg muscles as they have no real recovery opportunity. Along the way we had some closer views of Mt. Hood. The many varying views of Mt. Hood are tough to beat.
After the first SAG we had a big descent followed by some more climbing and then more descending. The topography dramatically and unexpectedly changed from deep forest to open high desert scrub. Essentially it felt like we began in Oregon, skirted Alaska with its snow packed glaciers, and ended in the hot desert in New Mexico. Definitely not the Oregon I was expecting- at least not so soon. After the second SAG some other major Oregon mountains came into view, most prominently Mt. Jefferson. After one last tough climb we had a truly spectacular fast and long, harrowing, descent into Kah-nee-ta. Kah-nee-ta is a small resort town on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, We are staying at the Kah-nee-ta Resort, a large hotel property. I arrive early enough to enjoy their outdoor pool. We had a nice buffet dinner at the hotel this evening.
 |
| Climbing towards Mt Hood from the West side |
 |
| Riding away from the east side of Mt. Hood |
Hey Matt - Enjoyed reading your blog. Looks like a fantastic trip!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Adam