Where no one has biked before...

Spent some time in the very remote Steens Mountain area of south Oregon last
week. Stayed at a pack camp at 7200', and hiked around a lot at high
elevations. You guys who ride high country all the time must get some
serious lungs on you...

Did a great day's ride on horseback over a few gorges that descend the
mountain. These horses are part mountain goat, and I kept thinking "Hmmm I
wonder if I could clear that section....". I just happened to have my bike
along... The next morning I checked with the owner (all private property)
and got permission to give it a try.

We were scheduled to head home soon, so my ride time was (thankfully)
limited to a couple of hours. The terrain to start was dusty singletrack
trail thru sagebrush, then descending sharply down the side of a gorge.
These folks must diss switchbacks, cause this is pretty much a straight
down. Big honking rocky sections with little traction and lots of penalties
for failure. I walked much of it.

At the bottom there is a great creek crossing, then some gentle winding
singletrack that meanders up the gorge past beautiful stands of aspen. It
is grass interspersed with sagebrush here, very pretty country. Still
hitting sections of head-sized rocks that required some manouvers, not all
successful. A few rocks moved would have made it challenging and more
do-able, but I didn't want to mess with their trail system.

I covered a couple of miles up the gorge like this, then ran out of time and
doubled back. The climb back up the side of the steep gorge was a lot of
walking, although I scoped out a couple of natural switchbacks that could be
added easily to make it rideable. Again, I decided to stick on the trail
and not mess with things.

Think I may talk things over with the owners in more detail. A few days
"volunteer" work out there and the existing horse/game trails could double
as bike trails, perhaps add to their clientele. Hmmmm.

Anyways, it was very cool to get a chance to ride where probably no bike has
ever gone before. It was also awesome to do it on horseback, and also to
hike parts of it - like I was able to experience it in several ways. I felt
very fortunate.

Gary

G Wood wrote:
Spent some time in the very remote Steens Mountain area of south Oregon last
week. Stayed at a pack camp at 7200', and hiked around a lot at high
elevations. You guys who ride high country all the time must get some
serious lungs on you...

Did a great day's ride on horseback over a few gorges that descend the
mountain. These horses are part mountain goat, and I kept thinking "Hmmm I
wonder if I could clear that section....". I just happened to have my bike
along... The next morning I checked with the owner (all private property)
and got permission to give it a try.

We were scheduled to head home soon, so my ride time was (thankfully)
limited to a couple of hours. The terrain to start was dusty singletrack
trail thru sagebrush, then descending sharply down the side of a gorge.
These folks must diss switchbacks, cause this is pretty much a straight
down. Big honking rocky sections with little traction and lots of penalties
for failure. I walked much of it.

At the bottom there is a great creek crossing, then some gentle winding
singletrack that meanders up the gorge past beautiful stands of aspen. It
is grass interspersed with sagebrush here, very pretty country. Still
hitting sections of head-sized rocks that required some manouvers, not all
successful. A few rocks moved would have made it challenging and more
do-able, but I didn't want to mess with their trail system.

I covered a couple of miles up the gorge like this, then ran out of time and
doubled back. The climb back up the side of the steep gorge was a lot of
walking, although I scoped out a couple of natural switchbacks that could be
added easily to make it rideable. Again, I decided to stick on the trail
and not mess with things.

Think I may talk things over with the owners in more detail. A few days
"volunteer" work out there and the existing horse/game trails could double
as bike trails, perhaps add to their clientele. Hmmmm.

Anyways, it was very cool to get a chance to ride where probably no bike has
ever gone before. It was also awesome to do it on horseback, and also to
hike parts of it - like I was able to experience it in several ways. I felt
very fortunate.

Gary

Great report, did you take any pictures??

CDB

None that do it justice, but I'll try to set up some links in a day or two.

"Paladin" wrote in message
ups.com...


Great report, did you take any pictures??

CDB

Better late than never. If anyone's interested...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN0162.JPG - Taking a break while
riding up a burned out canyon. Still on the high desert here en route to
the mountain...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1547.JPG - The Alvord desert
below the east rim of the Steens mountain. Got some city slicks?

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1577.JPG - Big Indian Gorge,
one of several glacial gorges that decend the west slope of the Steens.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1599.JPG - Wildhorse Lake, as
seen from the mountain summit. That's about 1800' down to the water.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1602.JPG - Looking out over
Alvord Desert from the summit. In the distance is southern Idaho.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1616.JPG - Exploring some of
the singletrack on auto-pilot.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1653b.JPG - One of the descents
I walked. Steeper than it looks, I promise...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1654.JPG - Overlooking some of
the trail where it crosses a gentle gorge. The trail is just visible in
lower center of frame.


Great report, did you take any pictures??

CDB

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:30:32 -0700, G Wood wrote:

Better late than never. If anyone's interested...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN0162.JPG - Taking a break
while
riding up a burned out canyon. Still on the high desert here en route to
the mountain...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1547.JPG - The Alvord desert
below the east rim of the Steens mountain. Got some city slicks?


Those are cool... would love to try one some day.


http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1577.JPG - Big Indian Gorge,
one of several glacial gorges that decend the west slope of the Steens.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1599.JPG - Wildhorse Lake,
as
seen from the mountain summit. That's about 1800' down to the water.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1602.JPG - Looking out over
Alvord Desert from the summit. In the distance is southern Idaho.


Dang, now those are some views!!


http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1616.JPG - Exploring some of
the singletrack on auto-pilot.

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1653b.JPG - One of the
descents
I walked. Steeper than it looks, I promise...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN1654.JPG - Overlooking some
of
the trail where it crosses a gentle gorge. The trail is just visible in
lower center of frame.



Killer pictures. Nice and big.
--
Slack

G Wood wrote:
Better late than never. If anyone's interested...


Nice! Mo' betta with pichas!

--
o-o-o-o Ride-A-Lot o-o-o-o
www.schnauzers.ws

Raw and untrammeled singletrack is where it's at.

JD ripoff

Thanks for posting the pictures, but photos don't do the area justice.
Even the National Geographic couldn't capture the grandeur of the place
in their article a couple of years ago.

This is one place you just have to see for yourselves to believe. Those
gorges are thousands of feet deep, and the escarpment of Steen's is
more than a mile high. I got there the lazy way, though -- I was
touring from Boise on a Suzuki DR350S.

Slack wrote:
On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:30:32 -0700, G Wood wrote:

Better late than never. If anyone's interested...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN0162.JPG - Taking a break
while
riding up a burned out canyon. Still on the high desert here en route to
the mountain...

Wow. My list just got longer. And if it's in Idaho, it's close enough.

--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall

If FDR fought fascism the way Bush fights terrorism, we'd all be
speaking German now.

"Raptor" wrote in message
...
Slack wrote:
On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:30:32 -0700, G Wood wrote:

Better late than never. If anyone's interested...

http://home.pacifier.com/~gwandsh/steens/DSCN0162.JPG - Taking a break
while
riding up a burned out canyon. Still on the high desert here en route
to
the mountain...

Wow. My list just got longer. And if it's in Idaho, it's close enough.

Oregon.