Oregon Cycling Magazine

by Lee Norris 

June 19
Because I am a cross country cyclist, I like to think that I have some idea what the pioneers experienced on the trails coming west. I do not mean that in a literal sense. I don’t have to find feed for my bicycle every night, and I don’t have to dig myself out or muddy roads or lower my bicycle down steep hills with block and tackle. Still, cross country cycling has many trials and tribulations about it that are similar to what travelers experienced back then. I get to know the terrain and the grades of the road. I get swarmed by insects. I have to be careful of drinking water or I could very get sick. My reality is that half the time the wind is blowing in my face. I go through same fear of the unknown that they often did. When I cross the country, I can see how big the world really is. I have to constantly remind myself never to fret about the unknown and to have faith in my abilities.

On that first morning when I left the comforts of home, the road was like a force compelling me to keep traveling. On that first day of travel, I smelled the Oregon Country side and was intoxicated by it. The ride was sweet and easy.

That first day, I took my old familiar route to the fern ridge bike path and then past it. In Cheshire, I turned right on Applegate Road and rode the mile to Franklin. From there I went down Franklin Road to the Alvadore Road.

The morning was cool with a breeze blowing down the valley with puffy white clouds on a back round of clear blue sky. The wind was out of the northwest and on my back. I followed Green Valley Road and then crossed Hwy 126. I took the Crow Road until it met The Territorial Highway a mile below Crow.

Basically, I was following the old Applegate trail through central Oregon. Everywhere a person looks in this part of Oregon, one will see a sign stating that they are on the old Applegate Trail. Even when you are cycling through the Willamette River Bike path, you are riding on the Applegate Trail. It seems like everywhere that there were once wagon tracks, someone has named those tracks the Applegate Trail.

The Oregon Trail began in Independence, Missouri. The wagons came across the parries pulled by teams of oxen. They used oxen because other animals were not strong enough to survive the journey. Some of the emigrants left the Oregon Trail and split off to take the southern route. The cut off point was located at Fort Hall in Idaho. On the cut off trail, Travelers had a choice of either going down into the California’s central Valley or to Oregon. If the emigrants wanted to go to Oregon and didn’t want to raft down the Columbia River, they took the southern route through Elko and Winnemucca. The trail crossed the Black Rock Desert in Northwestern Nevada. It passed Goose Lake and Tully Lake in Northern California.

In Northern California, the Oregon and California trails again split and became that was the Applegate trail. The Applegate trail went through what are now Ashland, Medford, and Roseburg, It skirted west of Eugene and ended at Salem in the Willamette Valley.

In 1846, Jessie Applegate had come west on the Oregon Trail and then rafted down the Columbia River. He thought that there must be a better way of reaching the Willamette Valley than down through the Columbia River Gorge. This was the reason that he and fifteen other men left home and surveyed the southern route.

I personally do not see how anyone crossed the Black Rock Desert with oxen and all of their stock. It must have been an overwhelming task keeping all their animals in feed and water. The first Pioneers to travel the Applegate trail said that the worst part of the trail was a twelve to fifteen mile stretch in southern Oregon along the south fork of the Umpqua River that they called The Umpqua Canyon. Many people blamed Jessie Applegate for their hardships.

The truth about the canyon was that some of the immigrants lingered too long along the trail. They had good reason for the delay. Many of them were sick and their stock was starving.

The latecomers went down in the canyon and the rainy season came causing a series of mud slides that blocked the trail. They  literally had to dig their way through the canyon. The trip that was estimated to take no more than two days took them two or three weeks. A few of the emigrants didn’t make it out of the canyon. A woman named Tabitha Brown was 66 years old when she came west. She said aid that she could endure the Nevada wasteland and the thorny ranges that and all the other hardships that followed. But in the Umpqua Canyon she almost reached the end of her rope.

Jessie and the men may have explored and surveyed the trail, but the pioneers were the ones that made it passable. When a family got stuck down in a canyon or anywhere else with all their worldly possessions, they worked like hell to get through and in the process cleared the way for those that were still to come. Eventually, after so many wagon trains, the obstacles of the trails were removed and the trails became passable.

Accusations about Jessie Applegate and the trail flew in the Oregon press. The matter became such a point of contention that it almost lead to a duel between two rivals. Jessie Applegate disapproved of violence and he became very quiet over the entire affair.

Jessie became the first leading citizen of Oregon and gained popularity for writing a newspaper column about the trail west called A Day with the Cow Column. It was very popular at the time.  He was also the first surveyor general of Oregon, an abolitionist, and a liberal.

The Crow road south from Eugene is a good cycling road and a favorite of local riders. It is a good way to go to Cottage Grove and down into Douglas County.
The shoulders of the Territorial Highway are poor in Lane County, but when you cross the Douglas County line further south, the road improves greatly for cycling. As a matter of fact, it is my informed opinion that Douglas County has the nicest cycling roads in Oregon. If you are a saddle butt that loves quiet country roads, you just have to go there.

It was only 15 miles to Drain and then another 15 miles to Elkton. Drain has a good market. Cross country riders need to know what the stores are like along their route. Sometimes cross country cyclists will come to a country store and not find anything nutritious to eat. Cyclists are not like motorists. We can not ride very far eating Twinkies and ginger snaps.

In Drain, I went up and down the street asking about the location of the drain in Drain. Does all the water rush through the area and drain through the town and out to the ocean? Actually, Drain was named after a noted family that bought a house from Jessie Applegate and settled there.

In Elkton there is a combination clothing Store and Bike Shop, several good markets and restaurants. Elkton was the first place to be settled by people of European descent in the entire area. The Hudson Bay Company established a trading post there back in 1834. In Elkton, I went down by the Umpqua River to check out a private camp ground but then realized that I didn’t want to stay there. I decided to ride on the Tyee campground via The Jackson Bo Corridor. From Drain to Elkton the road was good with wide shoulders.

The Umpqua River isn’t spectacular as the rivers of the world go, but the Umpqua is very special to me. Highway 138 runs along its banks and is a quiet, pleasant ride.
There are such great possibilities for rides in this area. Imagine starting at the Pacific Ocean Ride all the way up to Crater Lake with out ever riding on a broken shoulder. The Umpqua is loved by the people that live near it. Jack Hemmingway called the Umpqua River above Steamboat the best Steelhead fishing in the world.

The word Umpqua came from the local Indian word that refers to the land of that general region of Oregon. The river is 112 miles long and drains 4560 square miles of land mostly in Douglas County. The north and south Umpqua headwater are both drain the western slope of the cascades and part of the area north of Crater Lake.

The Tyee Camp Ground sits along the Umpqua River and isn’t anything special as far as campgrounds go. It has vaulted toilets and no shower facilities. If you need a bath you can go for a swim. What made it special to me were the people that I met there. The people of central Oregon are very easy going and relaxed. Soon after I arrived, a few people came by just because they saw that I was riding cross country and they wanted to talk to me about it. It was such a natural thing for them to do.

One young guy told to me that he and his uncle were planning to cycle through Europe and staying in bed and breakfast hotels. The guy in the next camp stopped by with his mountain bike and we started talking about riding and bicycles. I always recommend that people get hard pack or road tires on their mountain bikes. I can never understand why big stores insist on selling these bikes equipped with knobby loose pack tires when most riding is done on streets.

June 20
From Tyee Campground, the road followed the river’s course and was quite long. I needed to get to a bike shop and get some spare parts and have my bike checked out for my journey ahead. I found a shop and the mechanic noticed that my bottom derailleur bracket was bent and straightened it out. I like to have a bike shop mechanics go over my bike on trips. The service isn’t expensive and they notice things that I sometimes miss. The service could save me a lot of grief out on the road.

I went to a store and stocked up on groceries and then rode up Highway 99 north out of town. I tuned off on Country Road 200 just below Wilbur.

Country Road 200 is the longer way to go when cycling up the Umpqua River through Glide. Some of the hills were murderous and I wasn’t in very good shape for them. It would have been much easier to go up Highway 138 out of Roseburg. The Douglas County Cycling map shows Highway 138 as being a busy road but the shoulders are wide. Country Road 200 passed through private lands until it came to the river.

It was getting late in the afternoon and I was wondering where I should camp for the night. I found a place along the river. There was a family there with their truck parked along the river. At first, I thought that I was on private land and these people owned it. I asked a woman if I could camp there. She just looked and me funny and shrugged. I then saw that they had their tents set up and felt foolish for asking her. I went up into a small meadow and pitched my tent. I took a bath in the river, ate dinner and went to sleep early.

June 21
In the morning I followed Country Road 200 into Glide. Glide is the gateway to Crater Lake. The town got its name from a local woman postmaster who heard her infant son singing “The River Goes gliding Along.” I kid you not!

I stopped at a ranger station. After waiting for the ranger to get off the phone, I ask him about drinking from the river. It was his opinion that river water, be it out of the Umpqua or any other river in the United States, was not safe to drink. Sometimes, I drink water from rivers and streams, and I am not dead yet.
From Glide it was 20 miles to Steamboat and 61 miles to Diamond Lake. I was looking forward to getting to Steamboat and going for a ride on the riverboat. I love to hear those steam whistles go toot, toot.

Highway 138 is an Oregon Scenic byway. The steelhead were running and just like the map said, the entire river was very scenic with lots of trees and things like that. The road goes up to the Crater Lake area at a gentle grade and gets steeper for about the last 10 miles at the top. To tell the truth, I never noticed the grade until I got above Steamboat.

About two miles east of Glide, I passed the Steelhead Run Bed & Breakfast. I thought of the possibilities for a fun vacation there. A person can cycle up the Umpqua, and go fishing and then ride back. What could possibly be better than that? Up the highway in Idleyld there is the Idleyld trading Post and lodge. I do not know if the trading post is named after the town or vice versa.

I bought a beer at the trading post and rode a ways to a small river access park along the road. Just as I came to the park, I got a flat. In no time, I had my bike upside-down on a picnic table, putting a patch on and having a merry time of it.

An elderly man came by on his daily walk. We struck up a conversation, and he told me told me that he walks several miles or more each day. He was in good shape and an interesting fellow. He should write a book about his walks. He said that the traffic along the highway was too fast. I agree with him. He said that people should slow down and drink the cool clear water. I agreed with that statement also. If you want to learn what a road is like, talk to an elderly person.

While I was there, a man caught a steelhead down on the river. He sounded like he had found a gold nugget the size of his fist. Catching a steelhead is no small achievement. Some fishermen go from season to season and never get a strike.

The fisherman’s loyal friend had been patently waiting for him in his truck and I got into a conversation with him also. I asked the fellow why he didn’t fish, but his answer to my question was vague. He was very overweight and possibly he would have trouble getting up and down the banks.

The other fellow that caught the Steelhead came up the bank with his fish and talking loudly. He was very proud of his catch and told his friend all about landing it and of his girlfriend who he hoped would be waiting for him with dinner. I also commented on what a nice fish it was. I didn’t say anything about his girlfriend.
The three of us got into a conversation about the road up to Crater Lake. Both men thought that Highway 138 up ahead was too steep and a very dangerous road. The two men made the road ahead sound like the mother of all steep summits. By this time, I had finished repairing the flat and rode away leaving the two men and the fish. Sometimes a flat tire can be a learning experience.

I tried to ride up Rock Creek Road to get to Millpond Recreation Sight. I started climbing the road into the park but turned around after about a mile. The climb was too much for me. The road went up at a 6% or 7% grade. I wasn’t going to climb up a steep hill just to camp because there were many other camping places along the River. I have had some bad experiences pumping up steep grades trying to reach campgrounds that are set far back into the forest. I think that campgrounds that are too far away from the main highway. I think that the park service should posted information about parks that pertain to cyclists at the bottom of the hill.

I proceeded up Highway 138 a few more miles and came to Susan Campground. It was a little expensive, but I was able to shower there. I had an enjoyable and restful day for my third day on the road. It takes at the least two weeks for me to hit my stride and start riding longer distances.

June 22
I Left the Susan Recreation Camp Ground early and rode past Steamboat Inn. I really thought that there would be a town here. There was a sign that said fine food and lodging. So this was Steamboat. I also thought that there would be a fine old paddle wheel steamboat complete with a saloon and line of tap dancers in red and white striped suits. What the hell!

Across from the lodge, Highway 249 goes north to Oakridge 49 miles away and eventually to Cottage Grove. It looks like it would be a splendid loop to ride up this road and then through Oakridge, Cottage Grove and then back to Roseburg. Across the road were the trail head to Bog Creek camp ground 6 miles ahead and Canton Creek a quarter mile away. I was about 20 miles from Diamond Lake and at an elevation of 2500 Feet. I rode on further and another sign said that I was at 3000 feet elevation at a distance of 62 miles from Roseburg. In fact, every time the elevation of the road went up another 500 feet, there was a sign telling about it. I had no idea why.

June 23
I spent the night at Clear Water Falls Camp Ground and was set upon by swarms of hungry mosquitoes. I ate up all my beans. I lost a can of corn beef and hash back along the river. I am out of soy. There was only one other elderly couple parked in the campground. They didn’t seem very excited to see me and never asked me over for supper. I really hoped that they would. I hit the sack early to get away from the Mosquitoes.

The next day, a road rager came up behind me and blasted his horn in my ear trying to send me into the ditch. Not to worry. I got the first two numbers on his license plate and the make and color of his truck. I pulled into Stump Lake, elevation 3875 feet. It was a small lake with a cement channel for the effluent. I found out later in Diamond Lake that the water from Diamond Lake empties into this lake and then eventually flows down into the Umpqua. The cement channel looked like a good place to set up a water wheel and open up a saw mill. There were big animal tracks in the mud, and I wondered what made them. The mosquitoes were ferocious and flocks of sparrows flew over the water diving after them.

Three guys pulled up in two pickup trucks and at first I thought that they were a gang of locals that were going to kill me. One angry looking guy just stared at me with his razor sharp little dark eyes while a second guy did the talking. The third guy was very quiet.

It turned out my first impression was way off. I showed them the tracks in the mud and the quiet guy explained the difference between cat and dog tracks. The difference is in the back of the main pad. The cat track has an extra hump.

The theory of relativity is something that a person must learn to survive out in the dangerous world. You learn it spiritually on the road. Never judge anyone. You can learn it riding or walking. It is very hard to learn it in a car because you just drive by and look at people in other cars and never meet them. The road is nothing but a big gap in the driver’s mind. What does the theory of relativity have to with the three guys at Stump Lake? Everything!

Possibly Related

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• September 2008: Track racing at its best: the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge
• November 2007: Cafécletos: Bike activism south of the border
• April 2008: Patagonian adventure
• September 2008: Ride the Rogue draws the crowds