August.16&17: Mackenzie River Trail, Central Oregon

After cycling around Crater Lake, Andrew and I headed to Mackenzie River in the central Oregon Cascades, where we mountain biked the 26 mile Mackenzie River Trail. This single track national recreation trail parallels the river closely, passing lava flows, brilliant blue lakes, incredible waterfalls, and 600 year old Douglas-fir forests.

At one point the river heads underground through lava tubes and pops up in the most vivid aquamarine pond. We clambered down a cliff and dove into the coldest water I have EVER swam in.

Further down the trail, we had a serious mishap when Andrew fell over his handlebars as his bike slid off a 40 foot cliff into the river! We were able to climb down and retrieve the bike, which seems to have survived fairly unscathed. Andrew was able to ride 15 miles on it to the end of the trail!

The ride was pretty long, with some rough lava sections, but all it all, it was super beautiful and well worth the trip.