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.

August.15&16: Crater Lake

This weekend, Andrew and I headed down to Crater Lake in southern Oregon to cycle the 33 miles road around the lake and spend a night in the beautiful 1915 Crater Lake Lodge, a generous wedding gift from Mosie and Donnie. We have been to Crater Lake many times in the winter to cross-country ski and camp around the lake. Cycling was a totally different experience. The fall colours have started and the scenery was beautiful. The ride took half a day, with lots of stops for crackers and cheese and chocolate. This was a lot faster than the two days it takes to ski. Being summer, we were able to hike into the caldera to the lake shore and swim for the first time. We took a boat tour around the lake, getting a totally new perspective of the volcano. Our hotel room had a full-on view of the lake and we lazed in the sun with a book and coffee in the morning on the veranda.