Heading again along the Columbia River didn’t seem fun enough, so we took a road that would lead us just past Mt Hood, and then east and south of what we explored during the previous week. Once we were positively out of the Cascades, we perked up as we noticed the terrain getting dryer, less mountainous, and less developed.
Lots of scenic small paved and unpaved roads, a few laid back towns, and even a fun water crossing kept us occupied. The canyon carved by the John Day River was a beautiful backdrop to the contrast between the lush agricultural lands on one side, and the raw rocky hills on the other. Tucked outside the town of Mitchell were the Painted Hills of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. It was late afternoon by the time we got there, and the warm sunlight over the abstract patterns of the hills was just perfect. Feeling content after almost 6 hours of riding, we didn’t go for any of the hiking trails in the area, but explored as much as motorized vehicles were permitted.
We pitched our tent near a small creek on an undeveloped site a spit from the National Monument. The bank of the creek was marshy, thick muck and full of hoof prints. I joked that we should be careful a cow doesn’t trample our tent while we sleep.
At 5 am the following morning I woke up to the sound of mooing that was so loud, I thought there was a cow in the tent with me. Turned out at dawn is when the cowboys come to herd the cattle. Although the main procession was heading along the paved road, some stray cows walked right through the camp. With lungs that big, their deep vocalizations seemed to echo all around the canyons walls. As they moved past, it got quiet again, and I slipped into another session of blissful sleep.
When we finally got up and packed, it was time to find breakfast. Although it seemed like a modestly sized town on the map, in practice there was just one diner open that morning in Mitchell, making our choice easy. Their meals were atypically small. The tiny breakfast burritos were a sharp contrast to the usually oversized portions of most American diners. On multiple occasions we would split one entrée, for fear of being unable to fit into our riding pants, but this breakfast left us yearning for a little more.
The riding for the day consisted of a mix of flowing paved roads overlooking the river, forest roads, and some off road route finding. We stumbled into a few unexpected locked gates, but found an alternate: an overgrown parallel track that took us across meadows, over fallen trees and into marshlands. At times our wheels disappeared from view as we searched for an exit to the main track. Thankfully we managed to find a passable route and didn’t lose that much time in the detours.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Fossil. Upon leaving, we were informed we just crossed the 45th parallel. Frankly, we crossed this imaginary line several times already, but only here it occurred to someone to commemorate this fact with an official road sign.
Our stop for the night was the Lone Tree Campground, located in a state park in the canyon of John Day River. Majority of the sites were booked ahead of the Memorial Day long weekend, but with our small motorcycles we were able to take advantage of the “hikers and bikers” spots that are impractical for larger vehicles. Most people, judging by the conversations, were from Portland, taking a break from the city in these serene natural surroundings with no cell signal. Ironically, we were dreading the coming long weekend, which meant more competition for anything from accommodations to hiking trails. Having made no plan for where we would go from here, we enjoyed tea, chocolate and a beautiful sunset.
The following morning we headed out to Biggs Junction, where Jason from Mosko Moto recommended an excellent Indian food truck. After some time on the road we settled on the fact that we prefer not to cook when camping unless there are absolutely no practical alternatives. This saves time packing and unpacking cooking supplies, cleaning up and so on. We make an exception for tea in the evenings, but that’s about it. The prospect of the imminent breakfast is also very motivational when it comes to packing away the tent in the morning .
To our surprise, we arrived at Biggs Junction with a full hour to spare before the food truck opened. While waiting, we took the opportunity to sketch a plan for the next couple of days, armed with the full glory of 5G. The food did not disappoint, it was definitely the most delicious meal of the last several days. Refueled and with new objectives, we crossed the Columbia River, once more entering the Evergreen State.
