Sisters to McKenzie Bridge today. Not too long but a good climb up to McKenzie Pass then a fun twisty downhill run through the western side of the cascades to McKenzie Bridge campground. Another early start- folks wanted to beat the heat and the wind. As it was, we started off it was in the low 50s and during the climb to McKenzie Pass it didn’t reach the low 70s. Beautiful blue sky, no wind and perfect temps made for an easy 2100 foot climb to the pass. The beautiful pine forest turned into burnt out tree stumps as we climbed higher. Work of previous forest fires and probably more pine beetle blight, but the forest was decimated as we climbed to the top of the pass. Near the top the terrain turned volcanic- a lot of black basalt block jumbles interspersed with small pine trees that were trying to grow. Really cool. As we climbed we got better and better views of the 3 Sisters volcanos on the left (South) and other snow covered mountains to the right. At the top of the pass there was a lookout station made of basalt rocks where we got incredible views of all the volcanic mountains in the area, with huge fields of these basalt rock piles all around and pine trees sticking up here and there. The downhill run was LONG and TWISTY! Through really a really dense pine forest- no evidence of fire or beetle damage on the West side of the mountains. They were having a bicycle race going up to the pass as we were screaming down. A lot of riders, I would say at least 100, in various stages of the climb. They were going fast up that hill- pretty impressive. It was basically downhill all the way to McKenzie Bridge- a VERY small town with a small store and a pub. We passed it on the way to our primitive campsite. In a beautiful pine forest- sooooo quiet! We all got into camp by noon as it was as a short ride and we started out at 7 AM. We went in the afternoon to the Belknap Hot Springs, 6 miles down the road for a really great soak in their hot springs pool and a nice shower. Completely relaxed now as I write this blog with a nice cold beer in my hand. No pains at all- I feel I could ride my bike every day like this for the rest of my life! Ha. I will fast get out of shape when I get back home, I’ll have to be careful what I eat when I stop exercising so much- turn into a fat toad!
Below are the RidewithGPS stats:
Biking across the USA with Mike 
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