Another scorching day in the heat was minimized by the scenery we had to distract us while on the bikes today. The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument made our team feel as if we were in a movie, but the grueling climb at the end of the day had us all beat, and ready to get into our tents for the night.
quote of the day
“Bring back dabbing”
ride overview
Mileage: 85.3 Miles
Elevation: 5,641 ft.
Points of Interest: Dayville (OR), John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Mitchell (OR), Ochoco Pass
Ride Dedication: Timothy Sashko
tales of the trail
It was another boiling day through Oregon, but the scenery made it bearable. Our first stop of the day was at Dayville Cafe, where people got their morning coffee to be energized for the day. Soon after, we entered the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which was astonishing. To enter, we followed a road that went in between two massive fossil bed rock formations, and with some music? Oh it felt like a movie scene. We spent a good chunk of the day admiring the scenery of these fossil bends, making the climbs more bearable. Once we hit the top of that climb, we were rewarded with a descent with Bridge Creek Cafe. Many of us got food to refuel, and we also got to meet the owner’s dogs that were walking around the area, Moo Moo and Jay Jay (they were adorable)!
The last stretch of the day was the toughest, with a 13 mile climb in awful heat. The worst part? There was no descent afterward! Our campsite for the night at Ochoco National Forest was at the top of the climb, which I guess meant we had a descent to start us off the next day, but it’s unsatisfying to put a lot of effort into a climb and not have a beautiful descent afterwards, but it wasn’t a big deal because it lead us to our campsite for the night! Once we got there, we all put up our tents, started the fire, and had our hotdogs and beans once again. During this time, Yuncong and Hanxi were giving members of the team lessons in Mandarin, as everyone was eager to learn. The pronunciation was difficult, but we learned a lot! Settling in for the night, the team fell asleep to a musical forest, with animals singing in every direction.
