Hell's Canyon - Seven Devils

Kleinschmitt Grade

Backing up a few months to our first big rides of summer. It was Daniel's high school graduation in Boise so a good excuse to drive east. We stopped in eastern Oregon for a warm-up ride. Hell's Canyon Wilderness is hot as Hell even at the end of May. But Chris had had his eye on some hillside rides above the Snake River (marks the border between Idaho and Oregon) so really, there was no choice. We crossed into Idaho and rode up Kleinschmitt Grade and beyond:

Chris: 27 miles, 4100 ft
Ellen: 25 miles, 3700 ft

Boise

Then it was graduation time. Sparky gets in on the action. 

Hell's Gate (Seven Devils)

After leaving Boise we drove to Riggins, Idaho to ride up to Hell's Gate Vista. The viewpoint from Hell's Gate provides a view of the Seven Devils, mountain peaks in west central Idaho located in Hells Canyon Wilderness. It's a 15 mile climb from Riggins and only the first few miles are paved. Lucky for us, the top section still had enough snow that it was still gated to prevent cars from driving all the way to the top. We saw only a few cars the entire ride and due to the gate had the top all to ourselves.  

Chris rode from the bottom, I drove 6-7 miles up the road to make it a more manageable ride.

Chris: 30 miles, 6300 ft
Ellen: 22 miles, 3100 ft

In both directions we stayed at Pine Valley Lodge, located in Halfway, Oregon, about 20 miles from Hell's Canyon and the Snake River. Unexpectedly great place for being in the middle of No Where. Over the years its owners had bought a series of homes located next to each other along Main Street, and connected the buildings by a series of walkways. Comfortable respite from the hot desert that surrounds it. 

Happy 85th Dad!

I kept forgetting to bring my camera with me during my trip last week to Santa Fe so the photos are few and far between. But I got the most important ones:

Snow! the first morning. What happened to Spring?

But even snow couldn't cancel the cake train

Happy 85th Dad !

snow melted almost immediately

life returns to normal

adios, Santa Fe

Global Warming

As I write this the sun is bright, the breeze is light, and the temperature outside is a nearly perfect 67 degrees. Ahhhh, perfection.

Portland has just wrapped up its warmest year on record. There has been little rain during the past month and temperatures have risen nicely. It's normally rainy and cold through spring, making it difficult to ride muddy gravel roads and nearly impossible to mountain bike on higher trails until May or June. Except this winter. Chris has already been up to Mount St. Helens and other places he has no business being this time of year with his mountain bike. The gravel roads are also dry as a bone, allowing us to ride where it would usually be difficult in early March. We took advantage of the continuing summer-like conditions and drove 100 miles east of Portland through the Columbia River Gorge to where the Deschutes River meets the Gorge. From there, we road up above the Gorge and along a plateau above the river before heading inland to ride over more gravel roads. We had the place to ourselves. Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood were visible for most of the route but as usual the sun was in the wrong place for pictures.

Santa Ynez

This year our winter cycling trip to California took us to the rural community of Santa Ynez, about 30 minutes north of Santa Barbara. Santa Ynez is home to vineyards, horse farms, cattle, and sunshine. The movie Sideways was filmed nearby. The Hitching Post restaurant, where Miles meets waitress Maya, is set in the nearby town of Buellton.  Solvang, a horrible Danish theme town a few miles up the road, was also featured in the movie. I wouldn't recommend Solvang to anyone unless you are a hopeless Sideways fan and can't get enough of those fake windmills.

As with any Vacation-Rental-By-Owner (VRBO) one never really knows what one has gotten oneself into until one crosses the threshold. We've had some very good rentals, but also a few bad ones. A particularly awful rental in Sonoma a few years ago comes to mind. This time we knew we were on to something good when we turned onto the private road leading to our temporary home.

Road to cottage. Nice!

there she is

Cycling Headquarters December 2015

A few miles from the cottage there is a property with two miniature ponies and a donkey. We first met these guys last year when we drove down for a day trip from Paso Robles. It was good to see them again. They have a real fondness for apples and bananas.

soft wet muzzle

not just another pretty face

The donkey and ponies live where we park the car to begin our ride around Figueroa Mountain, one of the premier rides in the area. Off we go.

valley floor heading towards Figueroa Mountain

climbing Figueroa

after ascending Figueroa, the descent awaits

rest break

A few days later Chris rode over the mountains from Santa Ynez to the coast with friend Todd who was passing through town. I took the easy way and drove to the coast, visiting Refugio State Park and El Capitan beach.

to the coast, via Refugio Road

Refugio State Park

El Capitan

Also this week, a ride along Foxen Canyon Road. This is one of the premier roads through vineyard country. Very pretty,  but midway along we turned off Foxen to make our way to Tepusquet Road, which turned out to be one of the climbing highlights of the vacation.

Tepusquet Road

Another rest day for me while Chris rides the hills above Santa Barbara. Later, we both enjoyed some of the best tacos ever, at a cash-only spot a few blocks off the main tourist drag in town.

tacos !

One morning, after a ride through Box Canyon, we came across this little guy. I couldn't convince him to come all the way to the fence.

no trust

Heading north on our return to Portland we stayed in the coastal town of Cambria so that Chris could ride one of his favorite routes, Santa Rosa Road. I hung around town resting my legs for the final ride of the trip.

Cambria, CA

Final day, a ride up Nacimiento-Fergusson Road out of Big Sur. I skipped this ride last year because it is steep!  But this year I had some new friends, by which I mean, two additional gears that Chris added to my bike before we left Portland. With my new gears I can pretty much crawl up anything. 2,871 feet of climbing in just 7.5 miles. Ouch!

starting up the climb

making progress

Big Sur below

great scenery

After the ride at Big Sur we started the drive back to Portland in earnest. During the drive Chris realized that he was 265 feet short of a record-setting 700,000 feet of climbing for the year. It was December 30th, and the last day of the year we'd be back in rainy Portland, where he would be faced with getting on his wet weather gear just to get those last few hundred feet. Dry and cold is always better than wet and cold, so we did the only reasonable thing, which was, after driving over the pass between California and Oregon we stopped in Ashland, Oregon, where Chris put on his bike shoes to do a few 'hill repeats' in order to earn his 265 feet. It was a frigid 35 degrees with enough wind to put a real bite into it. But, mission accomplished.

Sorry, babe, you're on your own with this one

chilly hilly repeats

The stats:

Chris 2014: 700,049 feet of climbing

Ellen 2014: 263,370 feet of climbing