Elevation gain: 1729 ft
Weather: very sunny, 60s-70s
Road conditions: Highway 126 was highly unpleasant coming out of Springfield. There was essentially no shoulder, and a lot of traffic including fully loaded logging trucks. We almost got blown off the road down the embankment by the pressure of a semi truck at one point. But eventually the shoulder widened up and traffic died down, and the riding became enjoyable.
Food: had some Wendy’s for breakfast and free coffee from the motel. No subsequent meal until dinner at the campground. Intermittent snacking on nut bars and jerky in between. Dinner was freeze dried yellow curry rice with chicken + Trader Joe’s Tom Yum snack mix, with a serious serving of freeze dried Idaho mashed potatoes as dessert (not pictured).
Favorite/most unique thing: the McKenzie river area had a major wildfire a few years ago, so the landscape is covered in dead and partially burnt trees. We passed a site where a house previously stood, of which now only a chimney and fireplace remain.
Least favorite: logging trucks passing with probably not even 3 feet of space. Also, my knees are still unhappy. An’s coworker suggested keeping them warm for blood flow, so I’ll be busting out the knee warmers + ibuprofen.
I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I bought a super cheap wireless keyboard to help me write these things. This was a good investment.
Rant: why is the iOS Gmail app so bad? Where are the formatting options? Also, why does using the default mail app to send mail cause my website to break, but only sometimes? Should’ve tested this janky stuff before I left! Relatedly, I might lean more on using Strava to upload photos. Formatting the images in the iOS Gmail app isn’t impossible but is annoying enough that I don’t want to do it if I don’t have to. I’ll probably still do it occasionally though for the spice factor.
Tomorrow we tackle the real climbing. We chatted with more locals and I think we’re going to try our luck with McKenzie Pass. It sounds like the snow should be cleared by now.