Spent some time in the very remote Steens Mountain area of south Oregon last
week. Stayed at a pack camp at 7200', and hiked around a lot at high
elevations. You guys who ride high country all the time must get some
serious lungs on you...
Did a great day's ride on horseback over a few gorges that descend the
mountain. These horses are part mountain goat, and I kept thinking "Hmmm I
wonder if I could clear that section....". I just happened to have my bike
along... The next morning I checked with the owner (all private property)
and got permission to give it a try.
We were scheduled to head home soon, so my ride time was (thankfully)
limited to a couple of hours. The terrain to start was dusty singletrack
trail thru sagebrush, then descending sharply down the side of a gorge.
These folks must diss switchbacks, cause this is pretty much a straight
down. Big honking rocky sections with little traction and lots of penalties
for failure. I walked much of it.
At the bottom there is a great creek crossing, then some gentle winding
singletrack that meanders up the gorge past beautiful stands of aspen. It
is grass interspersed with sagebrush here, very pretty country. Still
hitting sections of head-sized rocks that required some manouvers, not all
successful. A few rocks moved would have made it challenging and more
do-able, but I didn't want to mess with their trail system.
I covered a couple of miles up the gorge like this, then ran out of time and
doubled back. The climb back up the side of the steep gorge was a lot of
walking, although I scoped out a couple of natural switchbacks that could be
added easily to make it rideable. Again, I decided to stick on the trail
and not mess with things.
Think I may talk things over with the owners in more detail. A few days
"volunteer" work out there and the existing horse/game trails could double
as bike trails, perhaps add to their clientele. Hmmmm.
Anyways, it was very cool to get a chance to ride where probably no bike has
ever gone before. It was also awesome to do it on horseback, and also to
hike parts of it - like I was able to experience it in several ways. I felt
very fortunate.
Gary