69 miles. 3221 feet up, 3517 feet down.
Wow, what a beautiful day that was! And the temperature was perfect. Seems I was a bit tired after yesterday's ride; I sure didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Breakfast about 6:30 and snack table at 7. We had a long-ish day, and we wanted to get out early so that we would get in early, have dinner early, and be able to drive everyone out to the Painted Hills for sunset.
I missed the sign coming in to John Day yesterday, so here's the welcome sign as we exited this morning.
We were on US 26 all day, so we didn't have to worry about any turns. Nice fairly quiet road. My only complaint would be that they put a rumble strip on the white line and the shoulders, while there, were a bit crappy to ride on. I chose to ride on the shoulders, but some women didn't and that put them fairly far out into traffic in order to avoid the rumble strip. Again today a driver complained to our guides about people riding in the "middle" of the road. It's a tough call. No one wants to impede traffic or irritate drivers, but we also have a right to be on the road and it's definitely unsafe to ride on the rumble strips and sometimes on the shoulder.
Some views from the first 8 miles.....
And into the town of Mt. Vernon...........
Our first SAG today was at 31.2 miles. Longer than normal primarily because the first 30+ miles were all downhill. And the temperature was perfect. We started out at about 8C. I had a jacket on for the first few miles, but by the time it hit about 10C I needed to shed that layer. My roommate and I both slept really well last night; we both like it cold. Here are some sights from Mt. Vernon to Dayville. There were a lot of homes and barns visible from the road. Lots of irrigated crops as well as cattle. And a lot of stacked hay bales ready to provide a "square" meal. The hills are definitely getting higher on the left (south) side of the road.
And into our SAG stop in Dayville. The first 50km was done by about 9:15.
The Merc has it all. Including lots of fudge, of which Cy bought a boatload to put on the SAG table.
I remember sitting over here for a SAG stop on TA 1.
SAG table circa 2024.
About another 8 miles of downhill before we started about 40 km of (largely) climbing, including a short side-trip to the Mascall Formation Fossil Beds Overlook.
I think the long climb started about mile 38, where there was a turnoff to the John Day Fossil Beds and Thomas Condon Visitor Center. Tempting, but I didn't feel like adding 10 km to the ride plus spending the time to check out the visitor centre. One woman in our group did do the visitor centre and had very positive feedback. Maybe some other time...........
This is such an outstanding section of today's ride. So beautiful!!
The climb was mostly gentle with just a couple of steeper sections. Beautiful scenery the whole way.
And finally - the summit! And then my favourite sign following a summit.............
What a great downhill! About 6 miles worth. Wheeee........
And into the tiny town of Mitchell.
About half of us are staying at the Oregon Hotel and half at the Spoke'n Hostel. I'm at the hotel, and as luck would have it, I'm in exactly the same room as in 2018. The difference is that I'm not sharing with anyone. In fact, I don't think anyone at the hotel is sharing. Not sure why, but am very thankful for that. The hostel looks like a pretty funky place and everyone there seems happy with the arrangements.
The hostel doubles as a community church. We met the proprietors just before dinner; lovely folks. Emily cooked dinner in their kitchen. Once we were done inhaling yet another fabulous meal, we piled everyone, except Emily ;(, into the vans and were driven out to see the Painted Hills at dusk. Stunning! Thank you, Cy and Katie!
Our guides extraordinaire demonstrating the enhanced method of viewing the Painted Hills. You might be surprised by how many of us had to try it! Apparently just viewing a picture upside down doesn't get you the same effect.........
It was great to see how the light changed on the hills even during the short time we were there. And - the moonrise was lovely. Lots of women volunteered to have their pictures taken "holding" the moon.
Well, I've been nodding off as I've been typing this entry. A couple of big(gish) days. Thankfully we have a bit of a later start tomorrow.
The Ride:
Garmin: 113.3 km. 2975 feet up, 3205 feet down.
RWGPS: 114.0 km. 1213 m up, 1302 m down.
Temperature range: 8C - 28C. These days anything under 30C feels bearable.
The Route:
Mitchell OR. Population 138
The Painted Hills unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument is about 14 km northwest of Mitchell. Around 1900, the town of Mitchell grew to include a store, assay office, two churches, two hotels, a livery stable, three houses of ill-repute (one of which is still standing), five saloons, a flour mill, and an apothecary. There were also two newspapers. Over time, the town has suffered from fires and floods. In 2018 a geologist found a fossilized toe of a dinosaur near Mitchell, where the Pacific Coast lay 100 million years ago. This discovery was apparently the first dinosaur fossil found in Oregon. In 2000, about 29% of the population lived below the poverty line.
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