I've wanted to do this ride for a few years now, but the distance from Portland always turned me off. That combined with not know which bike to bring. Cross or mountain. What pushed me over the edge though was the recent birthday present of a fly rod and waders. Now I had two excuses to head out to the Deschutes River.
I finally settled on the cross bike with 32x700 tires. In the end, this was more than enough. Definitely should have brought a little lube since the trail was so dusty. The only thing I was worried about once I got on my way were goatheads. The tire poppers from Hell! Luckly, I didnt get a flat till I pulled my bike outta the car that evening. Those are the best kinds of flats.
My goal was to ride out to the Harris Homestead then turn around and do a little fly fishing when I got back. The trail/road was in very good condition. Mostly doubled track, but only one track was used significantly so it was pretty much singletrack :)
Lots of rafters, drift boaters, power boaters and fly fisherpeople out on the river. I would love to come back in the spring and do a bike packing trip and fly fish.
Another thing to note is that since this section of the river is very popular for raft-in/boat-in camping. There are a hand full of pit toilets along the ride. One came in very handy!
Here are my photos.
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| Lots of groups camping along the way |
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| One of two abandoned rail cars and the stead |
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| Got a little bumpy, but most people appeared to ride in the center, which actually worked out pretty well. |
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| Harris Family Homestead with Orchard. Early 1900s |
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| Same view years and years later. |
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| End of the road for me. Water tower for the trains. Fed by a natural spring up on the ridge |
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