Originally Posted by
indyfabz
Nice. I have done the Walkway twice, but on weekday mornings when it has not been crowded.
Were you on the Walkill Trail at all? If so, which stretch? I went south from New Paltz during a tour last year. Wasn't impressed. Not much to look at, and the southern end was muddy.
BTW...I have done most of the days used on this year's Cycle Oregon.
Pack for all sorts of temps. When we stayed in La Pine in 2007 there was ice on the tent the next morning.
Hopefully they have a shuttle from Dorena Lake into Cottage Grove. That's the town where the homecoming parade scenes of "Animal House" were filmed. If you are film fan, it's neat to visit.
The Aufderheide is a great ride. You will hardly realize you are climbing until the last three or so miles.
McKenzie is, if course, McKenzie. Both times I was up there is was clear and sunny, but it can do anything up there at any time. Have good foul weather gear just in case.
Diamond Lake was nice, but a bit cramped in places. We finally found a clear enough spot amongst the trees to pitch our large tent. The dock by the lake is nice.
If you ride around Crater Lake, do the short out and back to Cloudcap Overlook. Great view.
Be extremely careful on that steep descent towards Dorena Lake. There were several bad crashes in 2007. I saw one woman leave the road, bowl over a seated volunteer holding a caution sign and do a Superman into the back of his car. Fortunately for her, it was a hatchback, the door was open and the back was filled with soft-sided luggage. She literally hit it with her face and bounced back out, escaping with only a black eye.
I just did a very short stretch of the Walkill trail. I had just ridden 3 miles of trail and Walkill was a second trail we could ride for one mile. It didn't look like much so I took the paved roads around it to New Paltz. Most others were stopping in New Paltz for food but I continued riding and on to the end in Poughkeepsie. We rode paved bike paths all the way from near New Paltz to across the Hudson walkway and the end of the tour. Probably 15 miles??
I rode McKenzie Pass on Day 2 of my cross country ride in 2016. It was a perfect day to ride as I recall. I guess that day was Eugene to Sisters. I'm guessing the climb was mostly 4-5% grades.....certainly nothing very steep.
We are planning to spend two nights at Crater Lake before the Tour. I'm going to ride the rim one of those days that we are staying in the Park. That will give me the option to climb up to the loop and do it again several days later. Thanks for the information on the spur to Cloudcap and the Animal House town. That would be a hoot.
