I awoke after 3 hours of quality shut-eye, excited for the next section and the finish!
Then just down the trail from my camp site was a water crossing that looked kind of deep. (sad trombone).
My feet were already getting wrinkly from getting wet and this was no bueno. I opted to remove shoes and socks both to keep them at least a little bit drier.
The lakes were beautiful in the morning!
The descent down to Timponagas lake was a blast! At the lake, mozzies were in full force. There was a brief mistake missing a turn – Bruce and I also missed it last time! But then it was the fun part – the descent down the mythical, magical upper middle fork trail. I was having a blast!
But then I crashed! I landed with both my arms holding me up in sphinx pose, with a rock right under my face. Phew, that was a close one! I scolded myself for being so careless. I had endo’ed over a simple ordinary small root drop, but at this point in the race I was depleted and to finish safely required more caution.
I noticed I had hurt the heel of my right hand. So I dug out some Advil to try to keep that from getting too painful. Use of both hands is a requirement to get out of here.
This place is incredibly beautiful though. It’s like a forest from prehistoric times or a dream. it’s just so lush with the ferns and rhododendrons, big firs and giant cedars.
Yes, more of this please! 🙋♀️
I made it to Cascadia! Yay!
Middle fork started off amazing and beautiful but then it gets slow and hike a bikey, and just seems to go on for too long. I think it’s difficult mentally because you are approaching Oakridge, and for a long while you can see the road just off to the right of you that leads to town and beer and food, yet you’re pushing your bike up endless steep short grades.
At one point during the middle fork trail slog I had my first meltdown! Which at this stage in a 319 mile race wasn’t bad for me. I noticed that I had pushed my bike way off-course up a drainage. I rode/hiked back and forth again over the same segment and could not figure out (in my current state) where the track went.
This drove me to tears. Eventually I noticed there was a vague turn off that was covered over with cut logs and debris. It looked like someone had deliberately tried to close it off. Was that it, or did the trail get a re-route that wasn’t showing on the route file? Should I go push my bike up the drainage a 2nd time and hope it rejoined the route? I took a chance and followed the GPS track. The trail seemed to end at a creek that had nothing but a steep bank on the other side. All I could do was just trust in “the line” and found a way to get up the embankment. There was a trail on the other side, but it was looking brushy and there were a couple small trees down. It didn’t look right – what if this isn’t it? I started tearing up again. This confusing section took me 30 minutes at least. I just want to be done! Soon enough, the trail eventually looked more well-ridden, and an e-biker rode past while I was still wiping tears away. I felt so silly. This was the route!
I finally reached the reservoir south of town with its perennial headwind. The texts on my InReach were bleeping at this point as a few friends were cheering me to the finish. I didn’t dare stop to look at them, so I just imagined it was a cowbell!
Sadly, I learned just before starting the route that the pub is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. But I started imagining things. Maybe they had heard I was coming and would be open! Maybe the whole town would be there, cheering me on! And maybe they would have set up a bouncy castle and a water slide! (haha) But nope. Oakridge sure was dead on a Tuesday. Nothing but hot heat coming off the pavement. When I got to the finish I was greeted by Bruce, Michele and her furry companion Ani! I was so so happy to see them!
I was stoked just to have completed this adventure with no serious issues. I was really happy to have (too briefly) met some really cool riders. I met all of my goals except for my ridiculous “A” time goal, but I did make my more realistic “B” time goal.
Next set of tasks – wash off in Salmon Creek, have that beer that Bruce was keeping cold for me, enjoy a nice meal and get more sleep!
We stayed and camped near Oakridge for a little while longer. There was lots of this…
And a snack-sized amount of this…
That was enough.
