Border to Border on Orogenesis: Part II, Oregon
Who was that chasing Kurt Last year? Meet Jacob Ashton. Jacob has been touring by bicycle nearly nonstop for many years now. Last summer he rode Orogenesis trailing Kurt Refsnider by a few weeks. Here are his stories from Oregon.
My ride into Oregon began on the slightly sketchy bridge crossing over the Columbia River. The No Bicycles sign had incredibly poor placement with no options to pull off the road and turn around so I started a time-trial esque effort to get across. The speed limit was only 25 mph anyways and the wind wasn’t bad that day so I didn’t slow anyone down too much. I crossed without incident and rode into Hood River at the northern terminus of the Oregon Timber Trail.
After refueling on pizza and replenishing my food stores, I began climbing out of town on singletrack through a mountain bike park. Incredible views of Mount Hood greeted me at the top of the flowy singletrack climb; this experience would set the tone of much of the next week on the trail.
The Oregon Timber Trail was awesome! The chunky, steep moto trails that made up much of the route across Washington were temporarily absent and replaced by flowy, tailor-made mountain bike trails. Although still present, the hike-a-bikes weren’t nearly as brutal and were more of a power to weight problem rather than a terrain and grip issue. Riding was almost easy and just downright pleasant most of the time rather than a seemingly endless battle for every mile. Wild camping remained as easy as ever and the trails were just as remote.
Roughly halfway across the state, I detoured into Bend to stay with a friend for a couple days and had my second set of showers and rest days on the trail in the weeks that had passed since I stayed with a warmshowers host in PackwooI had not deviated from my usual low-budget style of touring for Orogenesis and I had a loose goal to avoid paying for hotels or a place to sleep for the entire ride. Just so you know, I regularly packed extra water to rinse off the end of the day and wash out my cycling clothes so it really wasn’t that bad.
Back on trail, I had to make a fire detour and miss nearly 100 miles of trail as the route turned to Oakridge and back. It was my second fire detour of the trip, the first coming near Lake Chelan in northern Washington. Later, I’d learn that much of the trail in the affected area was a near complete loss and would have to be rebuilt. The weather window to ride Orogenesis was one of the most logistically challenging parts of the trail; too early in the year could mean extreme temperatures and snow at high elevations, too late could mean risk of wildfires and also extreme temperatures and snow at high elevations. Riding southbound in August was about as good as it gets but it’ll take a lot of luck to get a “complete” continuous ride of the route in a single calendar year.
Farther south, The Oregon Timber Trail wasn’t so easy. Long sections of overgrown trail and deadfall made progress difficult. Parts of the trail had completely disappeared after just a few years without maintenance. I began to look forward to the day when I could sweat heavily without it burning as it dripped into the scratches that covered my arms and legs. The logistical challenge of maintaining thousands of miles of trails for the route is truly incredible and I applaud the tireless work of the Orogenesis Collective to not only create this route but also maintain it as time goes on.
I made the out-and-back detour to resupply in Lakeview, Oregon before beginning the final section of the state. After another day and a bit of riding, the crossing into California was marked by a small yellow sign at the side of the trail.
Follow Jacob’s continuing adventures on Instagram @occasional_bikepacker and on Substack @JacobAshton1
