Crater Lake Bike Tour

Eugene — Sunday September 8, 2002

Being gluttons for punishment, we rode to Spencers Butte, about 10 miles south of Eugene, using our bicycle map of Lane County as a guide. This route afforded us one last short but steep climb to the Butte, and then brought us back to the city through some rolling open country. Unfortunately as we returned to town, we encountered one of the worst paved roads I've ever tried to ride, which was so rutted and bumpy that it wrecked my hands.

Near our lunch spot downtown, we talked to a gentleman about local issues dividing the citizens of Eugene, such as urban sprawl. We also rode up the smaller Skinners Butte, which overlooks the center of Eugene. We were too beat to go back downtown for dinner, so we walked over to a chain restaurant near our hotel. Dinner was pretty bad, especially in comparison to what we had grown accustomed to on the bike tour.

Monday September 9, 2002

We rode the city bus into Eugene, walked around campus and downtown, and ate lunch at a kabob joint near the University. We rode the bus back to the Valley River Inn. The day was so nice that we had to take one last bike ride along the Willamette River before nightfall. The great weather certainly dispelled our notion that Oregon is always rainy.

Afterwards we packed up the bikes and had a light late dinner at the Valley River Inn. We came to find out in the local paper that a wild fire had broken out near Westfir the day after we left there the week before, and part of the Aufderheide byway had been closed and Westfir had been placed under a 3-hour evacuation notice for a time. We hoped that Ken and Jerry were okay. We were lucky not to have encountered problems with wildfires during our bike tour, considering that fires seemed to be all around the areas where we toured.

We had an early flight back to Virginia the next morning and had to be at the airport by 5 a.m. so we hit the rack early.

We were very pleased with the tour provided by Bicycle Adventures. The guides were excellent; patient, friendly, knowledgeable about the area, and good cooks. The food was some of the best we've had on any tour. As mentioned earlier, many organized inn-to-inn tours don't provide much of a lunch. With Bicycle Adventures, we had a good, wholesome lunch every day, on real plates with real silverware. I don't know how Beth and Pete were able to do all that they did, and wash dishes every night.

The riding was great as well. There was little traffic and few logging trucks. The road surfaces were good. The scenery for the first few days included a lot of thick woods. Crater Lake more than made up for the lack of great vistas earlier, even with some smoke in the air from some nearby fires. The rim ride is one of the best rides anywhere. We'll definitely consider taking future Bicycle Adventure tours.