In 2023 Dean and I did a trip to Bend over the long Presidents Day Weekend. I reached out to Dean and some friends for a return trip in 2024. Unfortunately, nobody else could make it and Mia had to work on the Monday that I had off from work. Not to be deterred by any of that I booked a solo trip at Loge once more with the intent of doing some XC skiing and fat biking.
It has been a fairly dismal winter so far. Luck would have it though that a few days of storms came into the area starting the Wednesday before my Saturday arrival and kick off of a long weekend. The kid at the bike shop where I picked up my sno-park passes said he biked to work on Tuesday but that since Wednesday they had over 20″ of snow! Perfect timing if you ask me.
I left home early(ish) on Saturday morning to drive over Santiam Pass to Sisters and then on to Bend. The trip was rather uneventful until closer to the Santiam Junction. From there all the way into Sisters the roads were packed snow/ice and travel speeds were down from the normal 60mph to a more cautious 35mph.
I could not check into my room until 4pm and it wasn’t even noon when I hit Sisters. So I stopped for a coffee, picked up three days of sno-park passes and then headed up to the Upper Three Creeks Sno-Park to ski out to Jeff View Shelter. Mia, Codi and I had hiked to this back in October of 2021. This was my first time seeing it in the snow though.
This is only the second time I got to use my Altai Hok Skis. Given the recent new snow, somewhat sticky nature of said snow and a mostly unpacked route, they worked perfectly. I am far from an experienced XC skier. So, these skis fit great with my (lack) of skill level.
I only had one slow speed wipe out on the way back down to the car. Lucky for me nobody saw it happen.
I worked my way over to Bend and up to Loge just before 4pm. Got myself settled and made ready for a nice day of fat biking on Sunday and Monday.
It was super nice to spend some time in the snow. I am still grateful that I don’t have to deal with it on a daily basis for 4+ months of the year anymore. It is always nice to be able to choose to visit the snow. I did get the nice reminder that 28 degrees Fahrenheit and sunshine can feel way more comfortable than upper 40’s and damp that we get back in Forest Grove all winter.
BREAD
Mia or Santa, not sure which, got me a bread baking class for Christmas. I have always been “bread curious” and have made some successful english muffins and a few other simple things in the past. However, I was always a little scared of sourdough and how to actually make it work. You see, when it comes to learning styles I am a “see it” and then “do it” type of learner. I can read all I want about something but being able to SEE it and then get hands on and DO it works better with how my mind processes things.
When I tried my first “solo” loaf from levain to finished product it came out decent.
but my next attempt was not so great looking. I used 100% whole grain spelt flour from Bluebird Grain Farms which may have been a minor error. It was dense. A little reading afterwards taught me that I should have cut in some all-purpose flour or bread flour.
I ended up going down a rabbit hole of flours the other weekend and ordered up 8lbs of flour from Camas Country Mills out of Eugene, OR. My third loaf was from their Camas Classic Bread Flour and that too came out a little flat but not as dense as the spelt.
For the fourth loaf I switched to the Camas Mt Hood Hard Winter Wheat flour and this one came together much better. During my folding process and then shaping it was evident that the mixture was holding its shape better and I was not getting the slight sag to the round.
What makes bread making fun and interesting for me has nothing to do with the “art”, it boils down to the science behind this sourdough process for me. Yes, making the bread itself means I know what is in it (no preservatives for example). The cost per loaf is not that much different from a store bought loaf, though cheaper than a bakery sourdough for sure. But from feeding my starter to watching the dough form over the steps is what I think is cool.
Thanks for reading,
-Pete
ON & OFF RHODES 
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