Surprisingly, the weather has been fairly decent back in the Portland metro area this spring. That is not always the case and when planning out trips a couple months in advance, you need to go with the probable not the possible.

It was with that mentality that I booked a late April weekend at Deschutes River State Park, just east of The Dalles. The weather will usually be drier than back home and with a little luck the winds might not be too bad (not this time). I’ve been here quite a few times in the past eleven years now and generally know what to expect. The campground is a little too close to the highway (traffic noise) and there is an active railroad on the west side of river (blaring train horns at odd hours). However, there are a few excellent bike routes right from the campground and of course there is the river trail/rail trail that is just over 38 miles out-n-back.

I had hoped for good weather, and I got that with the sunshine and mild temps. The winds on the other hand decided to blow constantly all-day Saturday and peak gusts were 35-40mph. Doing the Oregon Stampede route was not in the cards on Saturday with those conditions. Friday would have been the day with forecasted winds under 10mph. This annoying thing called my job got in the way though.

The first 8-10 miles of the river trail are totally rideable on a gravel bike or hard tail mountain bike. After you get beyond the old farmstead the trail conditions get rougher, and a hardtail makes more sense. I figured thirty-eight miles on the fat bike was a good way to make this “simple” ride more of a challenge.

The winds were expected to pick up close to noon, so with that in mind I headed out a little after 9am. The Farley is not a fast bike per se, I assumed close to three and half hours of ride time at a sane pace. It was a bit cloudy still as I headed out from the campsite. It had rained a little bit that morning and the sage bushes wafted a wonderful smell along the trail.

The winds were out of the west but riding in a canyon plays tricks with those winds. On the way out I had a cross tailwind and occasionally a bit more of a head wind. That turned into almost a steady headwind on the way back. A few of those bigger wind gusts were nasty!

A few hundred yards before the official end of the trail there was a large rock slide. I’m 5’4″ and that pile was a good 8-9″ tall at the peak. It was easy enough to scale over/around. I did have the morbid thought in the middle of all that about another slide happening right then. Wonder how long before somebody found me? I don’t know how many people actually ride all the way to the terminus, I think most stop around the old homestead close to six miles before this.

Every few years in the local internet chat forums somebody asks if it is possible to ride the whole thing up to Sherars Bridge. The simple answer is yes, but it is a miserable slog and a lot of hike-a-bike. I am also under the impression that beyond the washout pictured above you will cross private land at some point. I have not verified that myself.

The ride back to the campsite is technically downhill most of the way. With the winds howling up the canyon it was no walk (ride) in the park today. There were plenty of snakes sunning themselves in the trail that were not there on my way in. I may have accidentally run one over too. It was so well camouflaged with the dirt I didn’t see it until the last second. I did not think it wise to stop and investigate.

I was back to my site a bit before 1pm. After some food and a shower (they’re pretty good here) I finished the book I had been reading and finally got around to starting Kara Goucher’s book The Longest Race. I won’t candy coat it, the more I read, the more I dislike Nike and Alberto Salazar.

All said and done it was a nice weekend. I halfheartedly planned on riding the Klickitat Trail just like last year on Sunday, but when I woke up the winds were blowing harder than Saturday morning. I nixed that idea and instead took my time to pack up and head home.

Deschutes River Recreation area is a sure bet for spring or fall camping. I don’t think it would be too appealing in the summer months with the heat that can hit The Gorge. After months of wet weather back in the PDX metro area or just before we roll back into it in late Fall this campground offers a nice little option.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete