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Day 10 - June 17 - Austin Junction, OR to Baker City, OR - 54 miles Click on the thumbnails to view larger pictures.
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| We had visitors during the night (actually the wee hours of
the morning), but they were not what we had expected. The RAAM
(that's Race Across America) had started in Portland the day before and
the first riders came through Austin Junction early this morning.
The support team for a couple riding a tandem in RAAM
pulled into the stoned parking area next to our tents at 4:00am. Of
course the sound of the vehicles and the ensuing hustle and bustle of the
support people woke us up. The only thing to do was get up and go
find out what was going on. They turned out to be the support for
the team of Gooch & Thomas,
a couple trying to break the tandem record for crossing America. We
enjoyed our time with them, but it was getting late and we had to get on
the road.
The morning temperature was 39 degrees so we had to break out the cold weather gear. The dress for the day was turtle necks, leg warmers, ear warmers, and gloves. Even with all that we were still cold during the 2 mile descent at the start of the ride. However, once we started to climb the heavy clothes came off. The scenery in Oregon had been one of the bright spots of our trip, but today we passed through an area that was very unattractive. As we rode along the Powder River in the Sumpter Valley we passed an area that had been destroyed in an attempt to extract gold. In the early part of the 20th century a local mining company flooded the valley and then used a large dredge to dig for the gold. The result of this operation was huge piles of dirt and stones that covered the valley floor. These unsightly piles remain today and seem to be untouched since the mining ceased in 1954. The valley reminded us of strip mining areas we're familiar with back in Pennsylvania where the land is stripped open to get the coal out and then left without any vegetation. An information sign by the side of the road said that over $4.5 million in gold was recovered by the dredging of Sumpter Valley between 1935 and 1954, but this is a small amount when compared to the permanent damage done to the landscape. The day ended in Baker City as we checked into the Oregon Trail RV Park. This place had it all. Nice showers, laundromat, fences that separate camp sites, lean to shelters to store our bikes, and a hostess that agreed to open early to make us coffee before we leave tomorrow morning. |
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