Halfway to Cambridge: Hell's Canyon ain't so Hellish!

Hell's Canyon, located between Halfway and Cambridge, sort of has a reputation among bicyclists as being a magma-filled bicycling melting-smelting pot of doom in a handbasket, with days frequently over 100 degrees and little to no shade.  When I rode it in 2003 with my Bronies (Bike Homies, in case you haven't caught that yet) it did not disappoint.  There is an extremely steep 7-10ish mile hill to climb out of the canyon that took us all our water to climb, and we took breaks on the way up standing in the little circular shadows cast by the balls on power lines, as it was 100 degrees or so and that was the only shade.  There were also murderous clouds of grasshoppers the jumped into our faces while we rode.  Not kidding. Terrible.

One of the things that every Eastbound cyclists says, at some point on the way to Hell's Canyon, is that they hope it will be rainy that day - but it rarely happens.  It's the desert after all, and the canyon is named after Hell for a reason. However, today bikema smiled on me!  It was overcast when I left the church in Halfway around 7:30.  I easily cruised 20ish miles to the start of the canyon, and thoroughly enjoyed it on this overcast, 55 degree day.  There were almost no cars but tons of mule deer who frequently ran along with me and across the road in front me, jumping straight up the canyon walls like... well.. mule deer.  At 10:30ish around mile 35 I reached the terminus of the canyon and the crazy-steep 7 mile climb out.  There is a shop there, and in 2003 we filled our bottles with ice and they melted in something like 10 minutes. For me, it was 60 degrees, overcast, and occasionally drizzling.  The climb out of the canyon was still brutal and steep, however, even it was cool, and it tested me more than anything has since Day 2 on Mckenzie Pass.

I reached the top at Mile 42, took a picture of the pass sign, and then the rain and tailwinds came.  I had a great 15 mile, tailwindy, rainy, downhill flight in Cambridge for the night.  The rain let up right before I reached town (it's staying up high, apparently, desert again) and I arrived sort of soggy but happy a little after 1pm. My rain gear works great (I do ride in Eugene every winter), but I put it on while soaked in sweat for the cold downhill. Gross. Better to be warm and sweaty-wet then cold and rainy-wet though.

Cambridge (pop. 328) has a nice park where we can stay in for free - the same park where we met "The Keg" in 2003 - for those of you who were there.  The Keg was so named because he was a bike tourer who looked like a keg of beer on toothpicks.  He claimed to have ridden across the US and Canada several times and was heading the other way. He carried mountains of stuff on his bike, including a tent, tarp, giant metal stakes, and other things I can't remember. The pile on his bike reached up to near his upper back.  The tarp, incidentally, was ripped apart in a storm that night while our tiny tents survived.

So far my Cambridge stay has been great.  I treated myself to a hot meal meal because soggy me craved coffee and cheeseburgers, perused the local museum and all it's pioneery goodness, had a few good conversations with locals, and now am chillin' in the library talking to you folks.  In a few minutes I will head to the park where I hope some Eastbound cycle tourers I just met will camp. They've toured the entire Trans Am Adventure Cycling route starting on the east coast in late April.  Seeing as I've left the Mitchell crew behind, it would be nice to have some company tonight.  Only a few more days and ton more mountains until Missoula!  I'll try a picture upload later tonight.

By the way, remember that covered wagon picture I posted a few days ago? Here is the 2003 version! I am in the purple jersey and blue helmet.

Also, in the picture update I will be uploading a very similar photo to this one, taken of our crew in 2003 as well.  You can see all our 2003 pictures at our older pretty slow photo site. That trip, incidentally, is why I move to Eugene in 2006.  The 2007 trip also has a slow gallery, but I won't be hitting any of those same towns until Lowell.

ILYI