Saturday, November 24, 2012

Two More Bridges

The weather forecast for Thanksgiving called for a dry day. We didn't have any obligations to fulfill or traditions to uphold, we suspected that everyone was where they needed to be and off the roads, so what to do but go for a ride?

We went online and found a couple four covered bridges we hadn't been to so I grabbed the Benchmark map and quickly came up with a route. I'd travelled the route about ten years earlier and the best I could remember is that it was paved so off we went.

The first stop was Hayden Covered Bridge just west of Alsea.


Kissy kissy

When we pulled up and dismounted we heard a train whistle yet there are no trains up here, I know this because like bigfoot, there are no tracks. We walked through the bridge and discovered on the other side that one doesn't necessarily buy property in the country to be quiet. Believe it or not, some buy property in the country to make noise and this person was doing a fantastic job of dropping property value with every blast from his air tank. It was time to get getting.





We rode west down Hwy 34 to the Five Rivers turnoff and made our way south to the next covered bridge on our route.



I was scoping out a possible future geocache spot and Brandy caught me, she's such a muggle.



We had two more bridges to get and were further south on our route. We had to get down to Hwy 36 via NF32. Like I said, I've been through here before but 10 years ago, the road got twisty but then the yellow centerline disappeared and it got narrow.



The narrower the road, the more leaves and debris build up. We recently experienced a serious wind storm last week and I started to wonder how clear our route would be.







Brandy was doing fine so we decided to carry on.



It was slow going and I have to hand it to her, she happily poked along behind me.


I eventually stopped to check our GPS reading and confirm we were still on the map.

Where are we?
A car went by while we were stopped so I knew we were close to some sort of civilization. Although I have to admit after passing some hunters and a lone mushroom picker I was considering leaving a trail of bread crumbs to find our way back.



A couple miles down the trail we came upon this. Ah crap, it's getting late and we've got to be 30 miles deep into 10 mph roads. I take note of the tripometer at start points, intersections and mileage posts so I knew we were only 10 miles from the main highway.  I checked the map again and found a gravel road that would get us around and out but we had to hustle. I don't mind the dark but my riding partner does not so we needed to get to a main road we were familiar with before dark.

It was a steep descent out of the woods and if I learned anything from watching Man vs. Wild, Survivorman and Dual Survival I knew we were on the right path. It wasn't long we were riding up to Triangle Lake where we stopped to to tinkle before mounting up and booking it for home.

She told me to make a face.
We had to surrender the last two bridges for another day, as it was the last 20 miles home was in the dark but we knew the road and made it safe and sound. What a great way to spend Thanksgiving.

-



16 comments:

  1. Glad you got out to two more bridges, and had a great ride. I'm with Brandy, I don't care to ride after dark, and being even more cautious don't really like riding on wet, leaf covered pavement - they can be a slippery as ice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rides during this time of year must be planned carefully, it is easy to enjoy the ride and lose track of time. Once the sun goes down it gets cold and dark fast. I think we were averaging 10 to 15 mph through the slippery, wet leaves which is why we didn't want to have to backtrack 30 miles. All was well and we had a great ride.

      Delete
  2. Great minds think alike. On Saturday we headed out to a covered bridge as well. There are only four in the whole state of Missouri. The other three are quite distant. But, like you although the bridge for us and the bridges for you were nice enough it was something else which will make the trip more memorable. Love the photos!
    ~Keith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw your photo of your covered bridge and ice ribbons on fb and just saw your updated blog post. Great photos, I love the berries. I seem to have the same curiosity as you when it comes to things we find along our travels, something piques my interest and I have to research it to satisfy my wonder. Thanks for the ice ribbon link.

      Delete
    2. Glad you liked the photos. It is wonderful how often we are surprised by marvelous things just because we are out there and are looking. I hope I'm always curious, open to seeing, and willing to learn from what crosses my path.
      ~k

      Delete
  3. Great pictures! I am bridge envious, we do not have covered bridges here and I think a bike dream of mine is to go touring & visit as many of these as I can. What an awesome way to spend Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe there are two covered bridges in BC, one is a modern bridge in Golden and the other is a converted railway bridge in Keremeos. These old covered bridges are pretty cool and make for great ride destinations.

      Delete
  4. Looks like a wonderful ride though it does look a little grey. We don't have any covered bridges either so they are fun to see. Last summer, we got my nephew excited about geocaching. Just what he needed, a free activity which involved running all over Corvallis on his bicycle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was an overcast day but it was 50º and quite pleasant. I'm just getting into geocaching, it gives me an excuse to go for walk, hike or bike ride... and like you said, it's free.

      Delete
  5. Fantastic little deserted mountain roads. Nice pics Brad looks like a top day out. How did Brandy go in the wet gravel road seeing how you had the adventure tourer and she had the road bike?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, it was a great day. Brandy did fine on the road bike although she had to be much more cautious with street tires. She did mention the suspension was better than on previous forestry road trips so we have it dialed now.

      Delete
  6. Troubadour:

    I love that forestry road but I don't think I would ride it alone. I like the colours and the leaves. They make for a great photo opp.

    Good that you go out of there before sunset. Dark with the road scattered with leaves isn't a good combination, especially if you are 2 hours IN

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a general idea where we were but we were pushing dark. Sometimes you have to ride alone to find yourself.
      A few weeks ago I went for ride up Mary's Peak and explored a gravel side road alone. I knew I was lost when the road started getting narrower and unfamiliar. I had my Spot with me but I was without a map or GPS. Fortunately I left a breadcrumb trail by spinning my rear tire at each fork in the road to point me back the way I came. I turned around before I got into trouble.

      Delete
  7. Don't you just love the tension and thrill that comes from "sort of feeling off the beaten track" and maybe a "little lost"?

    You all have many more covered bridges than Ohio! They are make a great "ride goal" though I have to admit more times than not my "ride goal" includes food or ice cream or something! LOL

    Lovin' the tiger stripes on your bike too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is fun to ride out of your comfort zone once in awhile, but it does feel good to come home too.

      You might be surprised Deb, but Ohio has 125 historic covered bridges compared to only 50 historic covered bridges in Oregon. Click here. I see new riding destinations and photo ops in your future.

      Delete
    2. Wow! Thanks for the link!

      Now you have put this scooter dog on a scent...

      Delete

Comments are more than welcome, however, thanks to an increase in anonymous spammers of late, you now must be a registered user to comment.

Thank you spammers!