58 miles, 5:22
I left the lovely little Silver Spur motel at 5:15 this
morning, just before the sun rose. It
was cool, only 52, and I put on my wind jacket for the ride out of town, across
the completely flat former lakebed of Harney Lake. During the last Ice Age, the entire Harney
Basin, at least 40 miles across and more than that north to south, was a giant
lake. In the low, early morning light,
you could see the various lake levels on the benches a couple miles north of
the highway.
Cycling the flat lakebed at dawn
The first 5 mile climb was about 23 miles from Burns, and
marked the exit from the Great Basin, which I entered between Alturas and
Lakeview.
I stopped at a rest area, which contrary to the Oregon DOT
website, had no water, and a big sign that said “Water not potable.” I’ll have to be sure to send them an email
about that inaccuracy! And it’s not the
only inaccuracy or sloppiness that I’ve encountered from ODOT, it seems that
they can’t put their mile markers consistently at one mile, they often vary by
a tenth of a mile, but more normally by 1-4 hundredths of a mile. Using my trip computer to check the mile
markers is one of the little mind games I have to occupy all that empty time
and I’ve taken to calling them the
‘drunken Oregon mile markers,’ imagining that the crew that put them out there
had been wildly partying the night before.
The climb was pretty tolerable, although in the sun at 8 it
was already getting warm. Happily there
was enough residual coolness to make it
tolerable. The first descent of the day
was just magnificent, into the valley of the Malheur River. It’s really desolate country out here, with a
few ranches, many of them now with 5
generations in the same family. The descent
was great, but it was really getting hot (in the low to mid 80s by now) and I
was facing the toughest climb of the day, which I could see across the
valley. It was in the full sun, and
there was very little breeze.
There were no trees along the river, (a sure sign of poor range management, the cows eat the baby trees) and I was hungry, and
started to look for a spot to stop and eat, and be in a bit of shade. I spied an irrigation ditch, running with
water, with a large sagebrush, just off the road at the beginning of the
climb. It was now about 9:30, and it was
time for lunch. I spent about 15 minutes
in the shade, and then made a crucial decision:
I took off my cycling jersey and got it soaking wet in the irrigation
ditch. I reckoned that the first part of
the 2.5 mile, 5% plus climb could use a little swamp cooling!
The first mile or so, was hot, but the breeze would kick up
in between the road cuts, which were like ovens. I lost a lot of sweat, and drank a lot of
water, but after about 1.75 miles I really started to overheat. Since there was no shade, all I could do was
wait til I hit a breezy stretch, and try to cool off. At the 2 mile mark, I was starting to cramp a
bit, and walked for .2 of a mile or so, to stretch out the cramp. The heat was really tackling my muscles. As I rounded the corner to hit the top of the
pass, the breeze picked up, and provided relief! Mile 46 marked the top.
It was a really fun 12 miles of mostly downhill, but a bit
like being in a convection oven at times.
The last 3 miles into Juntura pass through wetlands, which were by now
hot and providing a lot of humidity.
When I pulled into town (80 people live in this valley) the shade of the
old cottonwoods was welcome!
The Oasis Café and Motel is a charming establishment, and
the first thing I did was get a cold OJ from the drinks cooler. Then I told the owner (a really lovely
person) that I’d like a room for the night (it was only 12:30 Mountain Time,
11:30 in Burns where I’d started out).
She said to me, “good you’re not crazy after all” or something to that
effect. She got me a giant cup of ice
water, and a napkin, and then got me a room.
The rooms are nice, in a prefab building, with great air
conditioning and insulation! I showered,
then had a fantastic lunch of Mexican Lasagne, Spanish Rice and a lovely salad,
all for $5.95.
Took a nap, then had dinner, and chatted with the folks in the restaurant. One couple was moving to Havre MT, from Klamath Falls, and will be directly on my route after Glacier. The waitress grew up in Bishop, and married a local rancher’s son, and has been living here for 20+ years. Turns out that the kids go to a state paid boarding high school about an hour from their ranch. Pretty cool place to grow up, but like most rural places, there are very few young people to be seen.
The cook grew up in Jackson WY, and recently moved to Juntura from Bend, so it was interesting to see that this kind of remote rural area (2.5 hours driving from Boise) still has some drawing power. It seems the biggest economic issue here is that if you don’t have a ranch in the family, there’s not much employment.
Off to bed at 8:30, up at 4 to ride down to Ontario, my last night in Oregon.
Here are some random shots of Juntura.
The start of the Malheur River Canyon
It's neat that Great Basin and Nevada share similar southwestern boundaries. I didn't know that. Sounds like a hot hot climb, glad you made it! Funny name for a pass, must've been named before automobiles!
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