I had so much fun on my first bike tour a few weeks ago that I decided to fit in a mini tour en route to visiting my family up in Portland...so here are some photos I took along the Row River Trail and in Cottage Grove, upon my return from my overnight camping excursion.
Here are some of the photos. It was a really sweet bike path, about 16 miles long around one side of Dorena Lake, and then a few more miles (climbing) around the lake, to get to Baker Bay Campground. Benches and picnic tables along the way... lots of shady groves and then sunny stretches with beautiful views.
View along the trail over one of several bridges.
Smooth cruisin' along a well-maintained trail, as only Oregon can do!
Shade was easy to find all along the way!
Lake Dorena skirts one side of the trail.
More lake views.
One of several covered bridges from yesteryear -- this one called the Dorena Bridge.
I think I climbed 2 or 3 miles up a gradual grade... it was hot towards the end of the day, so this was a stretch for me, a flatlander! I didn't realize how much I had climbed until I cruised down it the next morning, needing no pedaling all the way down!
This was part of the Baker Bay Campground scene. Hot showers. Yes! Lots of families enjoying a weekend outdoors. The campground's rude, unempathetic host almost turned me away due to no vacancies, as evening drew near. I talked him into letting me camp next to a nice family who had more than enough space. I paid them for my campsite, and that covered their cost, basically, so they were happy.
Just a day and a night but more than enough to feel like I'd had a small and enjoyable departure from every day routines.
Very nice example of a mini-tour and exploration of new areas. Do you have a map link or other details on the trail you were on? Otherwise, I'll do some googling later.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dale