As I write this, the last riders in today’s 12Mile SuperD are crossing the finish line near my house. Although not an easy race, it doesn’t match the Revenge of the Siskiyous races that used to take place here. Those races required some serious uphill climbs as well as the downhills. Today’s race only climbs 600 feet (while dropping more than 5,000).

On Friday, I rode my mountain bike along a good section of the route. I climbed about 1,500 feet before dropping the same 1,500 feet back to my house. On the way, I rode on Toothpick (out and back) and Caterpillar (downhill only).

The Siskiyou Mountains above Ashland offer up some of the finest single track in the country. Besides Toothpick and Caterpillar trails, you can choose from dozens of other trails like White Rabbit, Catwalk (from Four Corners), Bull Gap, BTI, etc. Most aren’t for the faint of heart and take some getting used to. Toothpick isn’t very difficult, although, as the name suggests, it is sometimes not very wide. One side of the trail falls off steeply down the mountain. I wouldn’t want to crash on Toothpick because if you left the trail it would be a long way down.

On Friday the trails seemed unusually crowded. Crowded is a relative term however. We saw about 10 other people in our two hours up there. We also saw about 10 dogs. I’m not a fan of dogs–especially when I’m on a bike. I’m sure the hikers with the dogs probably aren’t too happy to see bikers either.

I once road the entire Ashland Loop Road (28 miles including 3,000 feet up and 3,000 feet down) without seeing another human being. I did see a bear on that ride though.

Next winter, after a fresh snow, I’ll have to take a ride up there with my camera. I’ve done it before without a camera and it was amazing. For now, I’ll just have to leave you with a single photo.

This is taken from approximately the center of this map between the bottom of Bull Gap and the top of Mt. Ashland. I’m on the other side of the mountain as Bull Gap though. (You can’t see Mt. Shasta from Bull Gap although you do have good views of Wagner Butte at times.) Mt. Shasta is in the background.

Posted on June 15th, 2008 under Oregon. Tags: ashland oregon, bikes, lithia park, mountain biking, Oregon, pictures, rogue valley. Comments: 1

Yesterday we attended two parties on two different ends of the Rogue Valley in Oregon. The views from both were spectacular and very different from each other.

The first party we went to was on the Rogue River in, or near, Shady Cove. Our friends were being unlawfully wedded on the banks of the river. It wasn’t really a wedding as they aren’t legally husband and wife, but they wanted to throw a party so that was the excuse. Between the two of them they had been married 6 times before they exchanged their “illegal” vows that won’t be recognized by the government.

The unwedding was nicely catered. The temperature was perfect, and by the time things started the previously overcast skies gave way to some really pretty cloud formations amidst the blue skies.

The property this took place on had some large trees on a football field sized grassy area between the house and the river. Whichever way you looked was beautiful.

After watching the wedding that wasn’t a wedding and eating our fair share, we headed back to Ashland for my end-of-the-school-year party. Graduation isn’t until the 14th, and finals are this coming week, but we, the faculty, tend to have this party the weekend before.

Just about every home in Ashland has a view of some sort. They are all different. This one is from the lower edges of the Cascade Mountain Range looking back towards the Siskiyou Mountains.

We hung out on the deck you can see in the bottom of this picture. The fields below the property had horses, goats, and lamas grazing earlier in the evening.

The rock sticking up about 15% of the way from the left side of the picture is called Pilot Rock and is located on the California and Oregon border. Last summer we climbed to the top of it. I’ll have to share the views from there on another day.

Posted on June 8th, 2008 under Oregon. Tags: ashland oregon, clouds, nature, Oregon, pictures, rogue valley. Comments: None

Friday morning we wake up (all too early with about 20 10-year olds sleeping in the same cabin/lodge) to what promises to be one of the hottest days of the year even though it is only May. After a pancake breakfast we head out to the Trail of Ten Falls. I was excited, but my expectations weren’t extremely high. I was about to have them exceeded in a big way.

The trail is something like 8+ miles long if you do the entire thing. We were going to do just a part of it (again I was with loads of 10 year olds). I think the section we ended up doing was just over 2 miles.

The first waterfall we came to is called South Falls. I was impressed. I’ve seen many waterfalls in several different states (Utah, California, Oregon, Hawaii) and this was by far the best. I figured this must be the most impressive of the ten falls at this park given that you could walk behind it, every angle of the falls was an amazing view, and the falls plunge the not-too-shabby distance of almost 200 feet.

Here is the view from behind South Falls:

If you look closely at this next picture you can get an idea of how impressive these falls were. Those little tiny things about a third of the way up behind the falls are people.

The trail, even when there weren’t falls in view, was beautiful. I highly recommend, that if you visit this state park, you do so in the morning. There was virtually no one else there, and the sun hitting everything at an angle, rather than from directly overhead, was spectacular.

As I mentioned above, I figured South Falls must be the highlight of the hike. I couldn’t believe it when Lower South Falls came into view a mile later, and I was even more impressed.

While Lower South Falls doesn’t have the vertical drop of South Falls, you still get to walk behind the falls. This waterfall had a certain elegance I have never before experienced. You will also get more wet behind this one.

The mossy trees and intense shades of green made for an awesome view.

Silver Falls State Park is a little over an hour from Portland, Oregon and about 9 hours from the San Francisco Bay Area. Needless to say, I highly recommend it. I’m looking forward to going back and visiting all 10 of the falls next time.

Remember that you can click on any of the images to see a much larger version. Enjoy!

Posted on May 18th, 2008 under Oregon. Tags: hiking, nature, Oregon, pictures, Salem, Silver Falls, waterfalls. Comments: None