This weekend Angela and I got to go over to Eugene for the weekend (and miss out on all of the PPP hoopla). We decided to stop and ride up the McKenzie River Trail on our way over on Saturday. After the obligatory stop at Big O Bagel, we finally left Bend at 8AM. It rained the whole way over the pass…which made us question whether to ride or try it the next day on our way back. We decided to ride, figuring the trees would keep us pretty dry. As soon as we parked the car @ Paradise, the rain stopped and we got ready to ride. The trail was in awesome shape, and the fact that it was ‘supposed’ to be raining kept everyone else off the trail. We rode up to the Blue Pool parking lot, which was about 13 miles or so, then turned around and came all the way back down. In 4 hours of riding, we saw all of about 6 other cyclists and about the same number of hikers. It was so nice. And the weather stayed perfect all day – cool enough to wear arm warmers and knee warmers, but just barely.
The MRT is a great trail. I don’t think it is the best trail in Oregon, but I think it has become one of my top 5 favorites. For anyone who hasn’t ridden the MRT, you definitely should. And pray that you get it almost all to yourself like we did this weekend! (you probably won’t after this weekend).
-Kevin
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