As far as Singletrack is concerned, the almost 10 mile descent from Crescent Mountain to the primitive Shedd Camp, was the highlight of the trip for me.  Fast, flowy, all rideable, and completely isolated, when you ride this section, you have it completely to yourself.  Miles and I both were all smiles as we called it a night at Shedd Camp.

At each resupply (except for Chemult and Sisters), people we met were very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the OTT. People in Paisley, Silver Lake, Oakridge, Idhana, and Parkdale all asked us what they could do to make the OTT experience even better. These small communities benefit from tourism, and really seemed to love having bike-packers come through. Feeling so warmly welcomed in each of these communities contributed very positively to our overall enjoyment of the route.

Lesson one: you can’t learn very much Japanese in ten hours. It’s really hard. Turns out, Keita and Innochi actually spoke some English and all the words I had just learned, they already knew.

We’d bikepacked a week on the Oregon Timber Trail (OTT) while it hurled curveballs. This latest one seemed insurmountable: Brady’s old aluminum bike sat next to us, top tube fully snapped off. Clearly, his trip was over.

We rode the OTT as part of a longer, 4 month trip through Northern California to British Columbia. By the time we reached New Pine Creek we were pretty comfortable with our set-ups and ready for some adventurous trails... and adventurous trails we got!