We all met at Crow's Feet at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning where Cog Wild would pick us up and shuttle us down to Klamath Falls to start our journey. We loaded up and started our merry way down to Klamath Falls. About three hours later we were unloading the bikes and getting prepped for the adventure that awaited us.
The route takes you through the OC&E trail for the first 80+ miles. The downside is that it is an old railroad bed that has been converted to a trail which means it would be a mellow grade the whole way. The upside was that we would not have to think about cars or anything motorized for the first couple of days as we biked through on this trail.
The first several miles were on pavement and we just pedaled comfortably and I tried to get used to the bike and how it handled. I was surprised by how the Fatback build with 3 inch Gnards handled. The tires rolled pretty well and it did not seem like I was riding a 50+ pound Sherman Tank. Nick did a kick ass job of the building up the bike and the way the weight I was carrying on the bike was distributed seemed to be working out well.
After pedaling for about 30 minutes, Nick and I turned around and noticed there was no one else in sight. We decided to keep pedaling and meet up and the designated camp for the night and rendezvous with the group at that time.
Soon enough we were off the paved section of the trail and on the dirt. We pedaled and took in the country-side as we started to enter the foothills.
We got to our camp for the evening and realized there was little to no water. We chatted for a few minutes and decided the prudent thing to do was to keep pedaling until we found water. The route took us up and over a pass where we kept our eyes peeled for running water. We could smell it, but not see it.
As we started our descent on the other side of the pass, I caught a trickle out of the corner of my eye. We stopped and this trickle would provide us with some water, albeit a slow process to fill up considering the drippy drop. It took us about an hour to fill up,
While filling up, we had our first 'critter' encounter. Day 1 critter encounter was something that kept dive-bombing us. It was broad daylight and my first thought was that it was a bird that wanted some of that water action. After closer inspection, I realized it was a bat! The bat kept dive bombing us...first it would take a run at me, then at Nick...after about 3 fly bys, we figured something was not right. We took turns at trying to swat at it when it came at us. I took my hat off and swung at it when it came by. With a stroke of luck, I hit it and Nick quickly stomped on it to put an end to this weird behavior.
We figured it must have been sick to be coming at us like that. That would be more excitement than we wanted...a sick rabid disease carrying critter trying to come after us...no thanks!
The bikes quickly made their way back downhill where we rolled into the big town of Sprague. The convenience store was still open so we went in, grabbed a quick snack and a beer to nurse during dinner. One of the locals suggested there was camping down by the river by the bridge. We pedaled down there thinking it would be a cool spot to camp by the river. Upon approach, things started to look a little sketch with the crew that was already there so we pulled a U-turn and decided to hit the trail until we found a place to set up camp.
The trail followed the river as the Sprague snaked through pastures. We made our way through a couple of gates and found a place that looked like we could call camp for the night. It was at a Bend in the river and the time was right. The light was starting to fade and the sun was setting. Soon enough we had the sleeping pads, bivy bags, and bags out while we heated up water for dinner. It was good to put day 1 in the books. We wondered where the rest of the crew was and chatted about the plan for the next day. We left the boyz a message as to where we were so we would check messages as we rolled on. We would figure out next steps in the morning...until then, it was time to enjoy a fine freeze dried dinner and nurse the 25 oz beer we scored at the store....
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