Lookout

That's my favorite trail in Central Oregon. It's about an hour drive east from Bend, up in the Ochocos mountains and it ROCKS! Derek and I knew it would be a great day for it, despite the warm temps. It starts with 11 miles of climbing..basically 2 hours for us at a slower steady pace. We took our "big" bikes (5 inches of suspension up front, 6 in the back), to prepare for what Switzerland is going to be like in a month. I think it's around 4000 of climbing in those first 11 miles, maybe more. It's a toughy. The scenery is top notch, always giving you something to look at and enjoy.

Don't even start this ride if you're a little low on funds in the energy account. You'll overdraw your account and NSF fees will rack up like there is no tomorrow. I'm in love with this ride. Allow the photoblog to back me up.

We climb.






The last person that didn't make it up this climb.



The wildflowers are magically sprayed across the side of every meadow and hillside. It's really amazing. Once you are at the top, you realize why the trail is called Lookout Mtn. You can see forever, and it's a mini geography lesson picking out all the snow capped peaks on the horizon.






The descent is some 8 miles long, with some tortuous climbing mixed in the middle somewhere. The trail is different from Bend in that there are FAR more rocks. Sharp jagged rocks, steep rocky switchbacks, exposed rocky sidetrail, tight rock lined singletrack...Rock, it's whats for dinner. I only stopped a couple times to take pics though.





waaay out here in the middle of nowhere.





Success is stopping at Artic Circle on the way back to Bend after riding and sweating for so long.