We left the KOA campground at 9:40 AM after a complimentary breakfast of pancakes, sausage, juice & coffee. It was a whopping 51 degrees and the wind was not as bad as the day before, still cloudy though. We drove to the trailhead and Mary Ann & Matt rode the first leg to the Renslow Trailhead which is the beginning of the Army East part of the ride. It actually goes through an Army training area. There was a time you had to sign in and out of the area, but there were no forms at the trailhead, so we assumed they discontinued that.
Matt and Sherri rode this stretch. There was no vehicle access until you reached the Doris trailhead, 20 miles east of the start point, so we had to be sure we were up for it and we decided we were. Well, a short ways in we were having doubts as the trail was deep, fine sand that grabbed your tires and made it tough going. It took us forever to go 4 miles. It was really grueling. Came to the first tunnel, which was closed with directional signs for the detour around it. The detour trail bed was very rocky and went up and down hills. When we came to the end of it we realized it had detoured us around both tunnels. When the trail picked up it was sand again, but coarser, not deep and on a packed roadbed, so we were happy riders. We made good time from there, riding through deep cuts with rock walls, some hog back-type stretches with nice vistas, and even some lovely wild flowers.
We met Mary Ann at the Beverly Bridge. It’s a bridge across the Columbia River, built in 1909 by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway and rebuilt from 2019-2022 for bicyclists & pedestrians.
We crossed it and met Mary Ann on the other side, she had ridden across the bridge while she waited for us.
We loaded up and drove to Potholes State Park where we had a reservation. It was quite a bit off the beaten path, but a nice spot. Spent about an hour trying to plan tomorrow’s ride. The trail isn’t continuous from here to the end at Tekoa, WA, so we will ride what we can.
All for today.
Thanks for following along with us!
Sherri, Mary Ann, and Matt
