10th anniversary weekend

Map of the S.Ridgeline trail at the Spring St. Trailhead

What a lovely weekend that was.  All weekends should be that invigorating and relaxing all at the same time.  We loaded the mountain bikes on the car and headed south to the Eugene area after a nice leisurely morning at home on Saturday.  After making a wrong assumption that you can ride bikes on the entire Eugene South Ridgeline trail we finally started our first mountain bike ride of the weekend at the Spring street trail head.  The ride immediately went straight up a switch-backing single track to the top of the first summit.  Cool afternoon air combined with a lack of warm-up was the perfect combination for a little exercise induced asthma to take hold- but it was easily relived with a “hit” of the ’ole inhaler followed by a fun single track downhill.  The Ridgeline trail is mostly single track, very well maintained and coated with a fine gravel such that the only thing technical is the fact that you are climbing or descending on single track with a few switch backs thrown in to keep you on your toes. We rode the entire trail where mountain bikes were legal- 10 miles of fun, fast single track ride with lots of heart pumping climbing and fun descents. 

After our bike ride we picked up a picnic dinner for a night in at the bed and breakfast.  We headed out highway 126 along the McKenzie River trail to just east of Vida and the Eagle Rock B&B.  A beautiful, well maintained, well managed property right on the McKenzie River.  Upon arrival we were escorted to the sitting room and provided homemade cookies (delicious), port, wine, beer, coffee and tea.  We were then given a quick tour and provided the keys to our room.  The house sits back off the river and has a beautiful garden that leads up to the rocky shore upon which is a fire pit for guest to enjoy.  The B&B is definitely set up for weddings- and would be an absolutely beautiful spot.  We enjoyed our picnic and settled in for the night- we had the whole place to ourselves for the evening as all the other guests were at “the” game (UofO and Arizona- UofO won, of course).

Jay just after a good OTB crash

We slept in until 9am when breakfast was served- and what a treat that was:  a full three course breakfast starting with a fresh fruit panache with Greek yogurt and yummy berries, a orange-bun (like a cinnamon roll with fresh orange simple syrup) and a jalapeno chili cheddar egg baked goodness.  All with fresh Earl Grey tea and excellent company and a beautiful river view.  After breakfast we chilled for a short while and then headed out for our days activity.  This time we rode fantastic, fun and technical single track on the McKenzie River trail.  Technical without serious ups and downs- almost a complete reverse of the previous days ride.  We parked at Belknap hot springs and rode for an hour up the trail-  the ride up is challenging because not only are you negotiating very wet roots, rocks, puddles, tree stumps and bridges- you are also generally going up- so you really have to focus on keeping your forward momentum going.  The ride back was exhilarating with all the momentum you need to pop over wet rocks, hop roots and generally splash through puddles of goopy mud. We took a short snack break by rivers edge before finishing the last few miles of our fun descent.

JP on a snack break

We ended our day with a soak at the Belknap hot springs which sits right on the McKenzie River. For $7 you can soak in their main pool which is maintained at around 100^oF- perfect for a post ride recovery. The hot springs are a little touristy for my liking but still a beautiful stop and relaxing end to a ride.  We soaked for about an hour- showered and headed into Eugene for a yummy waffle for dinner and fresh tea at “Off the Waffle”on Willamette and 25^th St. in Southe Eugene followed by an uneventful drive home.   A fantastic 10 year anniversary!

Oh yeah-  Happy Birthday to my Brother, Paul!