La Pine SP (3)

National Donut Day, celebrated on the first Friday of June, is an important and highly revered holiday in our family. Richard has been planning for where he was going to get doughnuts on this day for months. We planned our route from Ashland to La Pine specifically so that we could go by Puck’s. Why are you laughing? This is serious business.

Richard helped get us all hitched and dumped in the morning and then headed out. When he texted me that he was there, I pulled Dory out to meet him. They had hot, fresh apple fritters, so calories be damned, we each got one. Then we continued on our route up through Eagle Point and then followed the Rogue River until we got to our second food destination: Trail Market. I blogged about this place before and raved about their tacos so much that someone who follows the blog told me they made a special trip out that way to try them. That had me feeling nervous and potentially guilty to have coaxed someone into making a special trip. What if they didn’t find them as great as we did? On second tasting, I am doubling down. Their tacos are that good, and if you make a special trip and don’t find them to be worth the detour, that’s on you. We also picked up three different kinds of tamales and took them to go. Those served as dinner the next two nights and were also fabulous.

It was a straight forward drive up to La Pine, via Highway 62 to 97. La Pine campground has three loops with lots of sites, some with hookups and some not. We got full hookups and that was very much appreciated. After a microwaved tamale dinner, we walked around the trails by the river. I kept it short because my right hip flexor is bothering me (I’m 60). Richard tried to continue on and do a loop, but his super power kicked in and he got lost. He made it back to Dory, but was frustrated by how wrong he is about which way to go so much of the time.

We had one full day to do something fun in the area and Richard was set on making sure we included Richard’d Donuts in Bend as part of the equation. He really wanted to make it there for National Donut Day, but logistics were not in his favor. His first idea was for us to ride there. That sounded fine, but ambitious, seeing as it is about thirty miles one way. We geared up for a long day and I packed my extra e-bike battery on my rack, but shortly before departure, he had second thoughts. Instead, we did what I’m sure was a far better plan and drove to doughnuts first. While it would have been possible I think to ride the whole way, I don’t think most of it would have been that scenic. Plus we would have been stressed about getting to Richard’s before they closed, or ran out. This way, we got to enjoy an excellent raised chocolate glazed and a lemon filled, fresh for the morning, with no worries or rushing.

We then set out to try to figure out how to ride the Deschutes River Trail. It’s tricky to figure out just from reading reviews and online information, which parts of the trail are suitable for regular bikes vs which parts are really intended for mountain bikes or off road bikes. Richard has a set of wide tires that he can put on his road bike for these occasions, but that doesn’t create a mountain bike. My bike has thick tires, but is still really made for paved, or at least hard packed dirt or gravel, roads. We tried going to a staging area first at a place called Meadow Day Use and found the trail there to be really just a hiking trail. Honestly, I couldn’t see how it would be ok to have any kind of bike go on that because it was so narrow and you’d have to navigate big rocks and tree roots, in addition to hikers. We were confused, so Richard got on the phone with a local bike store and asked for beta. He talked to someone named Tanner from Gear Fix in Bend and that was super helpful. We then drove out to the next staging area at Lava Island and set out from there.

The first section of trail was sort of a packed gravel rails-to-trails type terrain. Not too difficult to ride for either of us. After we went past the staging area at Dillon Falls, it became more like a walking trail. It was a narrow single track on exposed dirt. I’ll be honest, I was nervous about how mountain bikey this adventure was going to be, but that section only lasted a mile or so. We got back onto a wider section, and later on an unpaved road for cars that took us all the way to Benham Falls. There is a parking area and a short walking path down to a falls overlook there. That was a lovely place for a bit of lunch before deciding whether to keep going. It turns out to be a very pretty and easy ride from the falls to a bridge that gets you to the other side of the Deschutes River.

From that point, there are fully paved bike trails that take you either to Sunriver, or to Lava Lands National Monument. We opted for the lava experience and rode a peaceful and easy three miles up to the cinder cone. We’ve been there before, and Richard has ridden to the top before, but I hadn’t. Now I could and I switched the power to Turbo and cruised on up the 8% grade no problem. It’s an incredible view of rivers of lava flow from the top. You can also get a good view of Mt. Batchelor, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Washington.

Turning to go back, we coasted almost all of the paved three miles back to the bridge. Taking the return route, I fully enjoyed all of the biking. The first time traversing it, I was just a bit anxious about how rugged it was going to get and whether we’d be able to make it to the bridge part. Now that I know, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. You are not right by the river the whole way, as you would be if you were walking the actual Deschutes River Trail, but the bike routes run parallel and you get beautiful views, or access to a day use area with beautiful views, every mile or so. We saw two impressive falls and lots of rapids. We also saw a group of rafters starting down the river. For sure you’d want to do that with a professional group so you don’t accidentally find yourself on the upstream side of one of those falls. If we wanted to ride all the way to Bend, I think we’d have to take surface streets after the Lava Island Day Use. There are bike trails all through Sunriver, and many surface street routes to get down to La Pine. I think we did the pretty part, but there is a lot more to explore in the Bend area.

Before heading back to Dory, we stopped at Gear Fix to see if I could get a better rack storage solution for when I take all my clothes with my bike and later take them all off. It’s a huge consignment store, so many of the items are gently used sports gear. You can get everything from outdoor clothing, to climbing gear, to kayaking gear, to bicycles. I didn’t find a rack bag I liked, but I did find better straps with which to better secure my dry bag. That might do it. We were happy to support their business since they gave us such good advice on how to ride the river trail.

We got back to the campground, ready to be cozy and warm indoory in Dory. Before leaving the next morning, Richard wanted one more shot at doing that trail without getting lost. He was super careful not to trust his intuition on directionality, and successfully navigated himself all the way around the loop. We departed the campground triumphant, having achieved Doughnuts, off road biking, and campground trails, all without getting too lost.

Total miles from Emigrant Lake: 176.5, 4 hours 53 min with stops at Puck’s and Trail, 17.2 mpg. Site 88 full hookups. Better cell for ATT than Verizon. All up and down 97 seems to have poor cell for Verizon. Good dump at site so didn’t need to pay $10 for campground dump. 30 amp service at site and water spigot.