McKenzie River Trail

so I did this ride on Saturday and I've been meaning to post on it since then, so sorry for the delay. my newest MTB friend Cookie invited me to Vinnie's birthday ride on the McKenzie River trail. there were a ton of people there and I knew no one, but I was anxious to check out this trail and meet some new folks so I picked up Cookie & John and we hit the road for the hour long drive to the trailhead in the midst of the Cascades. I only had time to do half the ride, but it was rad... more than I can really type. I'm going to have to go back and do the whole thing, but it's definitely a day long 25 mile ride!

anyway thanks for getting me out there Cookie, showing me the trail and letting me meet a bunch of cool people.

of course being the new guy on the ride, I also had to be the guy with the broken bike. 2 minutes into the ride I broke my chain. but after a quick fix (good-bye stupid broken link) we were on our way. here's Cookie rolling through the thick forest:


after some cool bridge crossings and other waterfalls we rolled past Koosah Falls:

cool stuff!

after regrouping we stopped at Blue Hole

Blue Hole is where the McKenzie River comes back above ground again... it's the cleanest, bluest water I've ever seen.

then things got really technical:

we all tried this section a few times, and nobody made it!

unfortunately I didn't have time for too much more, so I cut out with some others at the halfway point where there was much yummy food and beer?! yes guys were drinking beer in preparation for the second half of the ride! I think I would've been bouncing off of every tree and rock I saw if I had done the same. but really it was a testament to the cool atmosphere of the ride and the great group of guys that were out there.

there's a bunch more photos added to my cycling set on flickr too, but I at least wanted to get something up... it was yet another super cool ride. with two waterfalls, an underground river and plenty of lava rocks, how can you go wrong?!