Day 1 Portland to Silver Falls State Park

It threatened rain all day but I never felt more than the slightest drop.  There were quite a few turns and trails on the way out of Portland from Rogues's Green Dragon pub.

Mary's ready to go.

Terry getting ready

Prepping for the start of the ride.

We made our way through the city and along the bank of the Willamette River with a scenic view of downtown Portland, winding our way through the city until the Springwater Corridor. The Springwater Corridor is nestled among multiple wildlife refuges, making for an expansive list of flora and fauna, a former rail corridor. From there we will connected with the Trolley Trail, a six mile trail that stretches from Milwaukie to Gladstone. Built on the former Portland Traction Company Streetcar line, this lovely expanse of trail runs along the banks of the Willamette River again. From the Trolley Trail we will ride through historic Oregon City, home of the beautiful Willamette Falls.

After Oregon City we were on quiet rural roads.  It was incredibly peaceful.  Hardly a car or person in sight.  All the apples are off my tree at home, but there were plenty on the trees on this route.  Often they were so bright and uniformly red that they seemed fake.

At Silverton, our arthritis honoree met us at the rest stop.  Keslynn is nearly 8 years old and has been diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic rheumatoid arthritis since 2.5 years old.  She's had some tough patches including inflammation in her eyes.  She's doing great now with medication.  She and her family, including her twin sister, joined us for dinner at the state park.

I had lunch in Silverton with a few other veteran tour riders.  After lunch I finally took off my leg warmers in preparation for a 14 mile climb.  As it turned out, there were some rolling hills, plateaus, and a bit of down hill too, so not bad at all.  In fact, I even wished I left the leg warmers on.

I passed this place on the way to the camp ground.

Parked at camp.

Our camp was a YMCA campground.  Lots of rustic cabins.  Mary and I shared a cabin and memories of summer camp as kids.  Ours, like most, had no electricity and bunk beds.  Toilets and sinks down the trail, fortunately with electricity.

Dave and Chelsea by the fire in the dining room.  The fire felt great!

It sure was quiet overnight with just the rushing creek to lull us to sleep.