Day 11

Mileage: 63
From: Austin Junction, OR
To: Baker City, OR


We started the day with two pretty good climbs in a row. There are actually three sizeable bumps in a row on our elevation profile, but luckily we got the first one out of the way yesterday. It would’ve been rough to do all three in one day, but the two we did were doable.

Matthew told us that there was supposed to be a burger place on the top of the third climb, with 42 different types of burgers. Even I, the vegetarian of 4 years before this trip, was picturing a big juicy hamburger looming ahead of me (like the proverbial carrot) the whole way up the second peak. But alas, as I had feared, there was no burger joint at the top, or anything at all at the top, for the matter.

There was no where to eat on route for quite a ways, so we had to go three miles off route at the base of the mountain, into Sumpter, OR. We ate at a burger/icecream joint there. (We found out later that the place with 42 burgers was also there, but we missed it). We were all feeling pretty beat, so we went to check out the gold dredging museum. It was pretty neat, and now all of the signs that mention “dredging” make a lot more sense (I was wondering what kinds of canals they had here to dredge).

We were all tired (I think it might be altitude-related, with Sumpter itself at 4,424’), and we ended up falling asleep on a picnic table in the shade. Lauren and I laid on the table top with our heads in the center, and dad laid on one of the benches. After a nice little powernap, I was awoken by some lady asking us a question. Lauren answered immediately, and I was shocked she was even awake. We all bolted straight up as if we had never been asleep to talk to this lady. Later, I found out that Lauren wasn’t awake either. It was sort of strange that the lady just struck up a conversation with three sound-asleep people. She was on a driving tour of the ghost towns of the Northwest.

Tonight we’re staying at the local high school. They are hosting camping for a bike race—the Elkhorn Classic. A guy we met in the restaurant in Sumpter, OR was in the race, and he pointed us to the high school when he saw us at the grocery store. It was only $5, and they had free homemade cookies! There were also showers, albeit group showers without hot water.


Go figure, another summit sign


A gold dredge