Sometimes a window of opportunity opens, and you have to fly away before it closes again.
2013 KTM 500 EXC packed with camping gear, water, food and ready for adventure. Destination: Unknown
So much about life is pre-planned that it’s especially liberating to head out with only the vaguest idea of where you’ll end up. East. Maury Mountains. Camp near water.
Just a few miles east of Bend. Decompressing.
Wandering on gravel roads, watching the weather. A little rain helps knock down the dust. Too much and it makes gumbo mud. Up the south end of the Maury Mountains, little siblings to Oregon’s Ochoco Mountains. No one out here but ranchers and bow hunters. Solitude is a throttle twist away at any time.
Tonight this will be my place. Near the water. Far from everything else.
A simple camp. Bivy sack. Sleeping bag. Pad. Tarp. Stove. Pot. Dish. Dried food. Tea. And a little plastic bottle of Crater Lake Vodka to pour in a bit at a time as I sip juice. Backcountry cocktails.
Go light. Go fast. Especially if you’re not going far. Recently upgraded my dual sport adventure camp kitchen to this super compact, super lightweight Snow Peak set.
Titanium spork and food-grade silicone bowl – both fit inside cook ware, along with fuel canister.
MSR Dromedary water bag was another nice addition.
Watched a thunder shower blow through at sundown. My space stayed dry.
There’s something magical about sitting still in one place, and watching the sunset and sunrise.
Coyotes. Elk. Geese. Rising fish. And this sunrise to greet me.
Good morning world.
Day 2: Rode up to a fire look out.
Friendly fire look out invited me up. Told me about his work. Shared his views on a lot of things. Probably doesn’t talk to people much here, so he had a lot to say. Nice fellow.
View looking northeast. Crooked River drainage.
Closeup of the view looking south – buttes and table rock.
Why? Why not.
Post, Oregon – “The Center of Oregon” – which is another way of saying “Close to Nothing.”
Stopped in Post, Oregon, then rode the dirt road on the north shore of Prineville Reservoir, complete my medium, not giant, loop overnight adventure.