Tom Grundy's Expedition Oregon 2022 Page

I had no plans to do Expedition Oregon this year, but once again I got a call with about 2 weeks to go that a team needed someone - this time Team NorCal. After a few calls and some thinking I decided I was in. I managed one big uphill training bike ride to some bumps and then headed back to Bishop to pack things up. I had a lot of trouble deciding what gear - especially clothes to take, so I packed for a bunch of contingencies. This was mostly because Oregon was in the throes of second winter and the forecast was for cold and snowy conditions on much of the course. I also replaced a blown wrist gasket on my dry suit and put together a bunch of bars and gels and ziploc bags and so on. Then I headed north tagging a few bumps on the way. Sadly I forgot my main box of race food - the bars, gels, and bags I carefully collected together. That lead to a stop at a grocery outlet and a walmart for some last minute food and bags. Fortunately I actually had quite a bit of other race food in the form of tortillas, salami, summer sausage, and peanut butter - honey- and powdered milk, canned refried beans, plus a few bars and gels that were in my backpack and other places.

Friday in Bend I picked up the bicycle I was to use - a sweet Cannondale Lefty Scalpel, and stopped at the REI to get some waterproof socks - which they didn't have. I settled for some very thin neoprene socks which I figured wouldn't keep my feet entirely dry but would keep the cold water from circulating and prevent frostbite.

Later that night Tim and Henrike showed up and we started filling the hotel room with gear and food. The next day (Saturday) there were trips out for breakfast, REI, etc. as we put together our gear and food - although I was holding off on putting together my tortilla wraps for another day so they would be a little less old by the race. Jamaica showed up.

Sunday we had gear and skills check. This involved rapelling and jumping out of and getting back into our boats. It was snowing when we did this, at times pretty hard. This didn't really matter once we had our dry suits on, but it was unfortunate to have it snowing on us while putting them on and taking them off. We also had to take our packs to a number of stations and show that we had all the mandatory gear - this was supposed to be enough gear to keep us alive, but not enough so that we would actually be comfortable, especially not if we were trying to sleep up high. That night they had some opening remarks and we saw the film "mandatory gear" about the 3 woman 1 man team that came in second last year. It was also crunch time for packing food and gear. Choices were made - mostly to bring heavier duty and warmer clothes than the bare minimum. I also packed up my bike box - fortunately if I took off both wheels, the pedals, lowered the seat and turned the lefty fork (it only has an arm on one side of the front wheel) one way I could put it into the bike box. Last year I also had to do something with the handlebars which was a pain and I was always scared I was going to lose a critical bolt or other part.

team NorCal before the race
Tom, Henrike, Jamaica and, Tim (pc - Expedition Oregon)

Monday - this was the day the race started - except unlike last year we were going to have a casual morning. We dropped off the bins and bike boxes and then loaded into vans for the drive to Diamond Lake Lodge. As we got nearer it started snowing again. There we got the maps and set to plotting our course. This involved quite a few maps of different scales across different disciplines. Once we finished that we were informed that one of the roads we were planning to take while bicycling was off limits - so it was back to the drawing board trying to find a route through this section - I found one, but it was all at higher elevations. I knew this wasn't a good route, but I didn't see a better line and sadly didn't have time to really suss out something better. This would come back to hurt us later. Meanwhile it was snowing off and on outside, and I was busy eating the extra food I had brought to eat pre-race. I didn't finish it all, but we just threw the extra summer sausage and some other things into the bin before we started. At least with the cold it wouldn't spoil.

looking at maps and plotting our route (Jamaica on left, Tim center right)(fb)

more map work (Jamaica on left, Henrike on right)(fb)

here I am before the start - Mt Bailey behind me in the clouds

Map 1, trek

The race began at 6 pm, and as if on cue it started snowing again right before the start. Then we were off, heading along the shore of the lake and then up the snowy hillside to the first "O" (for orienteering) point. We weren't in the lead pack so we could follow the tracks heading up the hill - there was enough variation that you had to pick which tracks you wanted to follow though. The navigation for the first few points we got was pretty obvious with roads and some lakes to help guide the way. Then we headed off into the snowy woods towards a little less obvious point. Here we encountered the theme of the race, except we didn't really know it at the time - "it is always farther away than you think it is". Other teams were heading up and down a ridge looking for the point and Tim wisely realized it was farther - so off we went. Other teams followed. Eventually we got to another ridge where we saw some other tracks and found the point there - then we continued into the snowy woods. At this point we were next to Team Eastwind - from Japan. They are sponsored by The North Face so had snazzy matching race outfits and also had a media crew running along next to and in front of and behind them taking pics and videos. Soon enough our paths diverged, but once again we ran into the footprints at a stream, and after a bit of confusion found the point there - then up a big hill and through the woods to an old road. Here the snow was getting deeper and also coming down harder - hard enough so that I put on my hard shell to keep my top dry(er) and warmer. It was also starting to get dark so out came the headlamps. After another point we reversed back down the road and then decided to skip the pro checkpoint #2 and head straight to #3 - which a way without tracks - so we put on our snowshoes and headed on. When we got there the Estonian team was unable to find the checkpoint - it should have been pretty obvious - right off the road by an intersection. We looked a little and then decided maybe it was farther - so we went down the road to another intersection and failed to find it there. We headed back and when we got to the first instersection Jason (the race director) was there - he had seen our tracks and correctly surmised we hadn't found the checkpoint so he came to investigate. Even knowing where the checkpoint was (he had put it there the day before), it took him a few minutes to find it. It turns out it was in a little pine tree that was so covered in snow if was completely hidden. It was snowing pretty hard - Jamaica thought his headlamp batteries were dead - but it was just the snow piled up on the hat brim blocking the light. We continued on to the first TA - Transition Area - this is where we switched from trekking to bicycling.

getting ready to start (we are mid left in the back with red and yellow on our hats)(fb)

the teams lined up at the start (we paddled back across this lake a few days later)(fb)

Henrike checking in at TA1(fb)

Map 2, Bike

Our bike boxes were covered with a few inches of fresh snow when we got there. We opened them up, put together our bikes, ate a bit and reloaded our food, and then headed off. We were actually the first team to leave this TA which put us in the overall lead position - it didn't last long, but was sort of fun to lead for a bit. One of the gear decisions I had made was to bring my pretty substantial leather gloves and I was very glad to have them for the quick wet downhill bike ride in the snow to sleety rain. From time to time I thought about my choice for MVG (Most Valuable Gear) - and the gloves definitely were in the running. We cleverly missed a turn but realized our mistake before long because among other things we hit a patch of snow and there were no tracks (despite at least one team having passed us by now).

Jamaica sweeping the snow off his bike box at TA1 (my box is to the left)(fb)

Henrike moves her bike box(fb)

assembling bikes (I am on the far left, Jamaica mid left, Tim on right)(fb)

I dig some piece of mandatory equipment from the bottom of my pack for a check before we go.(fb)

We went down a trail towards the next CP, but then realized it was across a waterfall and on the wrong side of a cliff from the CP with no easy way to get there. We went back and dropped our bikes off where some others had too near the closest approach from above and bushwhacked through the woods to get the CP. Somehow we ended up too far upstream and wasted a fair bit of energy and time searching for it. We were about to give up when we saw some other groups walking back from getting the CP - and then easily found it and returned to our bikes for more downhill riding along mostly dirt roads next to the canals leading to a series of power plant penstocks as we went down the canyon. We missed another turn, but realized we could continue the way we were going on the way to the hot springs. There we parked our bikes and hiked up to the springs to soak for 16 team minutes (4 minutes x 4 people). We had to get in to our belly buttons - so kept the tops on but soaked the bottoms. I slipped as I was getting into the pool and jammed my toes, which I think lead to some pain later, but there were plenty of other opportunities to hurt my toes so it could have been something else. Sadly by the time we got to the springs we were no longer cold. Still, it was one of the Oregon activities we would take part in during the race, and a lot better than getting in up to the belly button in icy water.

It was just starting to get light as we left the hot springs. We continued on down the road and missed the turnoff for the trail we were to follow. Fortunately we didn't miss it by much. At the scale of the map wasn't entirely clear if we should continue on an old logging road or a singletrack that headed downhill - we eventually correctly guessed the singletrack. This track had a lot of pretty fun riding with a just enough logs to lift our bikes over to remind us it was Expedition Oregon and enough uphills to keep us warm. It was also quite beautiful with lush west side of the Cascades forest. This continued for quite some time and we switched places with a few teams depending on bike adjustments and rests. I was in the lead when we got to the downed bridge - it was pretty much destroyed by a fallen tree or rock and would require some climbing and scrambling to cross. I was looking for good alternatives when Tim's AR experience took over. He just grabbed his bike, slid down the bank, and waded across the creek (mid thigh depth). This might not have been the easiest or driest option, but it was for sure the quickest. From here it wasn't long to the next TA - the put in for the Umpqua River packraft.

Map 3, Paddle

There were plenty of teams already at the TA when we got there. Tim wasn't feeling strong and was expressing some doubts about his ability to contribute or possibly even continue the race. He took a nap on a pad and we covered him with a sleeping bag while we packed up our bikes and inflated the packrafts. We had 2 Alpacka Gnu 2 person packrafts. Faster than singles, but also a little less manouverable. Unfortunately they did not have the tizip watertight zippers on the main tubes that allow you to put your bags inside. This meant we had to strap the packs onto the top of the bow and the stern. Either with the gear in them inside dry bags (like I did - easier to tie on, but the pack got wet) or the whole pack in a big dry bag - harder to strap on, but everything stays dry hopefully. It was one of our slower transitions, but finally we were ready to cast off onto what promised to be serious whitewater. Sure enough - it was serious whitewater and it wasn't long until one of the boats flipped. Here is where we discovered (although didn't fully realize for a while) that it is nearly impossible to right a double boat with 2 packs tied on top once it has flipped in the water. We did some swimming and attempted rescue and somehow Tim and Jamaica switched places. Jamaica and Henrike finally got to shore just in front of what looked like a log-jam/strainer (fortunately not much water actually going through it) between a large rock and the shore. We paddled over to above them and I scrambled around and down to check on them. We formulated the plan that Tim and I would paddle down below the big rock and They would carry the boat over the logjam. Eventually that plan was enacted and we continued on. Henrike and Jamaica got one more unpleasant swim before the mid-river CP/ warning about a strainer. We also had to stop fairly regularly to dump water out of the boats.

Tim sleeping at TA2

Jamaica inflates a raft

TA2 confusion

taking the raft down to the put in - team Orienteering Utah? getting ready to cast off

cool columnar basalt at the put it

The strainer was coming up after a big bend and 3 rapids and could be portaged on the left. Sadly this description didn't really help us figure it out and we ended up with another swim and getting to the shore. Another team was quite high on the shore with their boats on the trail up there. Tim and I got our boat up there and Jamaica and Henrike were working on getting their boat up when I talked to the team up on the trail. They pointed out the strainer (about 50 feet downstream of where Jamaica and Henrike had finally made it to shore) and said the portage around just the strainer was down low and they were only up on the trail because they were bailing from the river. So, back down to the river where we waded the boats to just above the strainer and then carried them on the rock past it and put in immediately below the strainer (which wasn't nearly as scary as it could have been since it didn't have many branches so the water mostly flowed smoothly under on the left side and over it on the right side of the river). In any case we put in below it and continued on downstream. Somewhere along here we flipped our raft and took a swim - amazingly after bouncing through a few holes we were able to flip the boat back over with the help of the other boat and I got back into it and got to shore. The next swim I wasn't so lucky and banged off of at least one rock and went through a number of holes including one severe enough that it blew a bunch of air out through my neck gasket and then sucked water back in. Fortunately my PFD was tight enough that it was only enough to wet my top to the waist. Meanwhile I continued to hang on to my paddle in one hand and the boat in the other. The other boat flipped too. At some point I was nearer to the shore and saw a paddle floating by - Jamaica (I think) was also grabbed onto the boat so I said I was going for the paddle - which I managed to grab and then somehow "swim" my way over to the shore with both hands mostly holding on to paddles. The others got to the shore a hundred feet downstream so I got out and walked down to them (trying to dodge the poison oak). We were all pretty worked at that point and my top was wet so we decided we were done with paddling - not the fastest option, but we had lost our paddling mojo. We got out to the land and got the packs off the boats and onto our backs and then walked on the pretty ruined (from a fire) trail. There were some burned bridges to negotiate as well as landslides and poison oak. All in drysuits (eventually with the top off), carrying boats and paddle gear, and I was wearing neoprene booties. We had a few miles to go and it took a while. Still, we made it to TA3 where we were treated to warm beverages and transitioned to biking. At each of these transition areas along with all the other food I generally ate a bunch of salami or a big chunk of summer sausage. My lower back was pretty sore after the previous bike ride, but at this TA I realized that I was unable to put on pants while standing up - my foot and hands just didn't come together properly, so I just sat down and pulled my foot up and stuck it on my other knee to get dressed - not very dignified, but at this point I didn't have much dignity left and even less flexibility. Before we left we had to complete another Oregon pastime challenge - this one was each of us making a disc golf "putt".

getting ready to launch back onto the river after dumping water

we give up: Jamaica deflating the raft

another team paddles by below as we trudge the trail

Map 4, Bike

When we left the TA we had been going about 24 hours - but it felt like much longer. We slowly pedaled our way up up and up into the mountains with a stop to get some water from a snowmelt stream. It got dark while we were still going up, and then we hit the snow. There we followed the tracks of the teams ahead of us as they pushed their bikes up over the ridge and then down the other side. The only deviation from our planned course here was that they just dropped down through the snowy woods instead of taking a big switchback along the snowy road. Eventually we dropped down below the snowline (somewhere around 4000 feet?) and were able to ride downhill. It was quick, but it was cold, and the rear wheels sprayed muddy water all over our back sides. At least this year I had nice bright Fenix lights so I could sort of see (the sort of was because my glasses were all wet and sometimes a bit fogged). Then we turned and headed uphill to the next CP - in a closed campground. It was after midnight and we were tired. Another team vacated an outhouse that was probably supposed to be locked but had a door that didn't properly close and we moved in for a few hours of sleep. We had some ultralightweight sleeping pads plus bivy sacks and crawled in and passed out. My toes were pretty cold when I woke up and there was moisture condensed all over the inside of the concrete structure. As we headed out uphill it started to get light enough to see.

review: sleeps 4, a little cold, floor is hard, 2 stars

One advantage of starting out uphill was that we warmed up quickly - well, most of us warmed up quickly - our feet took a bit longer. When we got to the turnoff to try to find a spot to head back down to the trail or continue south and up and over we made the probably mistake of heading up and over. Up we went, then onto the snow where soon we were walking along. We stopped to get water where a stream crossed the road, and Jamaica's sunglasses fell off into the water and disappeared - they were about the same color as the bottom and maybe got washed into the culvert. Later when we were in the full sun I let him use my sunglasses, since I also had prescription sunglasses (I was wearing both of them - it was bright on the snow). We planned to take a turnoff along a trail past a lake, but there were no tracks going that way (and it went even higher), so we opted to keep following the tracks. We continued on plodding along in the snow and pushing our bikes all day. It got hot when the sun came out and the walking and pushing got harder. At least we weren't breaking trail. There were a few limited spots where the road was clear for a bit and we were able to ride, but mostly it was just trudging along. There was a road split in one of the spots on the map with a black spot on it, but we guessed correctly (despite some tracks going the other way) and there we were able to ride a bit more as the soft snow was squishy enough to ride through for a bit. Then we went back into partial shade and deeper snow. I was adding up our pace and the distances involved and didn't think we would make the next cutoff. When Henrike asked I said we would only make it if someone plowed up the road towards us. We passed another team which caught up with us as we were trying to decide exactly where we were (at another road split). We decided the turn we wanted was a bit farther - and it was. The cutoff was at 6 and we were still plodding along in the snow at 5 with over 15 miles to go, but then we hit a spot that had been plowed up to - the plowing was before the last snow, but at least that wasn't very deep any more (less than a foot in most places) and was pretty soft. Soon we were able to ride, and started making good time. We decided that we could make the cutoff, but needed to skip a checkpoint that was a few miles out of the way (uphill). We bombed down the hill at a high rate of speed but then after a river crossing had to go uphill, Henrike put Tim on tow and we made the best time we could up a pretty steep hill out of the valley and then a more gentle uphill to another junction - from there it was almost all downhill to TA 4. We formed a paceline and hammered to the last steep downhill into the TA making it with somewhere between 15 and 5 minutes to spare.

walking the bikes in the snow was tedious - as Tim can attest

at least it wasn't raining or snowing the whole time

Map 5, Trek, Paddle

We had a little side mission at this TA - to go down to the base of Watson Falls (the second highest in OR) and get a token out of a chest. Jamaica and I headed up to do this and were told by a team heading down that you were basically getting blasted by frigid water when you did this. Jamaica was planning to head down in just his shorts, but they strongly suggested a raincoat - fortunately I had mine with me. He used the raincoat and his rain pants which didn't keep him completely dry, but did block the worst of the cold blast. Back at the TA I had a bunch of almost dry clothes out drying and my shoes off while I worked on my feet and a mini storm blew over and soaked everything. Sigh. At least I had dry socks and dry boots to put on for this next leg. It was almost dark when we left walking back up the road the way we came down. We hiked on into the night, leaving the paved road and onto gradually deteriorating dirt roads and tracks gaining altitude as we went. It started drizzling. At some point we found a flattish spot without much snow and set up the shelter and slept.

Watson Falls

Jamaica heads down to the base of the falls

Jamaica gets hammered by the spray from the falls

We got up a little before it was fully light and went in search of the next checkpoint up near the top of a hill. We wandered around somewhat confused by the maze of old logging roads and snow and then found it - and on to the next. We skipped a pro point at the top of a little peak and briefly thought we had hit the cat track up Mt Bailey - but as per the theme of the race - we had farther to go. First we had to drop down into a canyon and climb up the other side. We were able to follow tracks to where the snow was deep enough to make a snow bridge to cross the creek at the bottom. As we started up the mountain it started to snow. As we got higher it snowed harder and the wind picked up. We saw other teams ahead of us, and one team was coming down - seems they didn't want to drop down the other side so returned down this one and hiked around. The weather kept getting more severe - with wind strong enough to make it hard to walk in a straight line or just stand still, visibility dropping down to maybe 50 feet at times, and lots of snow. It was plastered on one side of people's faces and any hair that wasn't covered up was turning into an ice-dreadlock. I had on thick leather gloves, hardshell raincoat and rain pants, balaclava, gaiters, and boots as well as trekking poles, so I felt pretty solid and was sort of enjoying the conditions. I had an ice axe and crampons but didn't feel the need to stop to put them on. Eventually we ended up with 3 other teams approaching the summit, I tried to take a video there, but my camera battery died almost immediately, it couldn't handle the cold. Actually in hindsight I don't think we were at the actual summit, but a local high point NW of the summit. The problem was the visibility was so low we couldn't actually see anything higher.

stream crossing on a snowbridge

are we having fun yet?

it started snowing pretty hard

heading up into the whiteout, Maycember wasn't done with us

this looks like the summit - maybe

From the map I knew we needed to go down NE from the summit and then follow the ridge E - or as Jason said, just head towards Mt Thielsen (which would have worked great if we could have seen more than 100 feet). So we headed down NE - but not very far (another reason I suspected we weren't on the true summit) and then east. We dropped down past some trees and then hit a patch of deep loose drifted snow. I wallowed in waist deep powder. It probably would have been pretty good skiing. Instead we wallowed out to a more consolidated area and put on our snowshoes. As we dropped down we just tried to keep to the ridge and avoid dropping off anything too steep. It seemed to go slowly, but we were actually making pretty good time descending and soon made it to solid trees and then down to the next CP - there we got some hot coffee/chocolate and headed to the lake.

As we picked up our boats and prepared to paddle across the lake we heard some horror tales of deflating boats and rescue boats unable to find them in the snow squalls. Delightful. It was still snowing which made putting on the drysuits a little less fun, but we were quite glad to have them. The wind was coming from behind which made the paddle much faster than it could have been - but also made the rafts want to turn away from the direction we wanted to go. Also it is always a little scary paddling with following waves because they can turn and flip you if you aren't paying attention. We did our best to stay reasonably close and on line to hit the TA point. There we pulled our boats from the water and up on shore to deflate in the snow/rain and then get inside to dry off, eat, drink, and prepare for the next leg. I was pretty dehydrated, so it was nice to be able to drink bottle after bottle of warm water from the tap with various flavorings. I also dried off my by now damp feet. Sadly I had put my running shoes in the bike box instead of the other bin, so it was back on with the now damp boots. This was a nice place to be able to dry out and warm up and eat and drink, but I think I would have done a slightly better job of transitioning if the gear wasn't in a bin outside in the rain/snow.

TA 5 transition chaos - at least it wasn't raining inside

Map 6, Trek

We made a pretty fast transition here compared to many teams who perhaps took better advantage of the dry and warm space but we didn't want to waste the last of the days light. The old topo maps were a bit outdated compared to reality so we wandered around the neighborhood a little before finding the trail under the highway and got back on course. The next checkpoint was in a root ball - in an area with many downed trees and root balls. We looked a little and didn't find it and then tried to sight off of landmarks across the highway - with no luck. Then we went brute force and just looked at all the root balls in the area - and found the CP. There were enough footprints all over the place that they didn't help much - and our tracks just contributed to the confusion. Then we probably made another route error and went more cross country instead of following what we called the AR highway that went almost along the actual highway (that was off limits). After hours of cross country bushwhacking through downed trees and snow - eventually putting on our snowshoes as we started postholing - we lost faith and cut left - looking at our track only a few hundred feet short of the old road we were trying to get to. We ended up nearly paralleling that road until we hit another. By now Jamaica's knee was hurting and we were all tired. We weren't moving very fast. The next CP was up by a fire tower at the top of a butte - easy to find but slow to get to, especially when going slowly. After we got this CP we were passed by 2 teams moving much more quickly up to the CP - and then an hour of so later passed again as they headed down. That was a bit demoralizing. A little later we found a somewhat flat spot that was somewhat clear of snow in a logged area and set up our shelter and slept for a bit.

packing up after our sleep

It was light when we got up - unfortunately for me I was on the downhill side so had a pretty squished night of not very good sleep. We packed up and headed on down the mix of trail and bushwhacking as we lost altitude and snow cover. Then we got to a logging road and started making better time. Once we were on a good gravel road Tim realized he dropped his glove and went back for it - fortunately not too far. Then it was just walking along the road for what seemed like forever. We had a road split and probably mistakenly took the gradual uphill and then level instead of the flat lowland and then quick uphill (which would have had less snow?). Oops. As the day wore on my toes started hurting and I called a quick break to assess my toes - and put on dry socks. I was developing a number of blisters on the bottom and between my toes. ouch. Oh well. We kept on walking and walking skipping a few checkpoints that were a bit off of the route to save time. Finally we made it to TA 6 a little before full dark in a drizzle. We were switching to biking. I forced my way into the transport truck back to work on my feet and then when another team vacated a space we moved in for a bit of sleeping - in my case pretty good sleep because I had a sleeping pad and bag. Jamaica got less sleep because he was helping rebuild the shifter on someone else's rental bike.

walking down the road

cooling off in the snow and general mood

we check in at TA 6(fb)

Jamaica working on his feet and sunscreen by the fire at TA 6 (fb)

Map 7a, Bike plus O course

We got a few solid hours of sleep and I was completely out when the alarm went off. We reluctantly got up and prepared to bicycle, heading off into the dark - with a bit of confusion about how to get out of town - We went back and forth a few times before correctly picking a direction and heading out. We had a maze of logging and other roads to follow with a few points we needed to hit to cross highways. In general we did a pretty good job, although there was a sketchy bridge over a creek that had no cross bars - it would have been easy on foot, but with bicycles it was a bit exciting - at least it was getting light by that time. Then we overshot a turn and ended up on the wrong E-W road in a state forest with a grid of roads. We overshot the orienteering (O course) turnoff and had to loop back to it. There we messed up again doing the climbing first (which was set up to be last). It was wettish rock and my climbing shoes and chalk bag had been completely soaked. My feet were finally dry, so I tried to do the climb with the running shoes - it didn't go all that well, but eventually with a bit of help I managed to get up. Jamaica went up the other climb. Then we went around to get a few more O course points. Tim handed the map to me, and it took a while to wrap my head around the scale and topography of the area - we went pretty near one point but planned to get it on the way back - a mistake because there was no reversing the rappel. oops again. We had to wait a little bit for another team to get onto the rappel, but the tyrolean traverse was open when we got there - I went across first, but then others went too for the experience. Then down to the base of the butte the O course was on and back around to the bikes to ride off.

Henrike on the tyrolean traverse

Map 7b, Bike plus Trek

Finally things were dry and warm- soon too warm as we bicycled uphill on dirt roads. We stopped to grab a CP on top of a little cinder cone, then on up and up and up. Finally we got to where we stashed the bikes to hike down to the creek for another CP along with a natural water slide and what promised to be a cold swim. As we walked down the hill Henrike called out the time cutoff at the next CP - 6 pm. It was about 5:15 - definitely not enough time to get the CP plus slide and make it to the TA - all that elevation gain for nothing - well, not entirely nothing as we were able to make good time bombing down the hill to the TA with 15 minutes to spare. Sigh. We packed up the bikes, got water, ate, and then trekked off into the dusk. We were following the power line access road (s). I was feeling pretty down at this point - it seemed that all we had been doing for days was slogging slowly along roads - not entirely the case, but I was feeling down and frustrated with the whole expedition racing experience. There were some checkpoints in lava fields, but we didn't think we had the time to try to find them - this was probably wise, since checkpoints in the lava can be notoriously hard to find. It was starting to cool off as we left the powerline corridor and made our way to the next spot. Here we had to drink cans of non-alcoholic beer and shoot cans with bb guns (another Oregon centric activity). I missed my first try, but hit the next one. I think we all made the shot within the first or second try. That meant we didn't have to do burpees, which would have been pretty painful at this state. Then we packed up our rafts and paddle gear and trekked on into the night. Soon we were going through a little community in the middle of the night (after midnight) with occasional vehicles zipping past on the road.

Henrike punching a CP

Map 8, Paddle plus Trek

At the river we slowly inflated our rafts and got dressed for the water. Another group showed up after us and did a much better job of transitioning. Their little electric air pump just added insult to our slow progress. Just a hint of light was on the eastern horizon and mist was rising from the water when we cast off. It was pretty magical looking but hard to appreciate when you are sitting there desperately trying to keep your eyes open and not fall asleep and slip into the water. I dropped my paddle a few times - fortunately onto my lap and not into the water. There was a current but not a whole lot. We made our way downstream as it gradually got lighter trying to stay in the current and trying to stay awake.

morning on the river - it was almost dark

At the first portage we lugged our boats across a bridge and along a road/path around some falls/rapids. Sadly (and my fault) we missed the turn down to the river and went past the put in - or at least past the turnoff to it. Backtracking carrying the boats was painful. Jamaica and I put in a little upstream from where Tim and Henrike did - we made it through the short rapid, but it was fiercer than we expected. Then we worked our way downstream again to another portage. Once again we missed the descent path back to the river - but I am not taking responsibility for this one. So we walked farther than we wanted to - and then even more to get to a spot where we could put in. By now we were starting to worry about making the noon cutoff time at the finish line. I couldn't read my watch through my drysuit, but based on the sun we still had a few hours and decided to take out at the start of Big Eddy rapid and walk from there. I thought we were one bend closer to the takout than we were, but when we got there we pulled out and started deflating the rafts and took off our drysuits (which at least mine was a sauna by now). It was about 10:30 and I predicted we would make the cutoff, but by less than 3 minutes. Then we stowed things as best we could and set off on foot. I wasn't carrying a raft, but had 2 sets of paddles on my pack and soon picked up a second helmet and pfd. Then later I grabbed Tim's helmet because his neck was cramping up. I just put it on and with the weight of the headlamp I can see why his neck was cramping. We weren't entirely sure of the best path, but hustled along what looked like the best option trying to pick out the next turn without slowing down. At one point there was an ice bucket full of drinks for racers (thanks whoever put them there). We all grabbed a drink and chugged it while moving on. I was definitely boosted by the water, sugar, and caffeine (from a Mountain Dew). When the trail was clear and level or downhill we tried to jog - a pretty slow old man shuffle, but it was faster than walking. When we hit a road right before where we had done the skills test we stopped at an outhouse for an emergency stop this cost us a few minutes but it was worth it - and we got to retie shoes etc. Soon we left the road and headed off on a trail that I hoped was a shortcut - staring at the map and compass and doing math in my head - I still thought we could make it. We jogged off and on with a moment of panic when we hit a parking lot and I couldn't find a trail going the right way, then we hit the bike trail to the finish line - with about 10 minutes to go and less than half a mile. I relaxed - we were going to make it. When we were very close Jason Jogged out to meet us - and to direct us to the path that would run us through the finish line the correct way. We made it with 6 minutes to spare, stepping across the finish line in a triumphant group. It really was a good way to finish and made up for a lot of the pain and frustration of the previous 6 days.

finish line triumph (of a sort)(fb)

In the final tally we came in 7th, or 6th in the category of 4 person co-ed (TAG, a team of 3 were just ahead of us with 1690 points). This is out of a total of 20 teams with the top 4 clearing the course for a total of 2010 points (we skipped a lot of CPs for a total of 1685 pts). The winners also beat us by about a day - much closer than expected for a race of this length. Some times it seemed like we were just flailing, but we actually did pretty well, and finished ahead of some seriously strong teams - a number of them DNF (Did Not Finish). We managed to mostly not get in any arguments or hate each other and really pulled together as a team at the end when it mattered. Maybe adventure racing is really like a colonoscopy - where your perception of the end of the procedure as you come out of anesthesia is your perception of the entire event. I'm not sure we ever veered into type 3 fun, but we were definitely on the far side of type 2 at times. We also packed a month of touristing into less than a week and saw some amazing parts of central Oregon.

As expected I was pretty wiped out my this race, and took my time heading home. I stopped on the side of the road and just took a nap one afternoon, and planned to not drive particularly far without breaks. Before I got home I got a message that one teammate had tested positive for Covid upon arriving home. I was pretty sure I had it too based on a runny nose and occasional cough before I got home. I also tested positive. Sigh. At least I wasn't planning on being very productive or active after the race, and almost all the covid symptoms overlapped with Expedition Oregon symptoms so it was a little hard to attribute any one thing to either. I presume any cough and runny nose was Covid and the blisters and sore toes were EO but exhaustion, sleepiness, brain fog etc. - who knows.

big map

big profile (for the suggested route) green is trek, yellow is bike, and blue is paddle

In hindsight there were a number of things we could have done differently - especially not taking the high route for the monster bike leg and maybe skipping a few of the harder CPs and getting a few of the easier ones, but we mostly made the best choices with the information we had at the time. It also would have been very nice if our boats had tizips and were self bailing or we had sprayskirts. Our strategy of skipping a bunch of CPs in order to make the TA time cutoffs was probably quite wise. I think only 6 teams actually made all the TA cutoffs - the top 4 teams cleared the course. I should have had my running shoes to change into at TA 5, and should have been more diligent about changing into dry socks - although they mostly wouldn't have stayed dry for all that long.

I mentioned my thoughts about MVG - most valuable gear - Of course all the mandatory gear was necessary, but a number of things were either more robust or better than what I might have taken. The Cannondale Scalpel bike was awesome - so light and fun to ride - and relatively easy to pack into the bike box. I already mentioned my heavy leather gloves. They did get damp inside eventually, but it was very nice to at least have warmish dryish fingers in some pretty rough conditions. At the last minute I opted to bring my heavier gore-tex jacket and side zip hardshell pants - another good call. I wasn't fully dry inside - and the pants sort of got destroyed by the race, but they did a good job of at least keeping me warmish and dryish. Having dry boots and socks and gaiters for the mountaineering leg was very nice and allowed me to kick steps near the top instead of having to stop to put on crampons. Snowshoes were great to have a few times, although most of the snow was either not too deep or hard enough to walk on without them. My toes are still a little tingly and tender at the end of July - making me think maybe I got a bit of frostbite - which I didn't think I got at the time, just some blisters. Also the Fenix bike light and headlamp were pretty nice, and 100% dependable unlike some of my older light options.

I'd like to thank my teammates for getting us through the race - mostly in good spirits, although I think we all had some pretty low points, we also all had moments to shine. Also thanks to Jason and Bend Racing and all the volunteers and others that made the race possible - It was quite the logistical challenge to make it all work, in some pretty trying conditions. The way they set up the race so that slower teams can move ahead and continue to race is so much better than just eliminating them wherever they may be. It was quite the experience - not always fun, maybe mostly not fun, but as the pain fades it will seem like a better and better experience.

Many of the pics in this post were pulled from the Expedition Oregon thread on facebook (fb). I can't remember who posted them - I will give credit if you want.

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