Oregon Outback Day 5 — Getting to Shaniko

Getting to Prineville on the day before was another short day so we’d have to make up some ground today. The original plan would have been to camp at Shookum Rock, 27 miles north of Prineville. The second half of the OOT has more elevation gain and the intent is to keep those days shorter. Due to the issues on the previous days, we were playing catch up to keep to the original schedule.

The goal on Day 5 was to end at Shaniko. We met some riders during breakfast who started a full day after us but were caught up. We later found out they were fully supported whereas we were self-supported. They had a SAG (Support & Gear) wagon via a SUV. I believe there was a supported tour offered pre-pandemic and perhaps they’re back in business.

Our mileage for that day was 77. We did 75 miles on Day 2 so we thought this would be challenging, but doable. Once again, just like Day 2, we didn’t have any resupply until the end (or so I thought) so I went for the same bottle setup as Day 3. Full reservoir, 3x cycling water bottles, 2x on my back.

Our first challenge was a 10 mile climb and it was an absolute treat. One of the best climbs I’ve done. It was twisty, mostly shaded, fairly mellow with some steep sections. Running along the road was a creek with a constant sound of water. We met a couple of cyclists going up that told us about a fridge with food and water, located at the bottom of the descent on the other side. I read about this on the forums but wasn’t sure where this was.

We saw more cyclists with touring/self-supported setups coming down the other way. At this point, folks seemed to know what route we were doing. They called it the Outback, and sometimes the OOT for short.

The descent on the other side was epic. Another 10 miles but this time much twistier. Couple of cars came around blind corners too but I could hear them or spot them through the trees.

The features for today were stream crossings. There were 4 crossings in total. Only the first one was shallow/rideable. The others would require some clever lines and some luck to ensure the tires don’t slide off the shallow slippery rocks into the deeper parts. The streams following the first one were also much faster.

I wanted to get my feet wet. Shoes and socks off for each one. The cold water felt great on this hot day.

We continued to descend. There were few rutted out sections where it looked like tanks rode over them multiple times. We were being careful on those. But this is where we had the first incident of the day. I was ahead, navigating some ruts, and heard a crash behind me. I put my bike down and ran back up the hill to see Joseph laughing on the ground. He just had a spill.

He had taken his undershirt off earlier and forgot to loop the bib back over his shoulder. He was navigating the ruts and was elated when he discovered he chose the right one. He stood up to celebrate but his bib loops were caught in the saddle. He pulled once more and the bike went down.

Although he was in a good mood, there was quite a bit of road rash. We used all the antibiotics from both of our first aid kits, and most of the bandages. A few deeper cuts were on the elbow and knee. There was dirt stuck in them so it wasn’t bleeding for now. We wrapped them up and kept going. I kept back this time and followed along for a while, checking in every 20–30 minutes.

We had been looking at the map for quite some time and noticed a town called Ashwood. Ashwood and Shaniko both seemed to be ghost towns. There was some excitement in passing through a ghost town. But ghost town doesn’t actually mean fully abandoned. Just mostly.

As soon as we got to Ashwood, it seemed like we were going to leave it. It was tiny. But I noticed what looked like a grocery store/cafe with a sign for chips & water. I saw the fridge and put it together. This is the fridge mentioned by the cyclists we met earlier. It’s called Frankie’s Pit Stop and it’s an honor system. You take some food & water and leave some cash. It seems to be well stocked.

We took some time to rest, eat, explore the area, and re-asses Joseph’s wounds. They seemed to be holding up. The town has maybe 10–12 buildings. Some of them were lively and very un-ghost-town like. We also met a couple of cyclists at the pit stop doing other loops or other versions of the OOT.

When we got going, it was midday and getting quite hot. We wanted to make it to Shaniko to find some first aid or a pharmacy. The next climb had no tree cover and nearly took us 25 minutes. The descent from this is when the second incident happened. Joseph does not have a navigation device and his phone’s battery was being heavily drained whenever he used it for navigation. So by default, he kept the navigation off.

He was ahead on the descent, only by 10 feet or so, and when he came to a fork, he took the wrong path, going down a hill that I did not want to climb back up. He also had the bone conducting headphones on, which were playing, and along with the sound of dirt kicking up, freehubs spinning, my yells were drowned out. I yelled hard enough for the nearby cattle to be startled.

I thought it would take a few minutes for him to figure out I wasn’t behind him. Unfortunately, that discovery, the realization that he went the wrong way, and getting back to where we split, took 47 minutes. More daylight used up.

Lesson here: use a navigation device. Don’t use phones. No matter how tricked out your solar, twin battery, daisy chain system might be.

Daylight was truly running out now. I pushed hard towards Shaniko and after another epic climb, which I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed had I not been so tired, I arrived at Shaniko around ~9:15 pm. Joseph was somewhere far behind now but we had full cell service since we last regrouped.

I took this moment to call my mom. She heard me exclaim over finding nice bathrooms and thought it was hilarious. She wouldn’t get what boons nice bathrooms are on a trip like this!

I couldn’t really grasp Shaniko at this point. My mind was set on finding out where we were allowed to camp, setting up, and getting dinner going. I found a single flickering light at the local hotel, with all the other lights off. Pretty spooky.

After roaming around a bit more, I found the cyclists we met earlier and their campsite. There were others there too. Relieved, I ended the call with my mom and went to the crossroads to wait for Joseph. We regrouped and went to set up camp. The other cyclists shared a bit of pickle brine with me upon asking. Thank you strangers.

The ground was easy to set up my tent on. We split another 3 meals between the two of us. Joseph took the opportunity of the nice clean bathrooms to clean up his wounds with wet wipes.

I slept pretty well that night, knowing we only had 60 miles to ride the next day. Little did I know, that would be another epic day.

Metrics for the day:
Distance: 77.74 miles
Elevation: 6,230 feet
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9223537646