Days: 9
Level: Moderate
Mileage: 50 ave - 298 total
Start/Finish: Portland, OR
Price: $1400

 

Meals: All included
Restaurants: Geiser Grand Restaurant
Motels: Geiser Grand in Baker City
Events & Activities: Rafting on the John Day River included


The best tour for getting a glimpse of Oregon’s early ranching and gold mining days is to explore the north central high desert country. In this remote country you can see old ghost towns, expansive range land, painted hills, Ponderosa Pine forests, and the abandoned dredges and trailing's of Oregon’s most lucrative gold mining district.

Government Camp will be the gateway for our glimpse into Oregon's past. On Saturday we pack up our gear and head out of Portland for Government Camp where we have a good lunch before mounting up for our afternoon ride out into Central Oregon. An easy 32 mile downhill ride will take us to Rock Creek Reservoir where we will stay for the night. Why rock Creek Reservoir? Because it sets up a sequence of 50 mile rides that hop across a fairly deserted part of the state. There aren't very many places to stay out here.

Our first full days ride will take us through Tygh Valley, across the Deschutes River, and out Bakeoven Road to the ghost town of Shaniko. Bakeoven is a 22.5 mile, 2700' climb out of the Deschutes River Valley. It's not that steep but it is one long hot climb.

Around the turn of the century, Shaniko was the heart of the sheep farming in Oregon and local ranches shipping tons of wool out of the area on rail cars. The town has been fixed up lately to show what it looked like when it bustled around the turn of the century. The refurbished Shaniko Hotel is open from time to time and we will try to stay there if we can, otherwise we will stay in the campground on the edge of town.

Leaving Shaniko the next morning we ride through the town of Antelope and down into the John Day River Valley. Our ride takes us east through the southern edge of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Our climb of the day is a 16 mile, 5% grade that goes up 3000' to the Butte Creek Summit. From there you will coast downhill into Service Creek where we will spend a couple of nights.

The John Day River is the longest free-flowing river in Oregon and one of the longest in the United States. The river runs through scenic ranch land and canyons of painted rock formations. While most raft trips on the John Day are 3 or 4 days, we will arrange a 1 day raft trip to introduce you to the beautiful sights on the river.

 

Leaving Service Creek we have a magnificently beautiful and easy ride for 40 miles up the John Day River drainage climbing all of 400 feet along the way. We pass through the towns of Spray, Kimberly, and Monument before we come to the climb of the day. Our last seven miles riding into the town of Hamilton has a 3% grade to climb.

Leaving Hamilton we drop down into Long creek where we head north for the rest of the day. Our ride from there rolls a bit through the town of Dale and into Ukiah.

Heading east out of Ukiah we climb about 2000' up into the Elkhorn Mountains. No towns today, there may be a ghost town around but not much else. We climb up in the forest where we finally find another near ghost town – Granite where we spend the night. Founded after gold was discovered in the area in 1862, Granite was at its zenith in the 1940’s with a population of 86.

Leaving Granite on our ride towards Sumpter we see more and more evidence of the mining that occurred in the area between 1862 and 1953. The whole Sumpter Valley was dug up and spit out by three gigantic dredges to get the gold out of the Powder River riverbed. Over the years the dredges pulled over $4.5 million worth of gold out of the river. The last dredge can now be viewed at the Sumpter Valley Dredge State Heritage Area in the same location where it was shut down in 1954. After visiting the Heritage Area we continue on down the Sumpter Valley and on to Baker City.

Baker City for many years was the center of the mining business and during the 1870's and 1880's was probably the most colorful town in the Pacific Northwest. At the turn of the century, Baker City housed elegant restaurants in fine hotels, the Baker Theatre and all kinds of saloons, gambling houses and hurdy‐gurdy dance halls.

To cap off our tour though mine country we will stay in the Geiser Grand Hotel which was built in 1889 and is registered as a National Historic Landmark. While we are there you will want to stop in across the street at the U.S. National Bank to view the impressive 80.4 ounce Armstrong Gold Nugget, found in the area by George Armstrong in 1913.

Riding back to Portland on Sunday you will be amazed at how far we rode in a weeks time, and how little civilization we say during that week. It has been a wonderful escape!

 

Tour details may change without notice. Although you'll have an up-to-date itinerary prior to departure,
changes due to unforeseen circumstances may occur at any time.