July 16, 2006
Day 27: To Antelope
I got on the road at 8:30 after spending some time to clean and oil the chain. The day starts with an easy 400 foot climb to Butte Creek Pass (3788 feet elevation), then a long descent to the town of Fossil (2654 feet elevation). Fossil is the largest town I've seen in 3 days. Population 430. I ate breakfast #2 at the cafe, bought groceries, and called my wife on a pay phone because it's been a LONG time since I've had CDMA or analog cellular service.
From Fossil I turned south/west onto highway 218 towards Clarno. There was a 1000 foot climb to get out of Fossil with great views looking back towards Fossil.
Then a 2000 foot descent to the Clarno unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.
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I hiked two short trails at the Clarno unit. One trail takes me past several clearly visible leaf imprints in the rocks. The other trail climbs to the base of the pinnacles. There was no shade on the trails. It was very hot hiking among the red rocks in the sun.
Leaving the palisades it was another 4 miles to my final crossing of the John Day river (1190 feet elevation). I thought it would be all downhill but there was a big hill to climb before the descent to the river. I swam one more time in the river before starting the big climb out of the John Day watershed.
It turned out to be a 2300 foot climb to an un-named summit. I started the climb at 3 PM. It was hot. No shade, not much wind. The landscape is arid and not very interesting to look at. But I felt strong. At the beginning of this tour I would sometimes climb as slow as 3 mph. Now I consistently climb at least 3.5 mph.
Finally a descent to the town of Antelope, population 35 (2632 feet elevation). I camped for free in the city park across the street from the store/restaurant. The store was closed for the next hour for the owner to attend services at the community church.
When the store reopened I went in and had a huge bowl of Marionberry cobbler ala mode. I had intended to cook my own dinner but I got lazy and ordered a chef salad instead. At sunset I walked around town and took some pictures.
The town of Antelope became famous in the 1980's because of the nearby Rajneeshpuram commune led by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He was infamous for his fleet of Rolls Royce automobiles and numerous other excesses. The residents of Antelope didn't get along with the hundreds of cult members who suddenly appeared on a nearby ranch. At one point several of the commune members moved to Antelope in order to "take over" the town. On Sept. 18, 1984, by a vote of 57 to 22, Antelope's charter was amended to change the town's name to Rajneesh. A short time later the Bhagwan was indicted on federal immigration charges. After an abortive attempt at flight, he pleaded no contest to two of the 34 charges and returned to India. Meanwhile, on Nov. 6, 1985, the remaining residents, both original and Rajneeshee, voted 34 to 0 to restore the original name. The former commune is now a summer camp for a christian organization called Young Life.
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1 week ago
Today had a lot of climbing but I felt strong. The high temperature was 95F but with a nice cooling breeze and low humidity. I'm getting tired of the barren hills. I'm also getting tired of extremely small towns that have a limited grocery selection. But there is an upside to biking through sparsely populated areas - no traffic.
Distance: 48.5 mi. (77.6 km)
Climbing: 4050 ft. (1227 m)
Average Speed: 8.1 mph (13 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 41.2 mph (66 km/h)
Hiking: 1 mi. (1.6 km)
Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 1,180 miles (1,899 km)
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