To Sauvie Island and back WITH NO FLAT TIRES!

June 30, 2019

But with apologies to Jeff Lee

(Sorry for hijacking your title, Jeff; but thanks for the inspiration.)

If you were reading closely, you’ll remember that last Sunday I set out with Rachael to bike to Sauvie Island but was forced to turn back when I flattened on a nail; and ended up walking all the way home when I discovered that I had brought along neither a spare tube nor a patch kit.

Today, a week later, we’re trying again.

Here’s Johnny!

Before we leave for Sauvie though, I want to call your attention back to this photograph from the last post since you aren’t likely to go back on your own and reread it. I didn’t understand the significance of the axe in this photograph until Rachael explained it to me later. Timberline Lodge was used as one of the filming locations for Stanley Kubrick/Jack Nicholson’s The Shining, a fact I’d never heard before - its exterior was used as the Overlook Hotel in the film. And the axe is either a replica of or the actual axe that Nicholson uses to chop through the door and announce Here’s Johnny!

Sauvie Island, again

We of course have been to Sauvie Island countless times over the years, and have featured it as a day ride in several of our journals here already. There’s not much new to say about the ride itself that hasn’t been said before - it’s a 10 mile ride from Portland to the island, mostly on busy Highway 30; and once on the island there’s the basic 12 mile loop, plus a few spurs that you can tack on. We nearly always ride the northwest spur that runs along Multnomah Channel - it’s the quietest and most scenic paved road on the island. And, when we’re riding together, Rachael typically puts in a few more miles than I do because I dawdle on this spur with the camera and join up with her again when she returns.

Many bikers skip the highway ride and instead drive to the island and start from there. We’ve never done that, but we like to ride it on Sunday mornings the best because the highway traffic is lighter and with far fewer trucks. Once on the island though it’s a great ride, at any time but autumn weekends - when the roads are often clogged with families driving to one of the pumpkin stands.

Early summer is a great time to be here, as long as you get out early in the day before beachgoers head out to the naturist beach on the remote northeast spur. This morning is perfect - comfortably warm, quiet roads (if you don’t count the many other cyclists), and the island is beautiful. I’ve been favoring early spring and winter trips in recent years, and had forgotten how colorful the island can be in summer.

A beautiful morning, an awesome ride, excellent company, and NO FLAT TIRES!

And, after biking together for about twenty five miles, she’s gone. We’re on dead-end NW Sauvie Island Road, and I stop with the camera for awhile until she comes back.

A few hydrangeas. This is the most colorful part of the island, but it’s especially so now. I don’t recall the flowers ever being as spectacular as they are today - it looks like they’re putting more acreage into flowers than they ever have.

The lavender field. So much easier than going to Provence.

We passed under four osprey nests today, all occupied. The adult in this one kept intermittently calling and looking in this direction. Faintly, off in the distance, I could hear a second call - she has a conversation going with her mate several hundred yards away.

Here’s the mate, too far off for a very clear ahot. He’s alternately calling back to his nesting partner and tearing at his fish.

It send the prudent thing to pull off the road and cede the right of way. Rachael pointed out to me later that the driver is waving to me.

There she goes again. As we come up to the slough I stop to look around for a few minutes, and she bikes on. I’m thinking I might not see her again until back at the apartment.

As soon as I stopped, I flushed this red tail from the nearby tree. He circled three or four times, long enough for me to track him and get a better in-flight photo than I usually can.

I’m not sure, but I think these are purple martins.

Well, this is nice. Rachael found a nice spot in the shade and waited for me to finally catch up so we could ride home together.

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