Tag: oregon

Creeping Green

Posted on by Austin

Moss growing on a tree in Oregon

|| The green moss that grows over the trees in the Pacific Northwest is amazing. I shot this photo while photographer Re Wikstrom and I were traveling through Oregon on a bike trip. The texture of the moss attracted me first, but the pale color of the bark was what really drew me into the contrast.

Oregon has some incredible mountain biking. We were just outside Hood River at this point during our travels. I had no idea, but apparently Hood River is a mecca for windsurfing. Years ago I saw the windsurfing movie that Poor Boyz Productions released in between ski season. PBP is usually known a production house for winter flicks, but they also have the beach scene dialed. ||

McKenzie River Trail

Posted on by Austin

Austin Holt riding a bike on the McKenzie River Trail in Oregon

|| Although I picked the spot and did the riding, I have to give the shutter props to photographer Re Wikstrom. Re snagged this photograph while we were ripping along the McKenzie River Trail in Oregon. Although the trail starts in a mass of volcano rock, it slowly snakes its way down to the river.

Despite the fact that you shuttle this trail (drive to the top, leave a car at the bottom), there’s lots of pedal time. A downhill bike would be fun for a few sections, but a mid-travel trail bike is definitely the way to go. My Santa Cruz Heckler held its own* through twisty forest sections, slick roots, and the technical bits of rock at the beginning.

No one mentions the bridges you have to cross during this ride. Some are wide enough to ride across, some have railings on both sides, and some are so skinny your bars barely creep through from start to finish. The rhythm goes: ride, ride, ride, pedal, pedal, pedal, StairMaster, and repeat.

Ride this trail, it’s one for the bucket list.||

PNW Waters

Posted on by Austin

Re Wikstrom walking on logs on the beach in Oregon

|| Photos like this take me back to my love of the ocean and the coast. Here, photographer Re Wikstrom navigates a pile of Oregon’s oversized logs. This beach was somewhere off the Oregon trail. I’m sure someone could pick it out, but having only visited once I haven’t developed a name-to-place association.

Both coasts breed a hardy version of human being. Proof can be found in the number of thick-suit surfers milking every last ounce of energy out of the waves in this bitterly cold water. Water that’s this particular temperature drives away the protein-and-bleach-blond crowd. Not a bad way to go about surfing. ||

Where’s Waldo

Posted on by Austin

Well-worn singletrack mountain biking trail winds through the McKenzie wilderness in Oregon.

|| Well-worn singletrack winds through a lush, green forest and among the old growth trees. During our road trip through Oregon, the McKenzie River trail was one of the many mountain bike trails that we rode. Riding all 26 miles of this trail takes time, tons of pedal strokes, and a ton of water.

Anyone with a bicycle should count this as a bucket-list destination. ||