Someday I am buying a topo map

[Sky King]

The Bike Hermit and I woke up to so much forest fire smoke on Saturday we couldn't see the foothills less than 1/2 mile away. Pulling up the DEQ air quality reports we determined heading West to Oregon was the best bet. Packed the hammocks, the bikes and food. 2 1/2 hours in the car found us at Austin Jct. on Hwy 26 and Hwy 7 in Grant County, Oregon. The nice lady who runs the store/bar/cafe directed us to county road 20, runs along the middle fork of the John Day river. Beautiful and mostly forest service land. Found a great site for hanging the tents, a little close to the road but virtually zero traffic. Great road for biking - we had a nice 22 mile noodle before dinner.
Sunday we drove over to Sumpter and decided to ride to Granite, a mere 15 miles away. The only thing was the map we were using failed to point out the minor mountain pass between Sumpter and Granite 7 mile climb started at 4424 elevation and tops out at 5864. About an 8 mile descent into Granite and I was very happy to see the store/cafe. I promptly downed a Squirt for some energy (we forgot the nuun) Then of course, we had to ride back to Sumpter. Was super thankful the temp stayed below 90 degrees. The area is beautiful so if you are ever close, go there, despite an August Sunday the traffic was very light.
Some of the area is on the Adventure Cycling's Transamerica route.
We are now making plans to take a nice 3 day tour and do a loop (but I am buying a topo map first)