Day Nine – Redding CA to Bend OR
Miles: 399
We started out at Trendy's but with too full of a restaurant we decided to go to Black Bear Diner which is a chain restaurant out west but overall very good. We had to backtrack a little as we would head due North to Bend. We stopped at the Lewiston Lake overlook, but due to the smoke from the fires out west we didn't have much of a view, and unfortunately this would be a theme for the next few days. After Lewiston Lake we made a turn on Eagle Creek Loop down to the creek and had ok view but nothing much to speak of. We were riding on CA3 mostly paralleling I-5 and as we approached Yreka we came in close proximity to the interstate and when CA3 broke to the East we continued on CA263 still running alongside I-5 and we stopped at the Pioneer Bridge at the Shasta River Canyon. It was built in 1931. It was a little less smoky here but it was really getting hot as it approached noon. We had to run on I-5 for a short time but as soon as crossed over back into Oregon we jumped off on Old Highway 99S. We turned east on Green Springs Highway and then North on East Hyatt Lake Rd. We ran along the Hyatt Reservoir, and were shocked to see how far down the reservoir was, and the same for the nearby Howard Prairie Lake. We stopped for gas in Odessa before continuing on to Crater Lake. When we arrived at the Lake we could hardly see anything due to the smoke. We rode around some but quickly cam to the conclusion that it was not worth our time. A huge disappointment, but what can you do? We pretty much hightailed it to Bend which was 100 miles away, and landed at 4:45. We had time to hit a couple of breweries. We ate at Bend Brewing and finished up at Deschutes. There were good roads but the smoke really negatively impacted this day.
