For the first time since we left Oregon in Jan 2019, we’re back in the state. After a few days in Idaho visiting family, we are now by La Grande, OR boondocking in the forest. Our spot took some work since it’s up a rough rutted dirt road but so far it’s quiet with nobody else even driving by. Our only visitors are a flock of turkeys! The drive down was largely through dry countryside with fields in every direction as far as you could see. EXCEPT for the green giant roadside attraction.
A huge Green Giant is outlined on a hillside outside of Dayton, WA. Dayton was once the center of canned asparagus for the Green Giant label. In 2005 the cannery moved to Peru. The Giant was “seeded in” in the mid-1970s; he would appear in the Spring and disappear in the drier months. He is now outlined with patio blocks so he can always be seen from US Highway 12.
I know it’s still the end of August, but this morning felt like fall with that distinctive crispness in the air. After letting it warm up, we headed to MERA trails in La Grande for some singletrack fun. We rode a 16.7 mile loop with 2673′ of climbing up to almost 5000′ around a maze of trails.
MERA is a maze of trails but with the Trailforks app we were able to stay on our planned route. There are quite a few signs on the trails but still, the app helps. We basically did a big outer loop by climbing Red Apple, Upper Hotshot, Depends, and Doing Time, then hopped on Mt Emily gravel road and descended Caffeine and Sasquatch. These trails are pretty dusty by the end of the summer but the forest still provides good shade on hot days. Everything flows very well and there are lost of fast fun sections and little features here and there.
My favorite part was coming down Caffeine. This is a great downhill with lot of switchbacks, bermed corners, jumps, little rock drops and and dark treed traverses. I really enjoyed this trail. At the bottom we tacked on a loom or Sasquatch and after that, we negotiated back to the start. This is a fun network and we’ll spend a couple more days riding out here in the coming weeks.
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