Cultus Lake, Oregon

(See if you can find Marshall in these pics). We managed to get out of town on Saturday morning by around 11am, no easy feat for us but we did it. Typically I pack food and Bill packs sporting goods and camping gear. The animals fend for themselves. Meow! Since I packed the food, Bill was obligated to complain once we got there that there wasn't enough food and we were going to starve. I proceeded to make him the two largest burritos he'd ever seen and then watched him suffer through eating both of them. He passed out shortly afterward so I guess you could say I put an end to that complaining. The joy of marriage!

I thought we would get there Saturday and hang out by the lake and then mtn bike on Sunday but Bill was all amped to go ride right after we got there so we set out on a ride around 3:30pm. The first part of the ride was on paved and dirt roads but once we got to Little Cultus Lake we hit nice single track and Marshall dog was in doggy heaven. That dog loves trails and trails around lakes are 5 stars to him. He likes to run in between us so he gets on the wheel of whoever is leading and trots along, happy as can be, looking for water spots and sniffing for wild game. This was his longest run ever, he went about 13 miles and if you add in all the swimming he did, that dog had an epic day.

Fortunately, or miraculously, I didn't crash on this ride but it was a relatively easy one so that isn't saying much about my skills. There were about 10 log crossings and I bailed on all of them, I just wanted to enjoy the ride and not be stressed so I got off and pushed my bike whenever I felt like it. I felt pretty girly about doing that but I'm not trying to prove anything right now, just enjoy the day. Besides any woman that gets on a mountain bike and rides over roots and rocks and gets all dirty and risks crashing is a plucky chick so I give myself credit for researching this ride and then doing it, even if it was beginner mtn biking. The two plus hours I spent on the saddle were more than I've ridden all year and I enjoyed it. I'll do the log and water crossings next time and I'm sure I'll have the scars to prove it.

Marshall slept well on the trip home. I think we'll come back here when I'm ready to ride seriously again, this is a good warm-up trail (12 miles) and you can add on a climb up Mt. Cultus to make it more difficult. We were surprised that Cultus Lake is a party lake, speed boats and jet skies and families running wild. I guess different lakes draw different crowds, I can't say I would recommend this one but it was fine for one night (with ear plugs). Sunday we had breakfast at the Cultus Lake resort (can't beat backwoods restaurants for breakfast) and then stopped off at a few more lakes before driving home. This area is so beautiful, we absolutely love it here. Here are some pics from our 24 hour trip:

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