Biking Painted Hills & John Day River

My bike buddy and I planned to get out bikepacking months ago, and this the first real trip after the recent shakeout. Oregon Scenic Bikeways are plentiful and well documented, and we did a variation of the Painted Hills and Old West, but mostly on Painted Hills and Journey Through Time. We chose to stay at Spoke’n Hostel the first night to talk to other bikers and get a better lay of the land; there were 9 of us ‘campers’ total – all gravel bike riders of one sort or another. A fabulous place to start a Mitchell biking adventure.

We planned two nights camping and 3 days of good biking. We camped at Wheeler County Parks Bear Hollow the first night and Spray City Riverfront Park the second night (we were the only campers that night). Neither campgrounds are great for ‘camping’ but were perfect for us to stay biking with as little risk as possible- both had potable water and pit toilets.

We rode for 3 days and then drove to Painted Hills on the last afternoon on our way home. This area of Oregon is absolutely spectacular and worth the time it takes to get there – biking, hiking, driving, or whatever – go see it!

What did it look like on the road?

The Route

Variation of Painted Hills Scenic Bikeway – Oregon State Parks; we rode very few miles on busy highways and had great routes with little traffic.

We gathered in Mitchell at the wonderful Spoke’n Hostel for a bunkbed, shower and breakfast.

The Ride: We started in Mitchell Wednesday morning and rode through Twickenham along Rowe Creek to Bear Hollow County park where we pitched our tents and then rode on to Fossil and south before turning around and goin back to Bear Hollow. Thursday went from Bear Hollow down to John Day River and along the river to Spray; the town’s riverside park with camping was too good to pass up, so we went to to Kimberly and then changed our plans and headed further down the river. After 5 miles south of Kimberly, we turned around and spent the night in Spray. Friday found us going from Spray back to Mitchell.

Before driving home Friday, we stopped at Painted Hills for photos.

We saw maybe 10 other bikers on the entire route – most were day riders and not camping. Auto traffic was light but daily picked up as the day wore on. We left the campground around 6:30 each morning and got good miles in before the heat, and we stopped by 2pm each day to avoid that heat.

The John Day River

This was my second adventure on the John Day; several years ago I spent a few days in Cottonwood Canyon State Park (which is on fire currently). Days 2 and 3 spent a good portion of time on the river and we camped along the river night 2.

The Painted Hills

We originally planned to bike to Painted Hills on day 4, but chose not to and was surely correct. The ride out there was nothing compared to what we’d seen already, but once there … WOW!

These photos are higher resolution when you open them

Data Geek Cellar

• Bike load: Full load – 3 days food
• Bike bags: Front, frame and back panniers attached
• Wind: low – moderate
• Camera usage: low only on ‘stops’
• Bike Carbon bank YTD: -0.25 hours (same algo: 3 hours biking for 1 hour driving)

Wednesday part 1

Wednesday part 2

Thursday

Friday