Leg 18: West of Renner Lake

Leg 18.
We stashed the bikes again in a meadow on a hillside bench at about 32 and humped back to the truck hitting the mile points pretty much only 20-30 yards from the dirt road. Made good time since we were on the road most of the way.











It was late afternoon when we got back to the truck and loaded up to head back to the bikes. Figured we would recon the road on past 32 to see where it came out at Goose Lake. As we meandered down Corral Creek road eastward it passed thru beautiful country side of open meadows and large pine forests a mile or two south of the state line which bisects that lower half of Renner Lake valley.

We continued on down the road to head towards Lakeview for some dinner. We still had a little daylight remaining when we hit the graveled county road that runs the length of Goose Lake along its west side. This country is so deceptive for distance and we slugged on into town picking up the pavement as we re-crossed the state line into Oregon and had a great dinner, as always, at The Dinner Bell on the south end of the main drag in Lakeview. They have a truly extraordinary chef and we’re always surprised at what their specials are. It was likely 7:30 as we headed back out of town in the dark to find an approach into the Renner Lake valley from the Oregon side. So much for those plans. There’s a gated private road that leads right up from the Goose Lake and the County road fairly close to the state line, but we endeavored to find a route down into the valley from the Forest roads along the hills to the north. Plan was to sleep in the valley near the lake and head back to the bikes on foot in the morning. No such luck. We tried several roads that obviously went south downhill into the valley, but they were all gated and a couple posed a pretty good challenge to our 4WD. Rains a few days earlier and the lack of gravel meant soft and rutty surface up steep hills. We ended up giving up on finding a way thru in the dark and found a place probably at about 34/35 north of the state line probably a mile to sleep for the night. Nice little grove of pines near the pipeline. Cool night again, but our camper is pretty comfortable. I sleep across the bed on one bunk and Dwane sleeps on the truck bed floor lengthwise. We can stand in the tradesman style canopy and have overhead bunk for our gear.