Trip report: Mt. Bachelor, OR

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to be in
Portland (Mt. Hood) to ski some rinky-dinky classic race on Sunday,
with a day of skiing at Hood Meadows the day before.

Problem: There's no snow for nordic track skiing on Mt Hood right now.

Well my wife and I weren't going to cancel our trip to Portland, but I
didn't want to not ski that weekend. With a 6pm dinner reservation on
Saturday, the only choice was an early-morning road trip to Bend.

5:30am, Saturday. Wake up, clonk around hotel room, wake wife (not
happy).

6:30am - on the road, pitch black. I decide to go the recommended "Mt
Hood way" thru Govt Camp.

8:00am - driving thru blizzard (wtf?) past turnoff for Timberline.

8:00am - 10:00. Scenery getting less and less interesting, sick of
hearing blather about the Super Bowl on the radio. Consider listening
to NPR but refrain.

10:30am - arrive Mt. Bach, after following the World's Slowest Driver
up from Bend. Race to scrape skis, see someone who I think looks like
Ben Husaby but I'm not sure because I haven't seen the guy in five
years. $13 trail pass - woo-hoo!

11:00am - 1:00pm. Ski. Hard. Bachelor has the largest concentration
of "go-fast" skiers of any of the areas that I've skied at in a while;
this may have to do with the fact that it is the only place around to
ski. The trails descend from the touring center, which makes the end
of the day fun. Some of them go so far down that you think that you're
going to get below the snowline. Conditions were nice, about 28 deg. F
with about 2-3 inches of fresh. Didn't warn anyone when I passed them,
but I did tell some lady who was trying to move out of my way that she
could stay put and I would go around. Triumph of the day was staying
ahead of some guy in the red-white-blue US Oly suit from SLC while
climbing a hill back to the lodge.

1:00pm-5:00pm. Back to Portland, this way by way of Salem and I-5.
About the same time as the outbound; but a) different, and b) not as
many crappy little towns to slow you down.

5:00pm - In Portland, in time for dinner res. at Higgins. Check that
place out if you are ever in Portland.

Total: 8 hours driving, 2 hours skiing.

Had I done a day trip from home to Tahoe, it would have been 7 hours of
driving, less the flight, the rental car, the hotel......

bt