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Panamericana adventure

September 2019 - May 2020
A dream comes true!! Starting in Vancouver, our plan is to go South until we reach Tierra del Fuego - World's end. Our chosen way of transport: 2 fantastic travel bikes. Follow us on our adventurous trip with all the expected highs and lows 🚵‍♀️😀 Read more
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  • 202footprints
  • 12countries
  • 255days
  • 1.0kphotos
  • 0videos
  • 28.7kkilometers
  • 17.6kkilometers
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  • Panamericana adventure
    Day 9

    Ride along the Highway

    September 16, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Today we got up quite tired since the whole night something was rustling around our tent. While packing our gear we noticed some little holes in the ground sheet of our tent and in our towel. A little bastard mouse had fun nibble our gear 😬
    The ride to Wenatchee was a long ride along a very busy highway although we already took the quiet alternativ route.
    Arriving in Wenatchee we went to the post office were we received a letter from Meike's parents. As I forgot the National Park entry pass back in germany, which was a gift from Tobi, Meike's parents sent it to the US post office.
    Peg and Rod, our warm showers hosts for this night, served a very delicious dinner (spareribs with a very tasty rice salat) so we could refill our calorie storage to be prepared for the next pass. I ate at least 5000kcal 😁    Read more

  • Panamericana adventure
    Day 11

    Canyon Roads

    September 18, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We had a good start into the day with bacon&eggs and sun. It was the first day we put the sunnies on.
    The way through the canyons was really amazing as we had brightful colors during the day.
    Luckily the heavy rain passed just in front of us, so we stayed dry all day long.
    Around noon we met again a British guy, we had met two days ago already and who joint us to our beautiful campspot tonight.    Read more

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    Day 12

    White Pass

    September 19, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We start to realize that our route in the US is pretty hilly as today, we already had to climb the next pass. So we left our camp at around 8.30am and climbed up to 1350m in about 3.5 hours. Our little cyclist group grew to 4 for a while when an American joined us for some miles.
    Going down was easy and fast and we ended up on a camground in Mt Rainier National Park where we had a "shower" in the ice cold river.    Read more

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    Day 13

    Hike at Mt Rainier

    September 20, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Today was a exciting day. We took half day off to give our legs a bit time to relax. So we hitchhiked to the main entrance of Mt. Rainier National Park to do a short walk along the skyline trail. As it was very cloudy we could see the shape of Mt Rainier only for a few seconds.
    On the way back to the main entrance we saw a mother bear with two cubs playing in the grass. They didn't really care about us, as they were about 200m away.
    5 min later we saw another bear eating in the bushes. As it was very close to our path, we kept going on very slowly. At a distance of 40m we waited for the bear to notice us. So we made some noise and hoped that the bear would run away (that is what the schoolbook says) . But he glanced only shortly at us and kept on having his breakfast in the bush. A few minutes later it was finished with the bush and looked around. It seemed to be interested in us, so it walked down on the trail and came towards us. So now I had to decide whether to keep going on doing pictures of the bear or unlock the bear spray just to be prepared for an attack. I decided for the second option since now the bear was only 10m far from us and my pulse rate got a bit higher.
    We slowly moved backwards and tried to keep a distance of 10m to the bear but it speeded up a bit. Luckily some of the grasses at the trail seemed to be very tasty so he changed his route and got off the trail. We waited 5 min behind a corner and then kept going as we couldn't see the bear any more. Back at the visitor center we got ourselves a hot latte to calm down a bit 😉 and hitchhiked back to our camp with a nice American lady celebrating her 62nd birthday today.
    At the camp, we packed our stuff and rode about 45km to Randle. We wanted to stay at a camp side, but it was members only. So we rode another 8km to a campspot shown on Google. It looked a bit empty, but generally fine with an office sign, running water and toilets, so we pitched our tent and were ready to cook dinner. Unfortunately, a guy (with cowboy hat and bull horns on the hood of his car) came to tell us that the campground was actually abandoned and the owner wants us to get off his private land. So we had to pack up again and cycle to the next camp which was another 17km away. By now it was already getting dark. However, we found Tower Rock U Fish, a nice campground a guy we met at the supermarket had recommended.

    We also finished our first 1000km on today's leg. Here is some random stats:
    9800m of climb
    60h30min on the bike
    2 countries
    3 passes
    4 bears seen
    3 dead snakes on the rode
    0 flat tires
    Many many nice people who gave us advice, food, warm showers and accommodation    Read more

  • Panamericana adventure
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    Day 14

    Herbert's bday route

    September 21, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today, we had a late start as Herbert wanted to sleep in for his birthday. So we got up at 7, had breakfast and left the campground by about 10. The weather was beautiful, and so was the route! We took a forest route along Cispus River with few traffic and stunning views of Mt Adam. However, we had to climb again: 1300m up to Babyshoe Pass. Especially the last 500m were tough as the nicely paved road changed to gravel. But we made it, had our lunch and "summit" beer at the top and had fun on the downhill ride to Trout Lake where we camped again. Luckily, there was also a diner, so Herbert could have his birthday burger :)Read more

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    Day 15

    Trout Lake to Hood River

    September 22, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    The trip from Trout Lake to Hood River was fast, basically 40km just rolling downhill. After the downhill part, we got to the bridge crossing the wide river from White Salmon, Washington, to Hood River, Oregon, our second state in the US. It's an old steel bridge and neither cyclist nor pedestrians are allowed to cross. So we had to catch a ride. Luckily, a guy stopped to give us a lift. He had seen us standing in the rain (it rained again all day), with our bicycles and luggage, so he had gone home to his 2 kayaks, he had on his pickup, came back and picked us up. There's really some amazing people here!!
    We liked Hood River in general. It has so many outdoor sports opportunities like kite surfing, mountain biking, skiing plus people were relaxed. As it was still raining, we had a long coffee break to warm up again first. Afterwards, we did extended grocery shopping as we needed to fill up and then went to our warmshowers hosts Sarah and Jon. Both were great company, so we shared some stories before going to sleep comfortably in their guestroom in the shed.    Read more

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    Day 16

    4 passes day

    September 23, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Today was quite exhausting. We took off from Hood River and cycled almost all day uphill (1789m in total) with nasty side and head winds. In the end, we made 4 passes (not that far apart though): Bennett Pass, Barlow Pass, Wapinitia Pass, and Blue Box Pass.
    Then, daily routine started: once it's about 4, we start looking for a campspot. Once found (ideally next to a river, creek or lake), we pitch the tent, wash ourselves, do some stretching for the legs, cook dinner, do the dishes, get ready for bed when it's dark at around 7:30pm and write our footprint for the (of course)!). Today, we found a good spot early, so we are in bed at 7 already ;)    Read more

  • Panamericana adventure
    Day 18

    From rain to sun

    September 25, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today we cycled great forest roads - pretty hilly and exhausting, but not much traffic. It rained all morning which didn't make it any easier. Luckily, it cleared up so we could take off our rain clothes for the climb in the afternoon. We passed Detroit, OR, a nice little town next to a beautiful lake before searching for a campspot again. As many campgrounds close by end of September, it's getting more and more difficult to find a nice place for the night.Read more

  • Panamericana adventure
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    Day 18

    Ride to Bend

    September 25, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Again we woke up and everything was wet due to the cold and humidity at night. However, the sky looked promising, so we started our trip towards Bend. The route led along stunning Volcanic landscape and - of course - across a pass again: Santiam Pass.
    In a little cute village called Sisters, we used our lunch break to dry our tent and cloths in the sun. Then we cycled as fast as we could along the highway to our destination for the day, where we got ourselves a treat in one of the many breweries of the city.    Read more

  • Panamericana adventure
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    Day 19

    In and around Bend

    September 26, 2019 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    In the morning, we had a tough decision to take. As the weather forecast predicted snow for the weekend and we had planned to camp at about 2000m, we decided to rest in Bend for a few days and wait for a good weather window at the beginning of the week to continue our way South.

    It's actually not a bad area for some rest days, as it offers countless outdoor activities. So first of all we went hiking along Deschutes River with Jen, our host, and her dog Luke. We also got some nice views of the nearby volcanoes (Sisters, Broken Top, Mt Bachelor).
    In the afternoon, we explored Bend with its Breweries and parks.    Read more

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