The Mount Dooley mishap...

Wednesday evening we were in Baker City, and since I had so thouroughly enjoyed the final climb up Mount Dooley that took place at the end of the stage race there three weeks prior, I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate a small detour to revisit that climb during Thursday's ride. I looked on the atlas and it seemed that it would only add 5-10 miles on to the regular route. I invited a few strong cyclists to join me, thinking we'd have a group of 4-5 riders... Well, by the next morning several people jumped on the band wagon, and there were 17 people in total.
We left around 8am and rode easy for the first ten miles leading up to the climb. From that point we all climbed at our own pace and met at the top. It was just as beautiful as I remembered ( 7 miles at 5% grade, switch-backs and a great view). We descended and regrouped at the bottom to head toward our destination. Well, in two different spots we ran into gravel roads, which meant we were stuck in a valley. Our water supply was running low, thankfully we met a farmer on the road who pointed out a house where we could get water - this house was unoccupied, and was actually the post office for this small area. After talking with the farmer about how to reach our destination, it became clear that the only option was to climb back up the mountain and return to Baker City to rejoin the regular route. Some of the riders were not too pleased with this predicament, however I did provide them with a disclaimer before beginning this adventure, stating, 'i do not assume any responsibility or liability for your participation on this ride, you are assuming your own risks by following me...etc.'
At any rate, we took it easy up the hill, and spirits were actually rather positive at the top. As the last rider, Johnny (the camp loud mouth) arrived at the top, Nick and I bellowed as best we could, 'Do something beautiful!' We then gathered for a photo and headed all the way back into town.
At this point we split into smaller riding groups and after grabbing something to eat we started on the regular route. It was now 1:30pm, and most riders who followed the regular route had already arrived at camp and been realxing for quite some time since the distance was a mere 45 miles. I joined the lead group and we set a pretty good pace, averaging over 20 miles per hour - we did have a pretty good tailwind which helped significantly. Nonetheless, we were very proud to have beat the sweep team who arrived 5 minutes after we did.
The stats for the ride:
Total miles: ~107 miles
Miles in the wrong direction: 62
Elevation climbed: ~4000ft
Number of riding buddies lost because of my poorly planned excursion: ?

The town of Huntington was rather quaint and relatively impoverished. A visit to the museum and the bait an tackle shop for free laundry provided a good start to the evening. Then after dinner, a handful of us decided to climb one of the hills surrounding the city. It took a good 45 minutes to hike up, and by the time we got there it was already dark out. The view was still worth it, and after sending some light signals down to camp (with our handy headlamps) we slowly descended - this proved to be rather difficult because of the steep grade, loose soil and low visibility, but we made it back in time to meet up with the rest of the crew at the local pub for a well deserved brew.
After all of this activity, I decided that I should rest up a little, so Friday I rode with Len (our head chaplain who is a wonderful man, hopefully I will get a chance to tell you more about him leter) and a few girls. We were on the hunt for fun and interesting pictures. Some of the things we shot were horses, old tractors, us on top of a hay mound and in a rusted old truck. I wish I could post some of them for you, but as usual, the internet connection has beeny spotty at best, and uploading pics on our connection is almost out of the question.