I've lived in Oregon for 40 years but I never heard of a place called Waterloo. But there it was on the Mid Vally Bicycle Club's list of flat rides. I'd been wanting to do a cross valley ride and this sounded like the one. The forecast was for showers, but although it was cloudy when I left it didn't seem like it would rain. I was hoping my ride to Waterloo would turn out better than Napoleon's.
This was going to be a long ride so I took the shortest route through Corvallis, across the river, to Peoria road. Peoria road is the main escape route from the busy highway 34/20 so lots of rides go that way.
I've passed these massive trees a couple of times and finally stopped to get some pictures. At first I thought they were Redwoods, but I'm pretty sure they are Western Red Port Orford Cedars.
The route soon turned east across the valley. It seems these Willamette valley roads meander a lot. This one would go east for a half mile or so, then turn south for a half mile or so, and then back east. I assume they built them around these huge tracts of farm land.
A nice field of clover. The spots you see in the distance are sheep. I passed lots of clover fields with sheep grazing on them.
There was a pretty stiff south wind and the road was heading south as much as east. I was getting worn down and I was only about 20 miles out. I was thinking about cutting the ride short, but I just kept going. I crossed highway 99E at a place called Shedd. After I while I was greeted with a welcoming site.
I intersected with the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway several times but never followed it much. This route led to Brownsville but I wasn't going that way. I saw another sign for an Oregon State Park in a half mile and I was ready for a break.
This state park was really a heritage site. There were a lot of signs with the history of this old mill, and you could take a guided tour. Having once grown hard red winter wheat not that far from here I could really appreciate this mill. It was beautifully preserved.
At first I thought this was the Calapoola River that powered the mill but it was actually a waterway that was diverted from the river, which I passed about a quarter mile up the road.
An interesting thing about this place is that it was once a thriving town called, of all things, Boston. When the train route was built a few miles to the west, Shedd built up and Boston disappeared. However the road I was on was Boston Mill Road.
Having just left Boston I was really confused when I saw this sign. But in another half mile I crossed over I-5 and was thus assured I was still in Oregon. By now I could see a fairly substantial ridge to the east although it looked like the actual Cascades were still some distance behind it. This ride was advertised as a 'flat' ride so I assumed the route would skirt the ridge. I didn't. It followed a pretty easy grade over it, on Rock Hill Road. At the top was this old school house, which looked like it was still in use.
I soon realized that the ridge was actually the divide between the Willamette and Santiam valleys. By now I was back in some nicely wooded hills, coming down into the very scenic Santiam Valley. I crossed highway 20 and got on the Old Santiam Highway and eventually got to Waterloo. There was a store, and a nice county park on the river, which seemed to be popular with fisher people.
I've always liked the Santiam River. Many years ago we came here and spent a day picking green beans at one of the old classic bean fields that were a main stay of the Willamette Valley for many years.
This view is looking upstream from the bridge over the river at Waterloo.
From Waterloo the route headed north on River Drive for about 5 miles to Lebanon. I was a little apprehensive riding through Lebanon but there was absolutely no sign of the Hezbollah. Pretty soon I was riding west again. It was pretty windy but it was never directly in my face. Still it was not easy riding. But the roads were flat and it wasn't raining.
The main route back was on Tangent Road. This took me back across I-5 and into Tangent on highway 99E, then continued west back to Peoria road. At one point it started misting but by the time I put on my jacket it stopped. Not bad for a day it was supposed to rain.
On my tour last summer I took some pictures of what I tought were Camas Lilies, but turned out to be some kind of wild Iris. These are the real thing. Camas of course was a staple food for the natives throughout the northwest, and also happens to be the name of my #3 daughter.
There were more Camas Lilies growing in Corvallis right near the Mary's River. The sun actually came out for a few minutes and I stopped in town and sat on a bench by the river and had my second Clif Bar. It was pretty windy the rest of the way home and I was beat. The ride was 76 miles, my longest of the year so far.