(Photos by Kristin Dahl/Travel Oregon)
In case you missed it, the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department released their ninth Scenic Bikeway last week. The Grande Tour Scenic Bikeway is a 134 mile, figure-eight loop between Baker City and La Grande that winds between the Wallowa and Whitman National Forests in eastern Oregon.
The Scenic Bikeway program was made into law back in 2008 and the first route, the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, was designated a year later. These routes, while they don’t come with physical infrastructure changes, are the backbone of Oregon’s larger effort to become the premier bicycle touring destination in America.
As part of the route selection committee, Kristin Dahl with Travel Oregon got a sneak peek at the Grande Tour route back in June of 2010. She’s given us permission to share some of the photographs she took on that ride…
We’ll start out heading south from La Grande into the sweet little town of Cove, Oregon (pop. 594 or so)…
Welcome to Cove!
Outside of Cove, the route winds on to the town of Union…
Onward to Baker City, the land becomes forested through Catherine Creek…
Chatting with a local in Pondosa…
Wide open spaces and skies are what eastern Oregon does best…
For cue sheets, camping details, maps, and more info on this and all the other scenic bikeways, spend some time on OregonScenicBikeways.org.