I rode a lot further than I had planned today, 61 miles. I thought that I would be heading into the Cascades. I am in the Willamette National Forest about 1 mile east of where 126 and 242 split. I believe I will make it through the pass at 4817 ft. tomorrow. I don’t know my elevation right now, but I do know that Eugene is at 431 and night before last I was at 0. (the ocean) 
I would guess that there are a lot of hills in my near future.
For most of the day I followed the McKenzie river.pic WOW! What a clear, cool mountain river. If you close your eyes and think of what a pure mountain river should be, this is what it is. The river’s personality would change every half mile or so. One minute it would be rushing white water over jagged boulders, then the next placid, mirror smooth. I think I now have a better understand of some of the John Denver songs.
Along the way I stopped at a fish hatchery. Neat. The fingerling were jumping out of the water trying to swim up the filling pipe. They were ready to go. pic I also saw a covered bridge. pic
It rained a lot today. Not hard, just enough to keep me cool. I was looking for the rainbow all day and finally found it just before I stopped.pic When I set up camp it rained even harder. I am surrounded by large pines and there is a cool mountain and the sound of rain on my tent to put me to sleep.