When I got to the turnoff for McKenzie Pass, there was a sign posted that said the road was closed in 11 miles. Next to the sign was a group of construction workers. I rode up to one of them and asked him if I could ride my bike over the mountain. He didn't say anything, just looked at me, my bike, my legs and my gears, then called over to the other construction workers. "Hey, this guy wants to know if he can get his bike over the mountain, what do you think?" The other workers stopped doing what they were doing and walked around me.

The apparent leader of the group said, "you want to ride that over the mountain? If you can get up the switchbacks, then you could get through. Of course we're not supposed to tell you that you can get around the gates, but if you wanted to, you could get your bike around them."

"So I can get through?"

"You'll need a pretty low gear, but yeah, you could get through. Some guy came down yesterday with a bike and trailer just like yours. My wife made some cookies, do you want some for the road?" And with that, I was off.

Since the road was closed to thru traffic, there was no one on the road. Occasionally, a car with out of state plates would come by, then in a little while would come back down the mountain, obviously not being able to get through the gates. The road to the gates was long and windy. While it was mostly uphill, there were some rolling sections as well as flat strecthes to help rest the legs.

Once I got to the gate, I came across a campground. Running low on water, I decided to stop to see if there was a water pump. There wasn't, but there were two girls next to their beat up RV and pickup truck, sitting around a campfire, and sewing what looked like clothes. They each had shaved heads, pierced eyebrows, lips, noses, and ears and had obviously been at the campsite for a long time judging by the clotheslines and other amenities they had set up. I asked if they knew where I could get water and they cheerfully offered me some of theirs. Without any other small talk, I accepted, filled up my water bottles and continued riding.

The road over the pass was indeed closed, so I had to pull my bike through the woods around the locked gate. Past the gate, the road was littered with debree from fallen trees and snow melt. I guess the road is usually closed until July, not because it takes that long for the snow to melt, but that is how long it takes to clear the road.

When I reached the 4,000 foot elevation sign (3,000 into the climb) I cam across two of the construction workers from the bottom of the mountain. I hadn't noticed them pass me earlier in the day, but obviously it was quite some time ago. They came up the mountain to chop wood and clear the road. When I got close, they started yelling at me and teasing me for taking so long. I stopped to talk to them for a while and was offered another cookie. The one guy, who's wife baked the cookies, then told me I hadn't reached the hard part yet. He said in about another half mile, I would cross a bridge then start up about a mile and a half of switchbacks, climbing 1,000 feet. The workers gave me another cookie, wished me luck, then I was off.

Finally, I reached the end of the switchbacks. It wasn't the summit, but I would take gradual climbs over switchbacks any day. The road was awesome. I was the only person on the entire mountain. No cars, no hikers, not even any bikers. As I rode along the top of the pass, a buck with at least 16 points ran in front of me. It was huge. Unfortunately, he got away before I could get my camera out.

The pass over the top of the mountain was about 8 miles long. For the most part, it went through the woods and along streams and ponds created from the snow melt. The last 2 miles were through open land, overlooking the Cascade range and the mountains that make up the 3 sisters, each over 7,000 feet and snow capped. It was an extremely rare experience, sitting on top of a mountain on such a clear day, overlooking the Cascades with no one else around. The hour I sat on the rocks and just looked, made every pedal up the climb worth it.