Friends on Bikes Goes to Cowlitz County

Our travel took place on the ancestral lands of the Stl’pulmsh (Cowlitz), Qwû’lh-hwai-pûm (Klickitat), Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples who have stewarded those lands since time immemorial.

All of the high resolution photos in this post were taken by Molly Sugar!

Friends on Bikes began as a way to foster community with trans, women, intersex and gender nonconforming BIPOC, and it is so fitting that our sibling chapter in Portland reached out to do a joint ride! It was a short and sweet trip — in and out in a weekend, no gear packing, just car camping and a sweet day ride. The wonderful Portland organizer, Molly Sugar, dreamed up an awesome bike ride and car camping extravaganza in the Cowlitz area (Randle, WA).

Our two caravans convened at the Cowlitz Falls Campground on Saturday morning and set up at a really beautiful shaded group camp. It was really awesome to meet like-minded folks in Portland and to learn more about how they organize and build community there. We headed out on our 30-ish mile ride after a quick lunch and wound through the rolling hills of the Tahoma foothills. The gravel was hard packed and really easy to navigate, and Molly planned for an awesome stop along the river for a mid-afternoon swim. After we got back to camp, we made an awesome taco dinner together and had fun around the campfire until sun and bike ride caught up with us and we went to bed.

After breakfast and packing up the next morning we said our goodbyes and made a pit stop at a local swimming hole in Morton. It was a gorgeous bend in Cinnabar Creek where the current slows down and there are lots of rocks for sunbathing and picnics!