Sisters man has trekking soul

Stephen Fosdick doesn't like to sit still.

The Sisters man just completed a 100-mile canoe trip on the Willamette River between Eugene and Salem - but that's just a little jaunt for him.

In 2008, Fosdick, just divorced and looking at the back side of 50, decided it was time to put some adventure into his life. So he packaged up a recumbent bicycle, shipped it to Orlando, Florida, flew back to pick it up and started riding across the United States.

A cross-country bicycle ride would be enough adventure travel for most folks, but Fosdick had a second adventure planned - one that eventually landed him in Sisters.

After reaching the Pacific Coast, he hit the Pacific Crest Trail and headed north, planning to do the full Mexico-to-Canada trek. A looming tax deadline made him pause in Sisters last September and he decided to stay for a while.

The adventure has been a tonic to Fosdick, who talks in glowing terms about his adventures - even the hardships.

"I would recommend a coast-to-coast bike ride to anyone," he said.

Fosdick got into condition on the road and developed a 45- to 55-miles-per-day pace that took him through Texas. Then he realized he needed to pick it up across the West.

Fosdick had a deadline: he had to meet a cruise ship in Long Beach, California, for a cruise to Mexico.

"Right at the end I had to go from 55 miles to 75 miles a day," he said.

Fosdick made it to the boat on time, enjoyed a cruise to Ensenada, then headed to San Diego to pick up the second leg of his adventure. There, he made a disconcerting discovery: "The bike ride did very little to condition me for the hike."

Using different muscle groups and with equipment that was heavy and inefficient, Fosdick stopped the hike and went back to San Diego to re-equip.

Then he was on the trail in earnest.

He spent the summer trekking along the magnificent trail, meeting interesting people and enjoying the kindness of "trail angels," like a woman in Wrightwood, California, who fed him salmon for dinner and put him up for a night.

By the time Fosdick reached Central Oregon, though, he was ready to get off the trail. He'd filed an extension on his taxes, and a deadline was looming in his mind. He was also a little trail weary.

"You have to almost force yourself to take a day off," he noted.

Fosdick came down to Sisters and decided he'd park it here for a while.

"I like Sisters and I always have," he said.

He worked for a spell at Sisters Feed Co. and at Lutton's Ace Hardware. He rented a house, but he decided to forego owning a car.

That posed a bit of a challenge for his next adventure. He rented a U-Haul truck to take his canoe to Eugene, where he put it in the Willamette River, headed for Oregon City.

"The first four miles of my trip, I literally said, 'Am I in over my head?'" Fosdick said. "I had three-foot waves and water in my canoe."

But things settled down for a very pleasant trip through city and farm land.

He cut the trip short in Salem at exactly 100 miles, when he got a call asking him to start a new job, which will keep him busy through the summer.

"Originally, my plan for the summer was in July to go back and finish the PCT," he said.

That plan has been put on hold, but Fosdick knows there are other adventures awaiting. He's working on a cookbook for teenagers, and he's been invited by trail companions to tackle the Continental Divide Trail or the Appalachian Trail.

And he hears there is good hiking in New Zealand.

"It's always summer someplace," Fosdick says.

To read Fosdick's blog recounting his adventures, visit 100biketours.blogspot.com.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

• Email: editor@nuggetnews.com
• Phone: 5415499941