Oregon camping/riding

Late this coming summer, we plan on dragging our trailer down to Oregon and camping on the coast. Of course we need to ride as well.

A friend will be bringing his trailer as well, and has decided we need to camp in Southern Oregon on the coast, and take a day trip to Ashland where we can then go on a guided tour of local trails there, including apparently, some 10-15K XCish descents.

Sounds like a blast, but I have a couple issues with this plan:

From campsite to Ashland is about 2 hours.
Southern Oregon is way father than I want to drive.

Any suggestions for camping with riding not too far off in Northern Oregon?

oh, yeah - he's also talking about hitting the dunes.

Might be a bit off the path, but Oakridge is a must. You could easily spend a week riding there.

We did a two week bike trip this last summer. Hood River to Bend to Oakridge. Alpine Trail in Oakridge is a must. I could easily have done it a couple of times. We didnt go to Ashland, as we ran out of time, and it was so dry it apparently wasnt worth the ride down there. We then drove back up the coast starting at a town called Venice. AMAZING air and space Museum in a town called McMinville worth a day trip if you are nearby. We did it as a day trip from Lincoln City. There are a few good camping spots in each of those places, but the one State park near Bend is very popular (Tumalo State Park), so if you plan on going there book EARLY!

Might be a bit off the path, but Oakridge is a must. You could easily spend a week riding there.

Ive heard the same thing - and the little brew house in town is suppposedly pretty awesome too.

• Hood River
• Sandy Ridge (good for a day of riding only)
• Bend
• Oakridge

All have good riding and the towns have good brew pubs/breweries.

Also if in Hood River there is some good riding just over the river in Washington

Check out the maps from these guys for ideas and trails.

http://www.adventuremaps.net

Greetings from a former North Shore resident now living in Portland. A few thoughts/observations:

-If you can, hit Oakridge. Everyone I've talked to speaks of it in hushed, reverential tones and it's supposed to be amazing. Due to family obligations I have yet to do it, but this event is supposed to be slammin'. Even if you can't make it, Cog Wild who organize it do their own tours. They're good folks.
-Sandy Ridge is a really fun day. It's about an hour east of Portland, and is on BLM land with some well-built lines. There's a super-fun jump line low on the road, Little Monkey, that you could session for a while if you don't feel like climbing.
-Bend is rad. Lots of XC trails, but there's some AM riding and Mt Bachelor bike park opened last summer. Depending on when you go in the summer that red dust gets awfully powdery.
-Black Rock is a great place to ride for a day or two (Falls City…about 45 minutes West of Salem). Lots of AM/freeride stuff stuff. I never leave that place without a grin as it's well-built, well-designed, and just a load of fun. Armour is good.
-Hood River is good. Really good. It's a large system that changes daily due to logging and weather, Dirty Fingers in town can you give you the lowdown. This is a good place to shuttle if you can. And if you're a windsurfer/kitesurfer/kayaker, it's a good town to hang on with amazing spots all within 15 minutes of town.
-Bring boards to the coast, not bikes.

Just a brief snapshot of my own highlights and observations. Feel free to PM with questions - I also do a fair bit of camping in my trailer, so I can help in that regard, too.

Thanks everyone so far. Looks like I've got some research to do.

…hit Oakridge… this event is supposed to be slammin'

MBO is a great event and well worth attending at least once in your life (this year is the 10th anniversary). If you can't make that, Randy Dreilling who organizes MBO knows the trails inside and out and can provide shuttles. Also, when in Oakridge, take a day and ride the Mckenzie River trail.

We've been to 2 MBOs, in addition to the fantastic riding there is an unlimited supply of Oregon microbrew beer to drink every evening (included with the entry fee cost).

I guess I'll have to convince the rest of my party that coastal camping is out. all the good riding appears to be more than an hours drive from the coast.

MBO looks like a blast, but we're going down probably September.

^ Yep, riding and coast are exclusive to each other. Too far to go from on to another.

Not sure what riding you're looking for but it's quite easy to plan a convenient ruote if you focus on just Hood River, Bend, and Oakridge. Drive east from Portland towards the Dales to start, then head south on the 197 to hit Bend.

FYI, in Hood River, the views from riding up Windy Ridge were amazing, but the riding was fairly ho hum. The climb is easy enough, but the trails coming down were meh. Post Canyon has some fun lines, especially all the fresh work that's been put in the last year but the grade is very mellow, so lots of pedalling if you like going fast. Looking for fast AM riding, I wouldn't spend more than 1 ride at PC hitting all the main flowy stuff. I was there too early in the spring, so couldn't ride the Mt. Hood trails, which by all accounts (Oregon Enduro series: http://www.pinkbike.com/video/314054/) look amazing. Food wise, for breakfast, this is the best place: Nora's Table. A bit fancier, but man the food was good. Bette's is almost as good, not to be missed. For dinner, Double Mountain Brewery is the place to be. Cheap, boozy, and great atmosphere.

Mackenzie River trail is nice but very, very xc. Nothing challenging whatsoever. You could ride the entire thing on a hybrid. I rode it start to finish, all the way to the hot springs at Belknap Lodge I think. The riding started fun, but got a boring after a while. The water fall is a nice sight after you cross the highway at Clear Lake.

Bend has loads of trails, but stick to the hardest ones. I found that the blues on the trail map were nothing more than smooth flatish singletrack, so nothing too exciting to talk about. I can't remember trail names, might have to dig out my map. To note, good breakfast is at the Victorian's cafe. Huge, tasty portions.

Oakridge is next on my Oregon hit list. I plan to spend a long weekend there this late spring.

I found the riding around Bend to be fairly repetitive, but the beer is great and the Turkish bath in McMinneman's is awesome. It's fun riding, but there's not a lot of variety. There's a great loop/shuttle east of there. I forget what it's called, but I'll try to look it up. The trail ends at an old Ranger station. Super fun descent. The Paulina Crater (south of Bend) is okay. The view are great, but there are only 2 of them, and you can drive to the first one. The ride down at the end is fun though. And there's hot water bubbling up through the sand on the beach.

Oakridge riding is amazing and the beer is great. We left just before the enduro a couple of years ago and it looked like they were ramping up for a big party.

The longer trails around Hood River are fun. There's at least one fun jump/drop line I rode in Post Canyon that was great.

If Mackenzie River is the trail with the brilliant blue pool, I thought it was a lot of fun. Thought it's not really a descent as the trail is so long. If the Mackenzie is in southern Washington, I agree it's not much technically speaking, but there's some big trees you ride around and it's fun.

Oakridge needs either money or a second vehicle to shuttle the good stuff.

I concur on Oakridge. Very good riding but shuttle is a big bonus otherwise you are looking at not very much terrain coverage. The shuttles though are cheap compared to canada. I think it was 20.00 for a 1 hour shuttle up the alpine trail. We have been there two or three times now. A huge plus to Oakridge and any area in the states is that national forest is free to camp/stay as long as you want. Good times.

Another fun trail (shuttle mandatory) are sections of the umpqua river. As I recall you started at lake and descend for roughly 2-3 hours. People I spoke with said the umpqua was more challenging than mackenzie. I also agree on Bend that it is somewhat dull. The riding is really rinse/repeat.

One place is you are going coastal is Mt. St. Helens. Just google search Plains of Abraham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fyR_wxhHQU. Its most likely the only place you will get a chance to ride on top of a mountain that is a crater. not challenging but freakin awesome. Also best shuttled but the ride up from Ape canyon is completely doable.