Three Rivers Tour

We wrapped up our Oregon singletrack tour. I think it exceeded any and all expectations.

410 miles
40,000 feet of climbing
8mph average speed (!)
>60% singletrack

Trails covered (in order): Ridgeline, Elijah Bristow “soggy” trail, North Shore, North Shore Tie, Winberry Divide, Tire Mtn, Alpine, Middle Fork Willamette (~20 miles), Lemolo Lake Trail, North Umpqua Trail (~60+ miles), Middle Fork again, North Fork Trail, Aufderheide (paved but it felt like a bike path), Mackenzie River Trail (~50+ miles out and back), King Castle.

Oregon, this time of year, is so ideally suited to singletrack touring. Oh, let me count the ways.

1) Endless singletrack. The core of our route was the three river trails: Middle Fork Willamette, North Umpqua and the Mackenzie.
2) Plentiful daylight – dusk til 10pm. Big thumbs up!
3) Warm nights = super comfy camping
4) Shade means it never really gets hot, even on paved roads
5) Car free backroads to connect the singletrack
6) Lack of hike-a-bike, even with camping gear we didn’t have any extended bike pushin’
7) Water, water everywhere! I never carried more than 100 ounces.
8- No storms – not a drop of rain.

The downsides are:

1) Buggies. They prevented us from hitting the higher elevation stuff, and we needed a tent even at lower elevation.
2) Poison Oak. We rode a few of the “worst” trails for it, but frequent Technu washings seems to have done the trick. Neither of us had even a hint of rash. So, basically, it wasn’t a problem.

This was the most comfortable singletrack trip I’ve ever done for many reasons. Sure, I was carrying a tent and stove for the first time, but the trails were so sweet, so rideable and the conditions so ideal that it really was a dream trip.

Paula was awesome. The first big trail day was a hard one, and she’s never singletrack toured. We did a ride that people don’t even do unloaded, but she hung in there and by the time we were on the Umpqua she had a great rhythm going. I was really impressed, especially when she was cleaning sections on the “Dread and Terror” (that’s the real name) segment of the trail when other unloaded and shuttled riders were walking.

This country doesn’t have the call of adventure that the GET or AZT trails have. But the adventure was in putting together our route and connecting things in a way no one really has before. We bought several maps along the way and “made up” some sections as we went. And the result was always good. I don’t think there were any wrong choices to make out there. The roads are pleasant, the trails incredible, and the camping was always super enjoyable.

Looking back through the pictures it almost was like a dream — was I really there? Sign of a good trip, for sure.

We’re in Oregon for a bit longer. I’ll work on the full report and plow through the rest of the photos when back in AZ.