Some mountain bikers speak of Oregon’s Alpine Trail near Oakridge in almost reverential terms, relishing memories of hurtling down the track, hugging the edge with empty elevation dropping off below, passing through wildflower meadows and old-growth trees, even working hard on an incline.
Randy Dreiling sees through the adrenaline rush with one overriding thought.
“How beautiful it is. You can see Sisters, and on a good day, see Hood … I’ve ridden it 50 or 60 times, and I still stop at all the viewpoints. It’s just beautiful. You can see wildlife (and) you’re looking down at the eagles,” Dreiling said of his favorite trail.
Alpine, with three loops up to 33 miles long, is for advanced riders who thrive on speed. It’s one of about 500 miles of single-track in the Oakridge-West Fir area, about 40 miles southeast of Eugene on the west side of the Cascades.
Oakridge was a timber town before the mill closed in 1985 and the population shriveled from 6,000 to 3,000. Now it’s mountain bike mecca for those in the know. Trail maps are available at the Middle Fork Ranger Station in Westfir, 4 miles west of Oakridge on Highway 58.
It’s an area of road trips, hiking and some extreme trails. For those who have advanced skills, it might be time to challenge Bunchgrass Trail.
“Once you’re committed, there’s a place where there’s 20 miles and no bailout point,” said Dreiling, who owns Oregon Adventures Bicycle Tours and is executive director of the Oakridge-West Fir Area Chamber of Commerce. A rider might confuse an elk trail with a single track, so he suggests going with a guide.
“But you’ve really got to love the pain to ride something like that. And then there’s the Deadly Switchbacks, where it drops about 1,500 feet in a half-mile. It’s really steep, and then you climb right back out of that,” he said.
Fortunately for the rest of us, many tracks in eastern Lane County do not cause pain. Some allow you to skip the uphill grind. The Willamette Pass Resort, about 27 miles farther east on Highway 58, has the high-speed Oregon Skyway, a gondola that takes skiers, hikers and bikers to 6,666 feet.
Then ride or walk down the flanks of Eagle Peak. Or just go up and enjoy the scenery — or wedding vows, which is what Dreiling did last summer.
One of the purest lakes in the world (you can look down 125 feet) sits at 5,414 feet elevation north of Willamette Pass. Waldo Lake sits in a pocket just at the edges of the Waldo Lake Wilderness and the Willamette National Forest.
Waldo was once visualized by commercial interests as the Lake Tahoe of Oregon. Today it has three campgrounds and more than 200 developed sites. No motorized boats are allowed on Waldo.
Bikers or hikers can circle it on the 19.6-mile Waldo Lake Trail from July to October. The grades are mostly easy, except for one area with several short steep pitches.
But back to the crown jewel, the Alpine Trail, about three hours of riding downhill with plenty of loops and side branches. One way to tackle this is to join a Mountain Bike Oregon Adventure Aug. 15-17.
The organization handles the details, including shuttles, meals and camping sites; you handle the riding. There are many options to fill the three-day event.
Or sign up for the Aug. 9-10 Oakridge 24-Hour Adventure Race, a multi-sport challenge of kayaking (15 miles), mountain biking (45 miles) and foot travel (12 miles) with navigational skills incorporated into the race, which includes solo and team divisions.
For more information, contact the Oakridge-West Fir Chamber of Commerce (541-782-4146; www.oakridgechamber.com), Oregon Skyway (541-393-1425; www.oregonskyway.com), Mountain Bike Oregon (503-459-4508, www.mtbikeoregon.com), Oregon Adventures Bicycle Tours (541- 988-5397; www.oregon-adventures.com), or Oakridge 24-Hour Adventure Race (www.bigblueadventure.com).
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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