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One of the longest rail-trails in the country, the OC&E Woods Line State Trail stretches 109.9 miles through south-central Oregon. The route comprises two rail lines that once supported the region's...
One of the longest rail-trails in the country, the OC&E Woods Line State Trail stretches 109.9 miles through south-central Oregon. The route comprises two rail lines that once supported the region's...
We started the bike ride at MP27 in Central Point at the newly-built Southern Oregon RV Park at the fairgrounds. We turned around at MP16.
Except for a couple of areas with root heaves which were marked with paint, the asphalt trail was in very good condition. The trail is relatively flat and runs along Bear Creek. This section of the trail is not particularly scenic and parts of the trail parallel I-5. At some points, the trail even runs underneath freeway overpasses. There are a couple of nice parks along the way – Hawthorne Park, Bear Creek Park and the very large US Cellular Sports Park. Most of the parks mentioned have water and restrooms.
The sad part of this section of the trail is the number of homeless and transient encampments on the trail. People are living under the underpasses and along the river. No one bothered us and I heard that the cities along the trail sweep through the area on a regular basis and cleanup all the garbage left behind and try to break up the encampments.
Overall, I would recommend this ride if you are in the area.
We scouted this trail on a trip through the west when we had already gone a few days without getting on the bikes, and had a few more non-riding days ahead. The Pine Grove trailhead was convenient and had full facilities. Riding east from there to the end of the pavement showed us that we would not be going further; the gravel is too rough for my road bike with the widest tires that will fit, or my wife's hybrid with slick tires on it.
The 7.5 mile paved trail was in excellent condition, wide and flat. There was a nice mix of pedestrians and bicycles out on a weekday afternoon. The number of street crossings increases as you go deeper into Klamath Falls, but this being Oregon drivers are very accommodating. We passed Wiard Park which would also be a good place to start a ride, and the official trailhead in the city, which is actually a bit west of Crosby Av- the directions I found indicated it was adjacent. There was also another trail which crossed ours; I now know that it follows the bank of an irrigation channel for 4 miles, making possible a 23 mile round-trip on the two paved trails.
The paved section ends suddenly in the middle of a railyard. Too bad, as it would have been nice to ride further alongside the rails and end at a more dramatic spot, or at least a more logical one.
We admired an abandoned shoe next to the trail (who loses just one shoe?), watched a man picking up cans and bottles (single shoes not having much cash value, he left that behind) and rode back to the trailhead. Not an epic trek, but still a nice ride on a nice day in an area without any rural paved or packed stone trails to choose from.
Walked all but .5 miles of this trail yesterday, starting at the Rogue River Rest Stop (where you can park for four hours for free). The beginning of the trail (starting at the rest stop) is shaded and the paved trail runs alongside the camp grounds. There is a secondary gravel trail that runs right along the bank of the river for about 2 miles. It is not accessible for bikes but is easy to walk and has a lot of access to the river. At just about the 2 mile mark (again starting from the rest stop) the shade ends! We did not encounter any shaded areas for the last half of the trail which is why we turned back before finishing. It got way to hot with the sun directly on us and heat radiating up from the asphalt. It was still a great walk, lots of cyclists were out and it was beautiful. Would do it again, only this time I will be prepared for shade only on the first half.
Klamath Falls is consistently overshadowed by our neighbor to the north (Bend), and for good reason. Bend is the gem of central Oregon. For some reason our city planners, and citizens don't want prosperity. We discourage growth, investment, and quality of life. For a guy such as myself however the living is easy. No traffic, low property crime and easy access to wilderness.
All that being said I am impressed with our trail system. In the last 11 years I have been learning just how great my city is for the ease of biking, hiking and X-C skiing.
I regularly use the A Canal trail to get to the south east part of the metro area. This trail takes you from Esplanade street clear down past the fairgrounds and the ballpark and then continues south along the canal system into Glenwood. You will intersect OC&E Woods Line Trail (Oregon's longest linear park) in this section
A spur path at a street called Patterson will keep you off the road beyond the Steens Sports Park, an incredible facility that houses a full size indoor soccer field, multiple outdoor soccer fields, baseball fields, an indoor batting practice facility, and what was ranked the third best skateboard park in the United States by Transworld Skateboard Magazine.
This spur also safely and easily allows riders and hikers to access the splendor of Hogback Mountain, a butte with vistas of the Klamath basin, Swan Lake basin and the Cascades from Shasta to the Crater Lake Complex.
North of Esplanade, there is a short section without bike priority along a parkway (hwy 39), but one can avoid peril by crossing the parkway at Esplanade and simply moving one street east then turning north for a few blocks. Soon you will find another path that cuts through Kit Carson Park. This will take you one mile north to Campus Drive. From here there are well marked bike lanes in the road. If you go east you will end up at OIT Campus, if you go west you will Cross the 39 again and travel on Biehn Street to Oregon Avenue and down to where Upper Klamath Lake becomes the Link River.
One can descend the Link River Trail back to Downtown Klamath Falls at this point and hook up with the Klamath Basin Birding Trail.
Another option is to follow the bike path on what is now Lakeshore drive (don't ask me why or how it changes name, I think it is a city to county thing), to Moore Park. Possibly the finest and most underutilized city park in America. Within the park are many, many miles of smooth singletrack and incredible solitude. The Klamath Ridgeview Trail cuts across the park on a gentle contour and makes a steep descent to Lakeshore Drive just a few miles from a paved path that takes you to the network of paths and roads that is the Running Y Ranch. At Running Y there is the Bill Collier Ice Skating facility that is open to the public from mid November to mid April.
I recognize that I live in paradise, and because I live mere minutes by bicycle to Moore Park am a child of privilege. Still I yearn for the shelved Pelican Butte Ski area, and the completion of the extension of the Klamath Ridgeview trail all the way to Crater Lake. Those two things would change the game in our area. There is simply almost too much potential.
Klamath doesn't want any of it in spite of the fact that Mt. Bachelor generates 350 million dollars for Bend every year and it shows in the quality of the infrastructure and improvements.
It is puzzling...but at least I can ride my bicycle without fighting traffic to enjoy a baseball game.
I encourage folks to stop by this hamlet I call home and ride, hike, ( or X-C ski when the drought ends...we are in year 4). Klamath falls has a lot to offer. From Weed, California where US97 diverts from I-5 it is exactly the same distance to Portland, and when it is snowing it is an easier drive. Just ask a trucker.
August 2014. Having completed the new roof on my house, my buddies and I decided to push our old disgusting bodies through the cinders at the northern extent of the OC&E Woods Line trail.
Our literature for some reason indicated that we should start our journey at something called "500 Transfer". Basically this is a siding where a few spur lines merge before they would have began the descent to Klamath Falls.
We camped at Horse Glade the first night and got an early start. It is a twenty five mile drive up the hill to the top end of the Sycan Marsh. Just north of our parking spot is the true start of the Great Basin in Oregon. Sycan is a remote and haunting landscape that is protected by the Nature Conservancy. I hope this is always true. It is exquisite. It is worth driving through just to look at it.
From 500 Transfer we began our downhill roll until we hit a meaningful fence at the north end of the marsh. Bad news. We should have known to ride the road (FR27)from that point. Evidently a trestle that used to cross the marsh was removed, and accordingly the hatched lines on the gazetteer also were removed between my 1991 copy and the new copy I bought after this trip.
We had seen a spur line about 3/4 of a mile back
so we came about--figuring that the trail had been rerouted around the marsh. It turns out that we couldn't have been more wrong. Climbing close to 13 miles in loose but decent cinder we finally reached a BPA power substation and the trail became increasingly more like a jeep road than a rails to trails type trail. No more cinders...no more evidence of a railroad (spikes etc). We bushwhacked up to a gravel road that got us down to FR28. By this point my 14 year old beagle was done for the day. My buddies decided to ride down the hill to get my van back at camp.
It turns out we were entirely upside down in our guess of whether it was further to get back to the car we parked at 500 Transfer or to get back to the camp. Data did not work, nor did the phone. Text was working for some reason so we were able to communicate.
I sat with my poor dog on the side of the road for almost 5 hours before a single person who wasn't on a motorcycle came through. A very sweet couple with a flatbed Ford.
Take it Easy...
They were kind enough to give me a ride back to the car at 500 Transfer. 26 miles by road. By now my buddies had ridden an additional 40, and were being picked up by a wonderful wife who drove out from Klamath Falls once they were able to get a mobile signal.
I found the "hide a key" under Ed's car and drove the tired beagle back down the hill to Horse Glade. Dinner ensued and we all slept well.
For the errors and bad research, we still got a good ride in. I'd actually do it again, but with intention and a GPS, and plan to cut over to Winter Rim. We were only 7 miles from Winter Rim when we realized we were no where near our target destination. From Winter Rim you can descend to Summer Lake Hot Springs for a bit of spa.
Next Morning.
Not to be defeated we got up early and rode from the south end of Sycan Marsh back to Horse Glade (about 11 miles). The trail was a standard mix of cinder with delightful compacted sections and other various laboring grind with weeds and agonizing cow destroyed nasty. Still, it is better than fighting traffic.
The trestle was cool, but the creek wasn't flowing. We saw four large Bucks running under the power lines.
After the ride I drove out to the north to retrieve a trailer we abandoned at 500 Transfer, then continued north past Thompson reservoir--almost empty. Drought. Yikes! From there I slid up through Silver Lake and West to 97 then South to my little hamlet of Klamath Falls.
Feeling sad the whole time. I always get a bit emotional in the Great Basin.
Last ride of the summer always makes me shed a tear.
I hope I get a couple in this summer. I'd like to knock out another section before I'm another year older. Perhaps my now 15 year old beagle will join me as long as I promise not to get us lost.
We started in Ashland (had trouble finding the start of the trail and where to park at first) and rode to Medford and back. I would say about 85% was very enjoyable and nice scenery. The other 15% was a little sketchy, but not enough to recommend against it.
We were staying at Running Y Ranch and spent one day in Crater Lake and one day riding the OC & E Trail. It was a nice quick 16 miles round trip and we had a nice lunch at Nibbley's Cafe afterwards.
Rode this section today and found it very pleasant. The first two miles have some repair going on and more root heave than the North half. The trail detours at Fern Valley Rd. due to construction but is easily navigated. After the detour, the asphalt is in good to excellent condition with a stretch of new concrete between mile nine and ten. There is much less traffic noise on this half. I would recommend riding southward first when doing an out and back, due to the gradual uphill grade traveling south.
Rode this today and enjoyed it thoroughly. The asphalt is in excellent condition and the scenery is great considering it's urban setting. The trail is completely paved now contrary to what their brochures say.
I would have rated it higher if not for the large amount of traffic noise in certain areas.
If you like coffee, stop at Bad *** Coffee Company. They have 100% Kona which is very hard to find.
Even though there was a little rain, I enjoyed this very scenic ride along the Rogue River very much. I'm looking forward to riding it again in the summer.
I live right across the street from the trail, and use it a lot, both bicycle and walking. The last couple of years the cracks have gotten larger and rougher, to the point that I have broken several spokes on the larger(up to 6" wide cracks). This spring I started bicycle commuting to work but would ride the majority on the streets( even though the trail went a shorter distance to work) because of the rough ride. Then this year in august the ranger for the OC&E asked for volunteers to help repair the trail. I showed up on both friday and saturday along with about a dozen other volunteers we patched over 200 cracks and used almost two pallets of asphalt patch. The trail is not perfect, but I'm not afraid of breaking my bike either. The ranger (Shawn I think) was very nice and is planning more upgrades next year, so don't be afraid to give it a try. All the really bad cracks are filled so get out and enjoy the trail!!!
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