Find the top rated running trails in Bonanza, whether you're looking for an easy short running trail or a long running trail, you'll find what you're looking for. Click on a running trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
TRAIL NEEDS TO BE DRAGED USING 3 OLD TIRES, CHAINED TOGETHER INA "V" SHAPE, TOWED BEHIND A QUAD OR TRUCK, THIS WILL SMOOTH OUT THE TRAIL, AND GET RID OF ALL THE THICK GRAVEL AREASDO THAT ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR,WOULD MAKE THE TRAI GREAT
We only made it 6 miles on the dirt. Very bumpy like an old dirt two track.
I rode the trail from Klamath Falls almost to Dairy. The paved portion was OK. The road crossings have crosswalk lights at some, and you have to yield at others. The cinder portion of the trail was awful. I have ridden on about twenty rail to trail paths around the country, and the cinder portion of this trail was the worst, loose and bumpy. I was riding a cyclocross bike with 33mm slightly knobby tires. A mountain bike with knobby fat tires would have been better, but probably not fun.
The paved section of the trail has countless seams that are pretty rough, and doesn’t necessarily border the better neighborhoods in Klamath Falls. We rode an additional seven miles on the unpaved section. It was hard packed dirt with ruts either from cow or horse tracks, that will rattle your teeth. The highlight of the trail is the Chicken & Cheers Pub. Nick serves up some great food and beer!
Picked up the trail at the end in Klamath Falls in July. I rode a suspended mountain bike and my friend rode an off-rode trike. The paved section had many, many deep cracks about 25 feet apart. They were filled in with tar but the cracks were still noticeable. I mention this because if you have a bad back, you will feel this the next day. There were many residents using the trail and that was great to see.
When I read the guidebooks I was aware that the paved section stops at Oline. However, I had the impression that the trail width would remain unchanged. When we got to Olene the wide paved trail went to a narrow, single-track trail that was unpassable for a trike. We were disappointed that our venture was stopped so soon.
I just rode the paved part, but it was okay. For me, camping at KOA Journey campground in Klamath Falls, was the “A Canal Trail” right next to the campground that connected with the OC&E Trail.
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.
Very windy ride coming back. Beautiful farm country. Not too crowded.
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 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.
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