Oregon Riding - Bend + McKenzie questions

I'm visiting family and road-tripping around Oregon over the next couple weeks. It's not a riding trip, but I'll have a few windows of time near riding locations where I may be able to get some in. Here they are:

I'm staying along the McKenzie River for two days. I'm thinking about renting a bike and doing the shuttle. Has anyone done this? I would be doing this one solo, while the kids and wife adventure around the river cabin or find a hike. I'm seeing Strava times averaging 4 hours moving for the full 27 miles. What's the total ride time like? How tough is the ride, will I be out of commission for the remainder of the day? I could have them drop me off half-way or something.

http://mckenzierivertrail.com/shuttle-service

The following day we're in Bend, before heading down a bit to Sun River to stay. How chill are the trails directly outside Bend? My youngest is 7 and not a very experienced rider. Coyote Run is probably his upper limit, for example. I'd love to rent four bikes and explore some green, wooded trails nearby, but it's gotta be pretty flat. Here's a spot to rent that looks super affordable:

https://pinemountainsports.com/mountain-biking/

And was thinking maybe this green loop?

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/26161/marvins-phils-kgb-loop

Otherwise there will some paved riding at Sun River as well as back at Portland towards the start of the trip. But I'm so close to some awesome trails, I figure I gotta check them out.

Thanks for any input!

 

The upper part of the MacKenzie River is rough with lots of hike a bike over lava rock. I would skip it and start at the falls. Still a solid 20 miles. The lower part of the trail that drops into Paradise campground is my favorite. If you don't have a shuttle you can ride out and back from Paradise.

Bend has too many trails to list. If you can get a shuttle, you can get dropped off near Mt. Bachelor and ride all the way into town. I think I rode a trail called funner or tiddlywinks or tylers traverse or something like that.

https://bendtrails.org/

It is and overwhelmng trail system. Stop in at Bend Cyclery. They hooked me up with all the trail info I needed.

 

What beartooth said ^.

We were up there the first week of June, camped at Tumalo State Park, rode around Phil's Trail system, and made a day trip over to the McKenzie river. We didn't shuttle the MRT but rode up from the bottom (about a mile west of the Ranger Station) to the Trail Bridge Reservoir and back down. Single track through beautiful old growth forest - enchanting to us SoCal desert rats! Easy pedalling, though not for a 7-year old, but great hiking for families.




It's all good at Bend! If you haven't been I'd recommend Phil's trail system as it has sweet smooth groomed singletrack like nothing here. Easy riding on the lower trails A longer out-n-back ride with more elevation is up Bens then Pinedrop, down Skyline, and up to see Tumalo Falls. After returning up Skyline I'd recommend coming down Lower Whoops and taking Phil's part way to Kent's. So fun! (27 miles with 2500' of climbing)





At Phil's trailhead there's small pump park that the local school kids practice on. They even take them directly from the elementary/middle school nearby to play there! Quite a sight!

A great area for family riding is La Pine State Park, just a few mile south of Sun River. Smooth singletrack, no elevation change, and beautiful scenery along the Deschutes River.



HAVE FUN!

 

Just back from Bend... You will find miles of whatever sort of trail you are looking for there!

 

Depends on what you like to ride as well. I like techy chunk and think the upper half of the MRT is the best part of the ride...and 100% rideable with no HAB needed. The bottom third of the trail is beautiful for sure but flat, pedally and repetitive. Good for beginners looking for a scenic ride. Bend is a cool town and the riding if cool if it’s new to you but all the trails are similar...Oakridge is 10X better but unfortunately no real town to speak of.

 

I think I can find a window to do MRT by myself, but riding in the Bend area will need to include the kids. Because we only have a rental car and no carrier, the shop we rent from would need to be pedaling distance to some easy trails (for the younger son). Not seeing any rental places near La Pine. That Pine Mountain shop I linked says it's the closest to Phil's trail head at 2miles. If there are green trails from the trail head, that's probably our best bet for a couple hours of family riding.

This trail along the river looks beautiful, but I think I'd worry about my youngest with the exposure:

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/17917/deschutes-river-trail

As I said, this is an "explore Oregon" family trip (we will be in Manzanita and Portland for a few days each as well). I hope to get back up with my bike and some biking buddies sometime soon!

 

Call Cog Wild in Bend and ask them for some family friendly advice and shuttles. I've run their shuttles before (they also go to MRT) but I'm not sure about the family friendly options.

 

I agree with both of these assessments of the MRT with this one exception; the upper part is only 100% ridable if there are no hikers on their way up to the big, blue pool from the falls! I rode it only once on a summer weekday about 3 years ago and encountered many dozens of hikers heading up to the pool as I was trying to negotiate all the sharp, lava rock obstacles. When I could get a little rhythm going I had to stop to let the multiple groups of hikers by. At the pool itself there were probably over 100 people dispersed around the beautiful pool. If you can get a shuttle real early and beat the hikers to the bottom of the pool trailhead then do the whole MRT but if not, just shuttle to the falls or bring your maximum patience! BTW, the Alpine trail out of Oakridge is a much better trail IMHO and is also a shuttle. If you can only do 1 of these 2 trails, I'd recommend Alpine!

 

Wow, what a bummer. We were camping out there so got an early start and never saw a hiker until we left the Blue Pool (we were the only ones at the pool when we arrived). I had totally planned on jumping but that water was SOOOO clear, I think it made the distance/drop look further than it was and I wimped out. Agree 100% about Alpine and I'll be hitting that and Ashland (shuttling Time Warp) on my way to Whistler in two weeks

 

The River Trail is great, really scenic and lots of places to stop and regroup/picnic/rest with a family. There are technical spots due to the pumice rock structures. But also fun places for kids to run around and climb rocks. There will be lots of trail users, so be prepared to stop a lot.