Road Trip Tahoe>Bend>Seattle

Got a bike trip planned for mid September. My Godson is blessed to be growing up in South Lake Tahoe, so I have no excuse to miss any of his Bdays. My girl is from Seattle and been wanting to go visit friends & family so we decided to tack that on to the road trip. Then it only makes sense that we spend 2 nights in Bend when driving between the main destinations. So it will be a great 10 days of my girl, the new doggo, and my mtb to drive up the PNW and back.

I know Tahoe well as my best friend lives and rides there. He just got a new Tacoma so I'm sure we will be shuttling all day. But I have never been to Bend or Seattle.
In Bend we are staying in a Air B&B right on the river, 5min walk to downtown, and a short pedal to Phil's Trailhead. Looking for tales of the trails there. I'll be riding alone, so just gonna get my stoke on flow trails. I dont want get hurt on new trails when out of town. I'll limit it to chunk just not gnar.
I'll be rolling into Seattle wed 9/15 and there through the weekend. @Cisco Roots if you are free anytime let me know so we can go for a ride and get a beer. Otherwise, point me towards the goods you have found since leaving SoCal.

 

Yo! Sounds like an amazing trip. I was just in Bend for my daughters soccer tournament. You can take a shuttle that will drop you off at 3 different points. https://www.cogwild.com/. The one I took was all the way up at Mt Bachelor and took that into town. There are shorter options as well. The trails in Bend are very XC and flow like, not steep at all. Right now they are super blown out because it has been bone dry up there so hopefully they get some rain and you get some hero dirt. Lots of people think of Bend as an MTB destination but IMO the trails are ok but nothing to rave about. What is cool about Bend is that it is an awesome fun town that happens to have MTB trails and some of the best beer you can try. I think you will have a good time there.

Definitely hit me up when you get to Seattle! Would love to show you some of the trails and give you some info. They just keep building more and more trails up here, just keeps getting better and better, Y'all are missing out LOL! Cisco Ph# three two three-six two zero-two nine eight zero.

 

I'm one of the few who's ridden in Oregon, but never made it to Bend... Right down the road is Oakridge. It's a tiny little town, but they have two shuttle services and a bike shop. They also have the best diner on the planet at the edge of town. The lady who runs it is a culinary genius who utilizes every square inch of space.

The people I've ridden with who have hit both locations prefer Oakridge for the riding... Google "Alpine Trail" for the most popular shuttle run. A few of the times I've done it I've had the trail to myself. There are also larger options like the A-T-C-A route.

Alpine
https://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/alpine-trail-oakridge-oregon.5131/


ATCA
https://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/th...-mountain-cloverpatch-alpine.6193/#post-91041


Edit: I think the bike shuttle I used might have gone under. I think the other one that still runs is Cog Wild. The last time I was there, though, my wife shuttled me to the top. The fire roads are maintained by the logging companies, and they are pretty smooth. A Prius could get up there...

 

Bend's a very cool town with plenty of riding....that's nowhere near as good as Oakridge, Post Canyon, Sandy Ridge or the best of them all, the O'Leary/Olallie trails further south. There are still several fires burning near Oakridge though and Cog Wild is running elsewhere until October per their FB and IG pages.
Don't miss Tiger Mountain or Duthie Hill in Seattle. I've heard Raging River is a fantastic trail but haven't ridden it and it may not be one to do solo.

 

Me and my gang did an Oakridge trip a few weeks ago. They closed ATCA as soon as we finished our ride down it due to smoke from the fires. Oakridge is a legit MTB destination. We had a great time and even though I’m a climber it was nice to do a shuttle weekend. We ended up with 5 runs that took us the whole day but hit all of the goods. Eula Ridge and Heckletooth were my faves.

 

That there is a far cry from the Monday night Bonelli jaunts you used to host, eh?

 

Oh man yeah lol!

 

Wow. Wow. Wow...

 

Yep I agree, when in Bend I drop the slow river from La Pine to almost Sun River on my sit on top kayak. Then it is a 5 mile gravel ride back to the truck. Also there are miles of flat trails from the Cascade lake hwy, Mt B is part of that, I ride 45 minutes west on the lava by Clear Lake.

 

here you go from today's La Pine newspaper:California ($4.41) and Hawaii ($4.09) continue to have the most expensive gas prices in the country. This week Nevada ($4.06) joins California and Hawaii as the only states in the nation with averages above $4 a gallon, Oregon is one of 25 states with higher prices now than a week ago, and Oregon (+3.5 cents) has the largest weekly increase in the country. The cheapest gas in the nation is in Mississippi ($2.79) and Louisiana ($2.84). For the 32nd week in a row

 

California has the highest gas tax in the nation, AND imposes sales tax on the excise tax per gallon (total of 66.98 cents per gallon), so it's really no surprise. The only surprise is we let them get away with taxing the tax.

And our road surfaces suck, whereas 44 years ago (yes, I was licensed then) they were among the best.

This is a simple statement of fact and not a political rant, so un-knot your knickers before you reply.

 

Do the gas prices in California serve as a deterrent to driving in any capacity? Not for me. They’d have to get up to Euro levels ($7-$9 per gallon equivalent) for me to reconsider a day trip to Kernville to ride the Cannell Plunge. It took me 48 minutes to drive 23 miles from La Verne to Fontana yesterday and 21 minutes to return an hour later. Maybe if gas were $10 per gallon, I could make it to Fontana in under 30 minutes during peak afternoon hour and share the road with only rich people who are expected to own insurance.

 

A primer: The gas tax (HUTA: Highway Users Tax Account), SB1 aside, exists to improve ROADS. See Streets & Highways Code Section 2100 et seq. When was the last fiscal year that actually happened? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Stoke level is so high right now. Glad I started this thread. I will def be looking into the shuttle options now that Im in the know.
Gas could be $7-9/gal and I'd still do this road tip right now.

 

BUT 44 years ago, the water and air were DISGUSTING, so there's that...

 

I think the gas tax is being used to pay the CalPERS of folks who retire and move out of State to enjoy themselves.

Aren’t you an engineer in the Long Beach Public Works Dept? I expect Long Beach to have an ordinance to reconcile monies received by the city from the State under the provisions of the Streets and Highways Code for the acquisition of property, or interests therein, for engineering, or for the construction, maintenance, and improvement of streets or highways by the city.

Do you commission RFPs? I give my personal opinion for free, but we have a robust Transportation Dept. in case you need our professional input.

 

you forget we charge refineries a carbon foot print tax too. Oh yea, the refinery pays not you >

 

The trails out of Olallie lake are the bomb. Higher in elevation as Olallie lake is on the crest. I almost always stop here for at least one night. The locals on weekends ask me, "you are from California, how did you find this place

 

For shutting, I thought Mt Ashland was awesome. Right off I5 in southern OR.

 

Yep, Ashland Mountain Adventures. Great couple running it. Pre-Covid, the shuttle was $15!! Maybe the best $15 I've spent on riding to ride Time Warp. https://ashmtnadv.com

 

So many trails to hit, the best thing about mtbking is the exploration... new dirt, new views, new beer!!
have fun!

 

Well, my buddy in S. Tahoe and family have evacuated. They are on their way to SoCal. My girl works for Disney so to make lemonade from lemons we were able to hook them up with passes for Disneyland this weekend. So my Godson will still have a cool bday.
But my trip has changed. So instead of Tahoe I started looking for Air B&B in Santa Cruz the same weekend instead. Glad I didn't pull the trigger on that because who knows where I can ride in Ca 10days from now with these brash forest closures. Now we are going to drive to get out of Ca as fast as possible I guess. Spend one night somewhere around Redding and just gtfo of CA. Not leaving for 10 days but the adventure has begun.

 

I always drive here to Redding in one LONG day. I stay at the Red Lion Inn with all the out of town fire fighters, Start my day at the Dutch Brothers Coffee and within 30 minutes I am off across the bridge and into the pines and volcanos. Gosh I miss going to Oregon

 

Air quality looks pretty suspect for much of CA anyways, along with central/eastern OR and WA. Lots of sensors showing green but Airnow also shows smoke plume covering much of the area. Coastal OR and WA look clear though.

I'd suggest what I do on road trips. Make a list of rides you are interested in doing, both near your planned route and adjacent areas. Then hit what makes sense based on timing and conditions. A lot can change fire/smoke wise in 10 days and this makes it easier to come up with workable options on the fly.

There are new-ish fires burning on both North Umpqua trail and near Oakridge so both of those locations are out. In CA the coastal highway may still be worthwhile. Some of the better riding like Demo, Jackson State Forest/Mendocino woodlands, Paradise Royale, Arcata community forest, and stuff in redwoods parks should all still be open. When in forest views aren't really a factor so these rides are worth doing if the smoke isn't too bad.

 

Trip is underway and it is starting off spectacularly in true Hooligan fashion. Being that my Tahoe plans changed and everything is so fluid I had lots of options of what to do on the way to Bend. Yesterday I hopped in the lottery to see if I could score a a site in Yosemite at Camp 4. YA BOY IS A WINNA! So Tomorrow morning I will be waking up in a tent at the base of El Capitan. Im stoked, never camped inside of Yosemite.


Stay tuned

 

Perfect!!! Keep up the reportage!

 

Sweet! Keep the reports coming. Drive safely.

No camping at the base, technically. Rangers used to be sympathetic to climbers but since the “pilot” permit system I would not doubt more foot patrols along base trails and the meadow. Base bivying is prohibited for even permitted climbers, it says right in the damn permit. A way of life, gone…

Your permit for C4 requires you camp there unless you have a wilderness permit for a climb or other outing requiring Wilderness camping. Parking at EC overnight without being on the Wild permit list will make an easy bust.

What’s the agenda? Tag Half Dome? El Cap Layback?

 

You will find the best climbers in the world at Camp 4

 

So pets are not allowed at Camp 4. It’s a good thing that Ryder does not identify as a dog. Got here after check in so there was no Ranger to greet us. But the sign on the Ranger station gave me my site, and said for me to check in tomorrow morning. So I quietly set up my tent. Will spend the day taking every dog friendly trail to tire Ryder out until it’s dark. So we can sneak back into our camp and pass out. We will get up early and pack out before anyone clocks in

 

From the expression on Ryder's face, he already knew