ATTENTION: Bend/Sisters/Hood area bikers!

[dgjessee]

Hey guys,

My friend and I had originally planned a pretty sick bikepacking trip from Bend to Mt. Hood (climbing it), then south to the Three Sisters basically along the Sierra Cascades+McKenzie River Trail (climbing the sisters), then back to Bend. All the snow and rain we're hearing about is pretty concerning to us. WE NEED YOUR BETA!!!

What are the bike trail conditions between Bend and the Three Sisters?  We're looking at everything from Metolius-Windigo north to McKenzie Hwy.

Any reports on the McKenzie River Trail?

And thoughts or ideas on the snowpack on the Sierra-Cascades Route from Hood to McKenzie River?  We're supposed to be going from May 13-22 but we don't want to get stuck in snow on a high pass.

Alternately, what are the conditions on any of the Oregon Three Rivers routes? (besides McKenzie since I just asked that)

Please let us know!  I have to ship my bike tomorrow (Wed. May 4) to get it there in time with cushion.

THANKS!

Daniel

[drewhbend]

How did it go? Its ,id June and we have mucho snow still up near the sisters. I bet you had to change plans...Would love to hear what happened though.

[dgjessee]

In an icon: 

We didn't do what we set out to do.  We were just way too naive about weather and the snow levels that late in the season.  But we did have an incredible 9 days!  We just didn't do any actual bikepacking and honestly, I'm glad we didn't.  Here's the breakdown:

-Flew into Redmond, got a car, drove to Hood, bagged it via the Old Chute
-drove back to Bend, picked up my bike from REI (shipped) and my friend's bike (rented from Pine Mtn Sports; asshole got a deal on a full-carbon Santa Cruz 29er while I was knockin around on my steel Marin Pine Mtn 29er 1x9), went and camped for 2 days near the Deschutes
-day 2 (literally, 36 hours after landing) we rode about 30 miles of Phil's Trail system - freaking awesome!  We had such a blast.  It had rained just enough to make it nice and tacky and the snow level was up by the top of Whoops so plenty of trail available.
-next day we relocated to McKenzie River Trail and rode that from the southern terminus to Blue Pool; it was pretty mucky but gorgeous, of course. 
-next day we drove to North Umpqua Trail and rode the Mott and Panther sections.  This was my favorite part of the whole trip!  SOOOOOO epic, fun, and well constructed.  Less mucky than McKenzie.  However, I can't imagine bikepacking that trail with any more than 10 lbs of gear.
-after that we drove back to Bend, returned/shipped the bikes, and drove to Mt. Shasta.  We bagged that via a Cassaval Ridge-West Face variation on the 8th day of the trip.  Finished the trip off with plenty of beer and good food at Deschutes Brewery.

I'm bummed we didnt get to bikepack as we had prepared for that.  But being our first time to this mountain biking mecca, I'm glad we really got to hammer the trails with the bikes fast and naked.  I did come up with what I believe to be some very good routes for accomplishing the original plan so if any of you want to have a look at the files, let me know.

But to all of you Oregonians.... I hate you.  You guys are too nice, build way too many awesome trails, have way too much beautiful and diverse terrain, and you've filled just about every unique business opportunity there is.  Shameless plug: if any of you want or need someone to run biking, hiking, or climbing tours for a tour company in Oregon, let me know!

Thanks everyone for the advice.  Would love to show off the good trail systems we do have in the Southeast if any of you are ever out this way.

[drewhbend]

yeah, sounds like you were hitting all the high spots! welcome to my backyard. I have to ride that junk every day.....poor me. Glad you made the best of it!