Umpqua River Trail — 2014

[speedycog]

I'm not as hardcore as most of you here, so this effort might seem a bit underwhelming, but I'd love to ride the Umpqua River Trail in central Oregon sometime this year and I'd love to have a partner or two to join in the fun and decrease the risk.

Timeline: I'm thinking sometime between July and early October.

I ride about 4-5 mph on average during a long day-ride like this. (By "this," I mean, 70~ miles of rocky/rooty singletrack, some intermediate, some advanced, 13k of climbing and a healthy dose of exposure.) I'm a 37 yr/old clyde and the 'speedy' part of of my username is a misnomer, but I love the pain cave.

Here are some more details about the trail/route are below. A nice set of photos to whet the appetite here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=umpqua%20river%20trail

About the trail
The Umpqua River Trail is a (ridable) 69-mile singletrack trail cutting through the heart of the central Oregon Cascades. Starting from east of Lemolo Lake (43.318215,-122.0963) and running down the Umpqua River to near Idleyld Park, OR (43.331294,-123.004947). The runs parallel to the Umpqua River and Hwy 138. It offers stunning scenery, first-class singletrack and hours and hours in your own personal pain cave. Sure, the URT starts at 4280' and drops down 800' but don't let that fool you. To get off the mountain, you'll enjoy roughly 13k of climbing. Full of tough short uphills, loads of exposed roots/rocks and has a healthy dose of exposure, this route will burn your quads and keep you on your toes.

Trail details

A decent overview can be found at this BLM site. http://d.pr/bKuA

 A detailed topo can be found on the well-designed and waterproof North Umpqua River Trail Map by Treadmaps: http://d.pr/KVJL
Things to prepare for

While the trail are parallels a highway for most of the ride, don't count on it being anything close to accessible if things go bad.
• Cellphone coverage is spotty on the highway and pretty much nonexistent on the trail.
• Water is plentiful and can be found at most campgrounds/trailheads or filtered from the river itself.
• The route has a fair amount of exposure with the risk of falling directly into the river (especially on the Dread & Terror section).
• Be prepared for poison oak.
• In the case of sunny weather, be prepared for chilly (40°-ish) temps in the morning and warm (mid 70°) afternoons. In case of a rainy forecast, be prepared to be wet. Either way, there's plenty of small water crossings and soggy trails.
• The route is point-to-point, so be prepared to have a shuttle either to the starting line or from the finish line back your car at the start. (we'd figure something out together)

Let me know

[briandunnington]

I have had this ride on my list for awhile now as well (I live in Washington, but it is close enough to be on my radar). Do you have any more specific dates in mind? I am unfortunately about to start a new job so I might not have a lot more time for trips that are longer than a weekend, but I definitely have been wanting to ride this route.

[speedycog]

Nothing specific, no. Last time I rode it (half of it) it was in October, but I think this time I'd prefer to have a bit more daylight on my side. June, maybe?

Part of me wants to do it in a single day (guessing 14-ish hours for me) and part of me wants to take it a little slower and turn it into an overnighter (Friday/Saturday). Any preference?

[evdog]

A few years ago we did the trail over two days, camping in the middle at Horseshoe Bend.  (Not bikepacking, just day rides).  If I were to ride the NUT again I would break it into three days or skip certain sections.  For me the best part of the trail is the scenery, and I would want to check out more of the nearby points of interest (hot springs, etc) and do some fishing, rather than hammer all day.  The up/down sawtooth riding was brutal.  Amazing trail though.  

Riding the whole thing in a day would be a massive challenge.  But sounds like you're close enough you can get to it for a long weekend type trip and have done some of the ride before, so go for it.  For someone who may only get to ride it once I'd definitely do a scenic tour pace.    

We did our ride in June.  Seemed like a good time to do it - good weather, trail was tacky, forest was super lush, and all the waterfalls were running like crazy.  We saw only 2-3 other people on the trail the entire two days.  Have fun.  Maybe check out the OR 3 Rivers route on this site? Might give you some more ideas. http://www.bikepacking.net/bikepacking-routes/oregon-three-rivers/    

[briandunnington]

Yeah, I definitely wanted to do it as a bikepacking trip so at least two days, but I would prefer three to explore the side hikes, etc like evdog mentioned. I did see some trip reports that said there could still be snow early in the season, but if folks have ridden it in June without issue, that sounds pretty good to me.

At one point I really wanted to do it as a bikepackrafting trip, but that would add several days and the riding portion would be upstream then. Maybe someday, but I would still like to do it as a straight bikepacking trip this year.

[Kootenaybikepacker]

A few of us from BC are going down the last week in August to bike this. This is our planned route (green tracks) approximately 184 miles

http://caltopo.com/map?id=736L

[Gabriel Amadeus]

That link up looks like a great route! Love the Umpqua, a few of those flickr photos are from my previous trips actually. If you go in June the Dread and Terror section may still be partly flooded here and there, and there may still be trees down throughout the trail. And DO NOT skip the hot springs!

[speedycog]

August would be a great time to ride—plenty warm and dry. @cthetu—looks like a fun route. How many days are you guys planning to take?

[Kootenaybikepacker]

We will be planning on being in the area for 7 days but as for the actual ride we would be 4-6 days. If we finish earlier we would like to ride some of the local Oakridge trails.

[bigbrian]

You East Kootenay guys don't know anything about riding bikes in the Oregon Wilderness.