Danahi

I am wondering if anyone has any feed back on Eugene to Crater Lake, and I would like to avoid multiple miles of gravel.

Currently once we get to Eugene I wanted to take 126 to Aufderheide To Oakridge. Then it seems taking 58 to 97 seems like the best option. It looks like there are a lot of nF roads, I am just wondering if they are paved or would that be gravel, ect on most of them?

also any camping locations feed back would be great.

fietsbob

walk into some of Eugene's fine Bike shops for local updates,

ODOT will have road condition updates.. and where they will be doing road work. they of course have a website.

state and federal highways are paved.. Oregon is not that 3rd world.. Intel does have a CPU Chip factory here.

lazyeye

According to legend there's a route that Cycle Oregon took through there in 2007 that was mostly paved. If you search the web enough you might be able to find it.
By the way, there's some gravel between 126 and 58 on Aufderhide.

Shifty

Yes, this is the way to go. Eugene to Creswell, Creswell to Cottage Grove on Sears road. From Cottage Grove take Row River bike path to Culp Creek, at church in Culp Creek turn right on Sharps Creek road. At the top of very steep climb, stay left onto Canton Creek road to Steamboat. Sharps and Canton roads are paved, but very remote with no services and only creek water.
At Steamboat turn east to the entrance of Crater Lake Park.
No gravel on this route. You don't want to ride the road out of Oakridge.

Shifty

Camping in Cottage Grove at Dorena Lake, just below the Dam, Swartz CG. Good camping on Umpqua River from Steamboat to Diamond Lake. Nice swimming and facilities at Diamond Lake, short ride to Crater Lake entrance from here.

Danahi

Thank you very much! This is awesome.

CliffordK

Here is my basic route that I took to Crater Lake last year.
https://www.strava.com/routes/6229282

100% paved.
The Umpqua Highway is busy, but generally has good shoulders.
The hill between Dorena/Culp Creek and Steamboat is steep.

The biggest change I would make is picking up the bike path along Dorena Lake earlier which isn't on the map (probably a slight detour from the end of Sears Road towards Cottage Grove to pick up the path).

I've ridden up the McKenzie several times, but apparently don't have a "Route" drawn. I typically avoid about 75% of HWY 126.

• 42nd Street Springfield to Marcola Road, across river to Camp Creek Road
• Camp Creek to Millican Road (just before Walterville)
• Millican, SW to 126. Take 126 back towards Springfield 1/2 mile across bridge to Deerhorn.
• Deerhorn Rd to Bridge, and onto Holden Creek Rd
• Holden Creek Lane East to 126
• About 1/2 mile on 126, look for dirt trail going up bank to EWEB Canal Path. This is steep, but the Canal Path is well groomed pea gravel, and easy to ride on. Take the Canal Path to the end. It will cross HWY 126 at some point, then ends on a narrow bridge with very narrow bollards near the Leaburg Dam.
• You can also take a short loop through Blue River if you wish.
• Take 126 East to Cougar Reservoir (Powerhouse Road). You were taking this road to Westfir. To go towards the McKenzie Pass, take a left on West King Road to Horse Creek Road, and back to 126 just past McKenzie Bridge.

Along the Willamette, I have taken:

• Jasper Lowell Road to Fall Creek, then Pengra Road to Lowell/Dexter.
• Boundary Road to North Bank Road to Westfir. About 3/4 of the North Bank Road is gravel. Generally well groomed, but course loose gravel.

I haven't tried cutting across from Oakridge to Crater Lake. Maybe another time.

There is a good Forest Service office in Springfield. They have good maps which can help identify paved vs gravel roads (but not necessarily road width). Unfortunately so much is regional, so they won't have details about the roads outside of the local district other than what is on the maps.

CliffordK

I have heard that there is bike camping near a Pizza Place at Diamond Lake, but I didn't find it.

There is a small campground on Sharps Creek Road, but it was closed when I went past last fall. However, there were several people who seemed to camp along the road.

The Steamboat campground looked nice.

CliffordK

BTW:

There should be two Car-Free days at Crater Lake.

Oh, in September this year. It was October Last Year.

Ride the Rim ? Crater Lake Vehicle Free day
https://home.nps.gov/crla/planyourvi...-rim-drive.htm

The East road was open to bikes. West road had cars on it (and construction last year).

lazyeye

The yearly Crater Lake Rim ride that Santiam Bicycle club does is scrubbed this year due to road construction around the rim. YMMV.