mtnbud

A friend and I are hoping to do at least one bikepacking overnighter on gravel or singletrack before his knee surgery in mid June. I've been pouring over maps and have been finding a surprising amount of pavement in the vicinity of most desirable locations. We were thinking a two day trip or possibly 3. I was looking at heading through Valsets and then following the Siletz river, but it's all private timber company land with no camping allowed. We did an out and back last weekend starting at Fort Hoskins to the Siletz and it was a nice ride. Moonshine Park looks like a nice place to camp, but previously the Lincoln Co. website was saying it is closed until June 20th and now it's saying it's open...?

I'm thinking we could easily plan a route somewhere in Central Oregon, but does anyone have any route suggestions for a 60 - 100 mile loop in the Willamette valley or coast range that's mostly off pavement? We'll need a place to camp at around the halfway point and need access to a good water source to filter for drinking and cooking.

craig_dahlke

I recently moved to Corvallis, and I've also been pouring over maps of the coast range looking for gravel loops. I think there's a lot of potential in the Siuslaw NF for weekend gravel tours. Additionally, I'm looking to ride the Corvallis to the Coast trail (google search C2C trail) as an overnighter one of these weekends.

downtube42

CZ trail from Scappoose to Vernonia is a combination of rail trail and logging roads, all gravel or dirt except a bit at the Scappoose end, about 22 miles one way. It connects to other gravel roads but I've not explored those myself. The Vernonia end has a campground as well as the town for supplies. Stretching that to 100 miles of gravel might not be easy though.
Then there's this, which i have not done https://www.oregonbikepacking.com/portfolio-posts/trask/

mtnbud

Thanks everyone for your input. I accepted a summer job that's to going to limit me to single overnight trips, but hopefully I'll get out sometime.

.

Have you been to McDonald Forest yet? You're blessed to be so close.

I'm agreeing the Siuslaw NF might be my best opportunity for costal range routes that allow camping. Since you're in Corvallis, you might want to ride from Fort Hoskins to Valsets to Valley of the Giants sometime. A friend and I rode a part of it about a month ago and it was a nice out and back. https://goo.gl/maps/VfnFgtCL91kRQKUt5.

I'll check out that Corvallis to the Coast trail. thanks.

craig_dahlke

Yes, I've been exploring the Mac and enjoying it thoroughly. It's so nice to have it close to home. I'll definitely check out that trail you shared, thanks!