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North Umpqua Trail
14 reviews
4.64 of 5
100% grade A single track. The upper section from Lemolo Lake to Toketee lake is the best-veery wilderness like. The next section from Toketee to Apple Creek is almost as awesome but is sometimes within sight of the hwy. I have ridden a lot of the "good stuff" in Oregon. This is the finest I've found. Ranked advanced but most of it is intermediate
Take hwy 138 east from Roseburg Oregon. The lower end of the trail ends somewhere just upriver from Glide, Or. The trail actually begins all the way up by Diamond Lake. There are many places along the way to park and ride sections of the trail.
Summary: There has not been many times in my life, that by the shear beauty and moment, a smile simply overcame myself and I was left with a feeling of pure amazement and awe.
Well, except my first Dead show in 81, but I digress…
The North Umpqua trail is nothing less than incredible. Armed with a brochure from the local ranger and some information from Trails.com I set off for my epic ride.
Being that I only had two days and limited time, I choose to do the Tioga segment on day one and Hot Springs to Mott on day two. Nothing can really prepare you for the incredible trails and spectacular beauty, it’s as if this entire trail was designed with the mountain biker in mind.
One would expect that a place like this would be over flowing with people, but to my amazement, I did not run into but one other person. The Tioga segment starts off at a parking lot with an outhouse and ample parking, and from the beginning you are enveloped in old growth Douglas fir and large lush Oregonian ferns. The trail was in excellent condition and due to the abundance of pine needles it had just enough give to lend a very pleasing texture to the ride. This part of the trail is roughly 16 miles long and is rated difficult due to a couple of accents, one being Bob’s Butte, which in my opinion, is a real challenge. In fact I have to say I walked a good part of it and took a few breaks in between. That being said it should not deter you from this trail.
Following Bob’s you encounter a few switchbacks and end up riding along the Umpqua River. This remains status quo except for a few times where it seems you have headed so far out of civilization that you must be a million miles away, but somehow you gradually begin to hear the roar of the river and you are again centered and focused. About one third of the way up you encounter a fork in the path, go left, this is not marked and if you go right I think you may end up in Oz. Other than that, the trail is well marked and easy to follow. The next portion is a rolling double track through a dense forest, which is overgrown with moss and ferns and then encounters the river once again.
Be prepared for a few sections that have a very narrow path and a steep drop down to the river. In fact, if you are not very sure of yourself or scared of heights, this could be a bit nerve racking.
You end up at Wright Creek Trailhead and one could choose to continue or bow out.
There is no drinking water and cell phones do not work most of the time, so come prepared, and unless you have another car waiting, you will need to take Hwy. 138 back down to the beginning like I did. No big deal but the logging trucks go really fast and there is no bike lane, so be aware.
Day two I took on a larger chunk of the trail, starting with Hot Springs and ending with Mott, 34 miles in total.
OK…. From Hot Springs to Soda Springs it is AWSOME!!!!
A roller coaster of a ride that dreams are made of……I do not have words other than I can not wait to go back!
The remainder of the trail down to Mott Bridge was just OK…. Oh Yea, Calf is closed so you do a little Hwy. 138 riding to the next segment. Don’t get me wrong, but, it lacks the awe and inspiration the beginning has to offer.
By the way, at Soda Springs there is a great swimming hole and I saw at least 200 Salmon. Please feel free to contact me for any more detailed info…
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Summary: We rode the "Dread and Terror", "Hot Springs" and "Deer Leap" sections of the North Umpqua Trail third week of July 2005. Cooler weather would have been nice, but we still had a great time.
Easily compares with the McKenzie River Trail, but more varied, less crowded and not as close to the highway. Dread and Terror (named for what it would be like to fight a wildfire here) section was not as technical as the upper part of the MRT, but was consistently more technical overall. I'm an experienced intermediate to lower advanced rider, and I was able to ride just about all of the trail. I was very glad to have an FS bike though, I think it would have sucked on a hardtail.
I'm not as fit as I would like to be, but the many short steep hills that others have commented on didn't really bug me much. There are a lot of them to be sure, but the tread is just about always in great shape, not loose, and the hills themselves not very long. Just about the time I would run out of steam, we would top out and cruise for awhile.
There is some serious exposure in a lot of places (as others have commented), but the trail is generally wide enough and in good enough condition that there isn't really any reason to be falling off the side. Also lots of wet spots, but not much bad mud. The short "Hot Springs" section actually had some of the worst exposure, but not as sustained as D & T section.
Poison oak: Didn't see any on Dread and Terror or Hot Springs sections (although there might have been some in a few spots), did see quite a bit on Deer Leap, but it was pretty easy to avoid unless you fell down in the wrong spot.
We saw only two other riders in two days of riding, K & C from Portland who we thank once again for shuttling me back to our truck at Lemolo Lake and saving me from what would have probably been some tedious hitchhiking.
The comments on this trail in the "Trails" section were helpful, as were the directions for finding the highway east out of Roseburg from I-5, which is not signed at all as you drive through town. The great USFS map is essential- the trail is overall well marked, but the map helped us make our way between trailheads, some of which are a bit obscure.
We will definitely be back to the North Umpqua. Highly recommended!
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Summary: I stayed at the Steamboat Inn, which is at the start of the Mott Section, and rode the Panther through the Tioga Sections over two days (Oct 7 & 8, '04). The trail was in excellent condition. All logs had been removed, and traction was optimal. Day one consisted of Panther through Mott, with a return trip on the Riverview Trail (a 15 mile round trip), which is reached after a quick road jaunt back upriver (watch out for the scary logging trucks!)to the Bogus Creek Campground. This trail climbs to way above the river on mostly doubletrack, then barrels back down to river level, then climbs and barrels back down, until you end up at the Mott Bridge, which is the driveway for the Steamboat Inn. The proprietors there have been host to enough bikers that they know how to accomodate us folk. They offer shuttles to the upper parts of the trail, and serve a great "Fisherman's Dinner (it is, after all, a fishing lodge) that is served family-style around a huge log table an hour after sundown. A good wine list and fun company makes a relaxing ending to a strenuous day. They have "cabins" that sleep 4 or so people, that have soaking tubs and a small kitchen. They also have a nice porch with a hose to clean off the bike at day's end. Day two was spent riding the Tioga Section. The climbs are as taxing as other posters (Thanks to Tom Vial for the nice overview)have described, and the downhill sections are as grin-inducing as you are led to belive. In the fall, an added bonus is looking at the endless varieties of mushrooms that line the trail.
Recommended Route: I recommend riding the whole dam thing! Just be in shape!
Other recommended trails in the same area: The Jedi Trail near Galice
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Review Date August 25, 2003
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 3 of 5
Technical Difficulty 3 of 5
Ridden Trail: Ridden Once
Reviewed by: Skithdeep
,
Cross Country Rider
, from Portland, Oregon USA
Summary: Four of us rode the trail the weekend of 8/16 & 8/17/03. We heard that the IMBA (International Mountain Biking Assoc.) had designated it one of only 28 trails WORLDWIDE that they gave the EPIC rating to, and the only one in the ENTIRE NW to get this rating. The ride definitely lived up to it's epic rating in our books. The scenery is outstanding. There are 25 waterfalls, several lakes, & hotsprings in the 80 mile span off Hwy 138 that access the different trailheads off this ride.
There are 12 primary trailheads along the entire trail. We had 2 days to ride and ended up riding about 45 miles total, 24.5 miles the first day and just shy of 19 miles the second day. We made our base camp at the Toketee Lake Campground and used shuttles both days.
The first day we started at the Kelsey Valley Trailhead, the upper most starting point, and also the east end of the Lemolo section. We rode down river to Toketee Lake, which is at the west end of the Hotsprings Segment. The first 2-3 miles of trail in the Lemolo segment were a bit sandy but after that to our surprise the trail was nice & firm and in perfect condition the entire rest of the way.
The next section heading west after Lemolo was the Dread & Terror section. This was one of our favorites on the entire trail. The trail was a bit rocky with lots of waterfalls, running water & also lots of exposure. There are a few muddy sections. You're riding on a nice ledge for most of this section looking down at the river a couple of hundred feet below you. Just gorgeous lush scenery all the way down. It was really fun technical riding. We ended the first day with a nice dip in Tokette Lake- right at the campground.
The morning of the second day we started off the day with a nice soak in the Umpqua hotsprings just 2 miles from the campsite. Then we shuttled a car down to the start of the ‘Calf section’ – the only section closed due to a fire last year – and started riding from our campsite at Toketee Lake downriver to where we had parked the car. The Deer Leap section, next section west was also one of our favorites. A nice 3-4 mile uphill followed by a great downhill!
The Umqpua Ranger District has produced a great map of the entire route and can be gotten free-of-charge with a phone call to 541-440-4930.
We only saw one rider the entire weekend on this epic trail.
Recommended Route: Starting at Kelsey Valley Trailhead which is at the east end of the Lemolo Section & riding west toward Swiftwater Park, which is at the west end of the Tioga section. Using a two car shuttle system works the best. Since there is 79 miles of trail there is no need to back track. That way you're riding a new section of trail everyday.
Other recommended trails in the same area: McKenzie River & Waldo Lake
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Review Date July 11, 2003
Overall Rating 4 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 5 of 5
Technical Difficulty 3 of 5
Ridden Trail: Once a year
Visitors rate this review 5.00 of 5,
1 votes
Reviewed by: SCHMIEDEKE
,
Racer
, from Dallas, Tx USA
Summary: This a beautiful trail. We rode it around July 4, 2003. The scenery is fantastic and the hot springs are great. This trail is very well marked and maintained. We only encountered a few fallen trees and one bridge that had been taken out by a biiig tree. As recommended in previous posts, this trail is best ridden from east to west so you will be going down hill most of the way. Unfortunately there are many short and very steep repetetive climbs in most of the sections. Many are 25-30% grade. This trail was evidently built for hiking long ago before there were mountain bikes. Instead of going around many of the small hills as you pick your way along the side of the mountain, the trail goes over most of them. The result is one short steep climb after another which eventually gets old, no matter how good your conditioning. Our favorite segments were deer leap with a long four mile climb with a great downhill payoff. The hot springs segment was great riding that had really good flow. The calf segment is closed due to a recent fire. On a rafting trip down the river we could see sections of the calf trail. The deadfall is obviously tremendous. It will be a while before this segment is open again. The Idyleyld Lodge bed and breakfast (www.idleyldlodge.com) was a great place to stay and Munchies restaurant had great Mexican food. Would recommend this trail to advanced intermediate or expert riders. Get a great map from the Umpqua National Forest service in Roseburg.
Recommended Route: Just head east out of Roseburg thru Glide to Idleyld. The western trailhead is at the swiftwater bridge at the eastern edge of Idleyld.
Other recommended trails in the same area: McKenzie River (best trail in the U.S.), Caldera Rim trail
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