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Bruce
& Betsy Blais |
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Mountain Biking - Special Trails - SILVER FALLS, OR In the Fall of 2012, Bruce was working in Oregon and rode a few trails out there. The first was Silver Falls State Park east of Salem. The trail system at Silver Fall can be pretty much anything you want it to be. The ride on Labor Day weekend, 2012, combined several trails for a total of 21.5 miles and 3,000' of climbing.
The trails parallel each other and are like an "out and back" but only one section is ridden both ways. The initial climb on this route is a continuous climb four miles in length. Bruce refers to this as the "four-mile trial". Below is the group from the Salem Oregon Mountain Bike Association (SOMBA) at the beginning of the ride.
One of the first things you discover is that the trees are very tall.
The trees are also very big. Clearing a downed tree is a real chore in Oregon.
For the most part, the trails are wide and smooth. Below is Bruce cruising along.
Below is Bruce stopping for a "photo-op" on one of the many bridges.
The other thing Bruce learned riding in Oregon is that the rides are long. Below is a warning sign for hikers that the trail ahead is rugged with a lot of climbing.
The climbs and descents are not terribly steep, but they do go on for miles in some instances. Below is Bruce on a descent crossing an erosion control log.
SOMBA has don a lot of work on some of the trails. Below is one of the bridges they built. Since this part of Oregon gets lots of rain, there are numerous creeks and bridges over them.
Bruce coming up over a rise and down along a rotting fallen tree.
Next, it was down the hill and across a fallen tree.
Another creek and bridge. This one is a felled tree flattened off to become a foot-bridge. The handrail and steps aren't "bike friendly", so riders take the bypass through the creek.
Not all the trails are wide and open. Here is a section of trail that is a "tree tunnel".
At the end of the ride, Bruce was introduced to a local brew from the Deschutes Brewery just over the hill.
Oregon has a lot of microbreweries, and Deschutes is one of the larger.
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Version 0.1, January 25, 2013 |
