Distance:  44-mile out and back
Elevation gain:  2880 ft (RWGPS)

This is one of the Oregon rides that is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

There is very little to say about this simple, perfect ride.  It has no grand vistas, no exhilarating descents, no craggy monoliths—no breath-taking features of any kind.  It’s just 22 miles of lovely, pleasantly meandering, gently rising and falling two-lane road through the faery Western Oregon rain forest, then back.  It follows Quartzville Creek, which for 10 miles of our route is widened by Green Peter Dam into Green Peter Lake.  There is in fact 50 miles of Quartzville Road (or Quartzville Drive on some maps), which is officially the Quartzville Road Back Country Byway (though I saw no evidence of this along the route), and runs from Sweet Home on Hwy 20 to its dead end at Hwy 22.  The other 25 miles of Hwy 22 are chronicled in the Beyond Yellowbottom ride, which has a very different character.

This is one of the easier rides in Bestrides.  The road is rarely flat, but the pitch is often so mellow you can’t be sure if you’re climbing or descending, and it’s never enough to make you break a sweat.

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Distance: 44 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 4100 ft

(A Best of the Best ride)

This is one of the Oregon rides that is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

This ride is the greatest climb and descent in Oregon.  ‘Nuff said.  And in addition, you get class-A Oregon forest and an enormous lava “moonscape” you’ll never forget.

Others seem to find this climb harder than I do.  The defunct Lane County Bicycle Map, which I love, had a place along this route marked with 3 chevrons (hardest pitch).  Baloney.  And Mapmyride’s elevation profile says there are some 10% pitches.  I can’t find them.  I am a frail old man, and I promise you the pitch on this climb is consistently mellow (when it isn’t downright easy).  RidewithGPS gets it right (but inexplicably says most of the climb is unpaved).

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Distance:  37 miles one way
Elevation gain: 1950 ft (RWGPS)

This ride is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

You can ride from Siletz Bay to Newport along the coast, and it’s nice, but it is Hwy 101 (busy), so I prefer this inland route.  It’s never high drama—it’s easy, mellow riding through lovely, unpopulated riparian woods and the road contour is utterly charming, constantly weaving and rising and dipping gracefully.  It’s basically flat, a rarity in Bestrides.  In addition to a lot of pretty woods, you get one very small village (Siletz), the outskirts of one mill town (Toledo), a flat ride along a classic Oregon coastal river, the pleasure of watching Newport, your final destination, grow on the horizon, and a final landing in Newport’s Old Wharf district.

(Having Mapmyride map problems at the moment.)

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/37366231

Begin in Kernville at the intersection of Hwy 101 and Hwy 229 at Siletz Bay.  Ride Hwy 229 to Toledo, then Yaquina Bay Road to its end when it drops you at the old wharf district of Newport.  The best part of the ride is the first 14 miles, from Hwy 101 to Siletz.  The hamlet of Siletz is little more than a cafe, the Little Chief Restaurant, but it’s a friendly outpost.  Siletz to Toledo is a slightly less magical ride—a bit straighter, a bit wider, a bit more open, a bit busier.

Hwy 229 north of Siletz: miles and miles of this

Toledo is a fairly large town, but you skirt almost all of it so traffic is not a problem.  Navigation has two tricky spots.  First, you need to find your way through one hectic intersection where Hwy 229 meets Hwy 20.  Stay on 229 as it goes straight across the very large and busy 20, which crosses your path at a 45-degree angle.  When 229 ends at a T in less than 1/10 mile, go L onto Business 20.  It’s a good idea to look at Google Maps to see how this works.  Second, 0.8 miles down Business 20 comes the R turn onto Yaquina Bay Road, which is easy to miss—the road is obvious enough, but I couldn’t find a sign, so watch your odometer.

Yaquina River Road

From Toledo to Newport (Yaquina Bay Road) is new and fascinating terrain.  You’re riding along a once-busy working river, with lumber mills, rotting landings, marshes, shore birds, and boats.  As you leave Toledo on YBR, note the huge mill across the river over your L shoulder.  In the final miles you can see Newport far in the distance, like Oz, as you wend your way along the river’s edge.  Finally you arrive at the Old Wharf area, which is as charming/funky as Old Wharf areas tend to be, packed with marinas, fish markets, and good restaurants.

Shortening miles: There is no cut-off road by which to make a shorter loop out of the route. If you want a shorter day, you have a hard choice.  My favorite legs of the ride are at the two ends, from Kernville to Siletz, and from Toledo to Newport.  Either would make a good out-and-back.

Adding miles: You may have to, if you can’t find a shuttle.  The obvious route back to your car is Hwy 101 along the coast, with several small towns and the usual grand coastal scenery.

Afterthoughts: I’m riding in the opposite direction of Moore’s ride log, if you’re using his book, but the ride works just as well in either direction.  If you’re going to do the Hwy 101 leg, you might want to ride my route heading north so the return ride along the coast has you in the west lane, closer to the water, and any wind will be helping.

Distance:  33 miles one way
Elevation gain: 2560 ft 

This ride is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

The Oregon coast is a legendary destination for touring cyclists, and it’s certainly leaps and bounds better than California’s coast—fewer cars, kinder motorists, far more towns for R and R and refueling, and only slightly less spectacular scenery.  But I’m not nuts about it.  Notice I only have two rides that explore it, and the other (Gold Beach Century) does it as much out of necessity as out of choice.  Perhaps it’s because I did my north coastal riding on the July 4th holiday, and the place was a zoo.  This is the best ride on the Oregon coast and is well worth doing, in large part because here Hwy 101 goes inland and the coastal riding is on smaller secondary roads.  The rewards keep on coming—four charming coastal towns, grand bays, a lighthouse, miles of deserted beaches, grand ocean vistas, and one delightful hike.

The route you want to ride is slightly different than what is mapped, for reasons that will be made clear below.

My favorite part of the ride is the first 10 miles, from Tillamook to Short Beach. Begin in Tillamook and head west on 3rd St.  Take a R onto Bayocean Rd. and roll along the very edge of Tillamook Bay.  It’s lovely and car-free out there.  Be sure to stop and read the large sign on your R headlined “City of Bay Ocean Park,” detailing the quirky history of the community once built on the spit crossing the bay.

Meares Beach: worth the detour

Just past the spit there’s an intersection.   The road straight ahead changes its name to Meares Avenue NW and the road on the L is Cape Meares Loop.  Even though I haven’t mapped it, go straight at the intersection, leaving the main road, and continue west to the tiny beach community of Cape Meares.  Ride as far west as you can, then walk the 50 ft to the beach.  White sand, lovely surf, and no people.  Enjoy.

Return to your bike, return to the intersection and go R onto Cape Meares Loop.  CML was closed for 10 years by a slide and has just (11/23) reopened, but RWGPS hasn’t caught up to the reopening so it won’t let me map the leg.  So from here to Short Beach ignore my mapping (which is an alternate route marked as “unknown surface” by RWGPS) and stay on CML.  It’s a dreamy stretch of road, with a short, brisk climb (up to 12%) and descent .

Midway along Cape Meares Loop you pass Lighthouse Drive on the R.  I haven’t mapped it, but take it for a short jaunt to Cape Meares Scenic Viewpoint, from which you can take short, easy paved walks to the lighthouse and the Octopus Tree.   Return to CML and ride to Short Beach.

Anderson’s Viewpoint overlooking Netarts Bay spit

The rest of the ride is an easy ramble down the coast, during which you will experience several small communities worth hanging out in—Short Beach, Oceanside, Netarts, and Pacific City—one killer vista point (Anderson’s Viewpoint at about mile 22.  Watch for it over your R shoulder—it’s just an unsigned dirt turn-out), one nice climb (up and over the Cape Lookout ridge), and lots of views along two shallow bays.

As you leave the coast to climb over the Cape Lookout ridge, you’ll pass the prominent Cape Lookout Trailhead on your R.  From this trailhead a beautiful hiking trail heads out to the cape itself.  It’s 5.2 miles round trip, all gentle downhill going out, gentle uphill coming back, through rare and magnificent old-growth Sitka Spruce to a spectacular ocean overlook.  By no means do you need to walk all of it.  Even a short jaunt takes you into a very special and spiritual place.

Climbing over the Cape Lookout ridge

The entire bike route is easy to follow—just stay as close to the ocean as you can.  I got lost once.  Leaving Netarts, I took my eye off the map and missed the R onto Netart’s Bay Drive.  If you do that, you’ll stay on Hwy 131 and climb an unnecessary hill to an inland intersection signed “Cape Lookout State Park” to the R.  Follow that R back to the coast and your route.   This is also the route you’ll take if you opt for Short Ride Version #2 in Shortening the Route just below.

Getting back to your car/Shortening the route: You could ride this as a long out and back, and it would all be worth seeing twice.  Or you can ride it one way, then jump on the bus that runs from Lincoln City to Pacific City to Tillamook (there’s a bike rack)—see Kevin’s comment below for details.  Or you could loop back on Hwy 101 from Pacific City to Tillamook, which would be 25 miles of trafficky shoulder riding (I haven’t done it and wouldn’t dream of doing it).  Or there are three shorter versions of the route: 1) ride the miles from Tillamook to Short Beach as a plumb 24-mile out and back;  2) stay on Hwy 131 through Netarts and following it east, then north as it loops back to Bayocean Road near where you started; or 3)  take Sandlake Rd. east from Cape Lookout Rd to Hwy 101 and heading north to Tillamook, making a loop of roughly 40 miles.  This leaves you with only about 10 miles of Hwy 101.

Adding miles: besides riding 101 back to Tillamook and the cut-off roads we’ve already discussed, the only option open to you is to continue south on 101.  Some riders keep going until they hit Mexico.

Distance:  66 miles one way
Elevation gain: 3440 ft 

This ride is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

For the first 63 miles, this is not a dramatic ride.  It is instead a perfectly pleasant, easy meander through nearly-flat, charming farm country—little wilderness here, few deep, solitary woods.  It’s on a numbered state highway, which is usually a no-no for Bestrides, but it’s a remarkably untrafficked one.  I did this ride on a sort of recovery day, and I found it to be magically mellow.  Rarely have I been so glad to be on a bike.  After 63 miles, the road begins to roll, then enters the city of Astoria, and finally ascends steeply to a dramatic finale at the very summit of the city, the Astoria Column and its stunning vistas of the surrounding land and water.

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Distance:  22 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 1730 ft 

This ride is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

This is one of the few rides in Bestrides that isn’t primarily about the riding.  Oh, the riding is fine—pleasant miles along a pretty river followed by a sweet climb through a pretty forest.  But the jewel in the crown is Sweet Creek Trail and its many waterfalls.  So bring a bike lock and walking shoes.

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Distance:  12.3 miles one way
Elevation gain: 2500 ft 

This ride is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

East Lolo Pass Road is a chestnut Oregon ride, a twelve-mile out-and-back climb up a wide, clear-cut valley dominated by a huge rack of power lines.  I don’t like it.  But the back road that parallels it, FR 1828, is sublime—8.5 miles of the densest, most magical woods I found in Oregon (but not giant conifers—see photos).  And one grand glimpse of Mt. Hood.  It has a lot of vertical gain—I recorded 3860 ft, over three times the climbing benchmark of 100 ft/mile, and RidewithGPS says you’ll touch 17%—so you will work.

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Distance:  46-mile loop
Elevation gain:  5010 ft 

(A Best of the Best ride)
(A Best of the Best descent (on Hwy 66))

This is one of the Oregon rides that is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

This ride is an approximate square.  Each of the 4 sides is a different kind of riding.  Three sides are great, and the fourth is a pleasant warm-up.   The four sides are 1) 7 miles of gentle shoulder riding through pleasant farmland, 2) 7 miles of uninterrupted climbing up a dramatic canyon, 3) a rambling, rolling saunter through rich forests, past meadows, and along lake shores, and finally 4) a breath-taking, supersonic 14-mile descent.  You also get two resorts, one charming inn, one pretty lake, one semi-pretty lake, and the likelihood of eagles.  Dead Indian Road is actually only about a third of the ride, but it’s a much more energetic name than “Highway 66,” which is our other choice, so let’s go with that.

You can ride this route in either direction, but the experience is very different.  Hwy 66 ascending is a pleasant, varied, moderately steep serpentine.  Descending, it’s a Best of the Best ride, a splendid romp through tight corners, fast esses, and ripping lazy turns.  Dead Indian is mostly straight and unvaried, a blazingly fast rocket sled on the descent and a boring slog as a climb.  So I prefer the counterclockwise loop, and in fact I usually ride up Hwy 66 to the Green Springs Inn and turn around.  But it all depends on what sort of descending you like.

The weather at the top of this loop is much colder than at the bottom—expect at least a 10-degree drop—so take a layer more than you think you’ll need.  I once did this ride during a cool spell in the middle of June.  I dressed for summer, it was 48 degrees at the lakes, and I froze.

(To see an interactive version of the map/elevation profile, click on the ride name, upper left, wait for the new map to load, then click on the “full screen” icon, upper right.)

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/37871999

You can start anywhere on the loop, but I’m starting you at the intersection of Dead Indian Rd and Hwy 66 (Green Springs Highway), because you’ll get about 7 miles of gentle rollers to warm up on.  Head south on Hwy 66.  This is outskirts-of-town farm country, pretty to the eye, but the road is always busy and you’re on the shoulder, so it’s not great.  Most of it is, however, a lovely shoulder, wide and smooth.

Hwy 66

Shortly after the Old Siskiyou Hwy turn-off, you dump almost all of the traffic and start to climb, and you climb without interruption for about 7 miles.  The climb is always 5-7%, so you work but you don’t suffer (2200 ft in 7 miles), and the scenery is grand, open, and varied, and the road, while constant of pitch, is always serpentining and giving you different looks.  It’s one of the prettiest roads I know, a series of curves as lovely as a Japanese ink drawing.  If you look west across the valley after you gain some altitude you can clearly see Hwy 5 making its long descent into Ashland.

Hwy 66, looking back at Ashland after the first miles of the climb (typical summer forest fire smoke)—click on photo to see the road

At the end of the climb you reach the obvious summit signed “Summit Green Springs Mountain,” and at the precise summit Old Hyatt Prairie Rd. takes off on your L.  Don’t be tempted to take it, unless you want to ride a 10-mile dirt road that intersects our route later.  The road we want is E. Hyatt Lake Rd., the next paved road to the L. about 3 miles further along.  Finding it is made more complicated by the fact that some maps call our road “Hyatt Prairie Rd.,” which it later becomes, and the fact that our road has no road-name sign at the intersection.  In fact there are no road-name signs between Hwy 66 and Dead Indian Rd., so you have to follow directional signs, following signs first to Hyatt Lake, then to Howard Prairie Lake, then to Dead Indian Road, through a couple of questionable intersections.  Just keep along the western shore of both lakes.

Because the turn off Hwy 66 is sketchy, look for a large colorful sign reading “Hyatt—Howard Prairie Recreational Area” on the L and the unmissable Green Springs Inn on the R.   Consider checking out the Inn.  It’s quite a place (note the free re-supply depot for PCT hikers).  The pies are legendary, and the cinnamon buns are the size of hubcaps.

Tub Springs: worth the added 3 miles

In the old days, Before one turned down E. Hyatt Lake Road, one stayed on Hwy 66 for another 1.5 miles and visiting Tub Springs, a tiny State Park consisting of three stone troughs with the best spring water in Oregon.  People drove hundreds of miles to fill up the back of their station wagon with 5-gallon jugs of the stuff.  But the water quality has been condemned, and the site is now open for viewing only—moderately interesting but not the unmissable treat it once was.

Hwy 66 at early morning

The miles from Hwy 66 to Dead Indian Rd. are a lovely break from the drama that precedes and follows them—easy, sweet meandering through lush conifer forests and grassy meadows.  You do 3 miles of very low-key climbing to Hyatt Reservoir, then ride along the reservoir’s edge, with constant pleasant views of the water, which is not the most beautiful lake in the world but is OK.  Hyatt is reportedly a haven for bald eagles and ospreys, though I never see any—there’s a turn-out with informative plaques about the birds just past Hyatt Lake Resort.   Then it’s on to Howard Prairie Lake, which you can only barely glimpse from the main road and which you could easily not know is there unless you take the 1/4-mile road to Howard Prairie Resort.  Which I encourage you to do, because HPR has much to offer: splendid bathrooms (with soap and showers, in case you want to freshen up mid-ride), a developed marina, nice picnic tables overlooking the lake (much more scenic than Hyatt), and a snazzy glass-and-stone central building.

Mt. McGloughlin behind Howard’s Prairie Lake meadows

Soon after you clear Howard Prairie Lake you dead-end into Dead Indian Rd. and turn L.   Thinking all the climbing is over, you quickly hit a 3.8-mile climb, a shallow, tedious grind to an obvious summit at the sno-park.  If you know it’s coming, it’s merely a pain in the ass; if you don’t, it can be soul-crushing.

Now it’s all down.  The descent down Dead Indian Rd. is spectacular, a masterpiece of wide-open, high-speed descending, with big sweeping curves that rarely force you to drop below 35-40, and it goes on and on until your hands are cramping and your neck is aching from being in the drops.  It’s the best of that sort of descent I know.  If you love fast descents, do this ride.

Dead Indian Road: smooth, straight, and fast

This route offers you three places to resupply: Green Springs Inn, Hyatt Lake Resort, and Howard Prairie Resort—IF you’re late enough in the season for them to be open.   Many resorts in Oregon don’t really open until July.  Call ahead.  I think Green Springs is year-round.

Shortening the route: Ride to Green Springs Inn and turn around.  Riding Dead Indian as an out-and-back is an option, but I consider the climb a mind-numbing slog.

Adding Miles: About 8 miles into our route you pass the start of our Old Siskiyou Highway ride.

Our route has you riding about half of Dead Indian Rd.  You can turn R instead of L when you intersect it and ride the other half, up to Lake of the Woods, and turn around.  Not that I’m recommending it.

You’re about a half hour by car from a good ride from the charming faux village of Jacksonville to Applegate Lake, detailed in Moore’s book.  On this ride you can spend time on Applegate Road, Upper Applegate Road, and Little Applegate Road.  I take pleasure in little things like this.  You can take the direct route, which is flat, or the more challenging route up Sterling Creek Rd, which involves a moderate climb and long, almost Bestrides-worthy descent.

Distance:  24 miles out and back
Elevation gain:  3323 ft 

(A Best of the Best descent)

This ride is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

This is a not-hard, not-easy climb and Best-of-the-Best descent through canopied woods and along open hillsides with grand vistas, all on an old highway that sees almost no traffic.  This is extreme Southern Oregon, so you won’t get the ferns and mossy maples of the Oregon rain forest, but the forest is still very pretty.  I love this ride, in both directions.  A perfect life would start every morning with it.   And you’re riding a stretch of old Hwy 99, which when I was a boy was the only route north through the Northern California valley and into Oregon, so there’s an added element of nostalgia if you’re a native of a certain age.

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Distance:  61 miles out and back
Elevation gain:  3490 ft.

This is one of the Oregon rides that is expertly covered in Jim Moore’s 75 Classic Rides Oregon (see the “Oregon” section in Rides by Region).

This is a wonderful ride, and the only reason it isn’t in the Best of the Best list is because it lacks any sort of wow factor: no awesome waterfall, grand vista, dramatic canyon, or awe-inspiring redwoods.  Just really good riding through varied, pretty scenery.

This ride passes through three very different ecosystems, all rewarding.  The first stretch, from Indian Mary County Park to the Rogue River bridge/Grave Cree Bridge, is through the open, rocky Rogue River Canyon, which by the end leaves you clinging to the face of a steep rocky canyon wall.  Very dramatic, very nice.  Lower Graves Creek Rd/Lower Wolf Creek Road, the second leg, is up and down and back and forth, narrower, tighter, through riparian woods and almost car-free.   The third leg takes you on a classic “family” ride through sun-lit forests to the interesting ghost town of Golden.

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