Chucksney Mountain Trail (10.12)

Ever since I had read about Chucksney Mountain trail in the Lane County Mountain Bike Ride Guide, I was itchin' to get on it, and that was nearly 10 years ago. Of course with gobs of great/easily accessible trails around the area it somewhat fell off the radar, and frankly, it's always difficult to find people that are willing to take a risk on exploring a relatively obscure trail. For me, as with whitewater kayaking, this is one of my favorite parts of the sport, I just really enjoy the adventure side of it.

Fast forward to present day, I had gotten word/read that another crew had just ridden Box Canyon/Chucksney Mountain and had a great time. That was it, it was time to make it a priority. With that, I talked Emily into it, and together we tried to rally some troops. With little to no response (not surprisingly), we figured it would be a party of two. The plan (from our limited research) was to park/start at the bottom of Box Canyon trail, and use that along with Grasshopper Mountain trail and Chucksney Mountain trail to form a lollypop trail route.

The Ride

Knowing that the trail wasn't ridden very often we assumed it would be a little slower going than one that was routinely brushed and bedded down. Therefore we wanted to get an early-ish start, but that was not to be the case, and we didn't make it to the trailhead until ~12:30pm. We were pretty confident that we could finish before it started getting too dark, but at the same time we wanted to a have a little extra time in case we had any issues (e.g. mechanicals/injury). We quickly got changed into our gear and prepared for our ride. Since I wanted to do a photo-rich ride report, I planned to bring my DSLR, carrying it via my chest mount camera pouch. Unfortunately I forgot the harness part of it, so I had to fashion one out of a webbing style cam-strap -- It actually worked pretty good, and might just be more comfortable than the real one.

Once we were suited up, we hit the trail. Speaking of up, that was the story of the first half of the ride -- climbing ~2,800 vertical feet in 6 miles (all on singletrack), and it never really lets up. As we made our way up Box Canyon, our assumptions about the trail condition were fairly accurate. It was not too overgrown, but the surface was mainly comprised of pine needles/cones. Along the way we encountered a few switchbacks and some long traverses. The trail eventually entered the Box Canyon Creek drainage where it paralleled it for a little bit. I was hoping to get a better peek of the creek itself, but it was pretty far down from the benched in trail and the view was also obscured by trees. Toward the end of the Box Canyon trail, it did finally drop down and cross over the creek. On the other side, the trail climbed in earnest up to the start of the Grasshopper Mountain trail, requiring a bit of hike-a-bike.

Gettin' mentally pumped for the climb

Starting it off

Emily rides along Box Canyon Creek

Some sloppiness 

The steep hike-a-bike up to Grasshopper Mountain trail

As soon as we did reach the Grasshopper trail, we made a left and continued up. Very quickly we reached another trail intersection, with the Chucksney Mountain trail heading off to the right in a northerly direction. Since we were doing the ride in a clockwise direction we went left, continuing along the Grasshopper trail. We crossed over Box Canyon Creek one more time before the trail started to climb up the slope and away from the creek.

Emily starts the climb out of Box Canyon

Taking in some sun rays

Somewhere on Grasshopper Mountain trail

Emily enjoying the cool mountain air

The climb from here had minimal switchbacks and headed up at a fairly sustained pitch. The higher we climbed the more it felt like fall, with the foliage turning more and more yellow and the temps getting a bit cooler. Although it was not overly steep, it was still a tough climb, mainly due to the trail surface -- it was just hard to keep a steady pace with all the dabs and short walks. What this did allow for was lots of photos, much to Emily's chagrin. Along with the tough climbing conditions and my incessant need for a camera subject, she also hadn't brought her music/headphones, which she's used to climbing with. The combination of these things eventually pushed her to the breaking point, which happened as I was taking photos of her while she was struggling on a steep climb (as well as having some branches jam into her drive train). Needless to say the next part of the ride was a little bit lonelier for me.

The forest starting to change a bit

Lots of Old Man's Beard

Em finds a small alpine meadow

The climb I probably should have refrained from taking photos on

"Hey, do you mind if I take photos of you while you pull debris out of your drive-train?"

Before long the sun started to peek through the trees and we reached some sections of Beargrass, which I really like for some reason. Both indicated we were near the summit of our climb, and sure enough we soon reached another intersection, this time with Chucksney Mountain trail. We took a right onto the trail, which would traverse along a ridge to ol' Chucksney himself.

Beargrass!

The final pitch to Chucksney Mountain trail

Emily confirms our coordinates at the intersection

We had one more short pitch before the trail flattened out and traversed along the knife edge. Then the environment changed from a forest setting to a burn section, opening up to one of the coolest mountain views I've seen in Oregon. As decimating as a fire can be, it also brings a whole different beauty, as the forest starts the regrowth process. The slope coming off the ridge was blanketed in a tan colored grass, with some sparse wildflowers scattered throughout. The burnt/weathered trees had a white/silver skin and contrasted beautifully against the dormant grass.

Starting the traverse

Emily continuing along the ridge-top toward Chucksney Mountain

More Beargrass!

Emily takes in the view at the start of the burn section

Another kind of beauty

On the other end of the ridge, we a found a panoramic view that was better than we had hoped for -- looking east, there was quite a view of the Three Sisters. The visibility was actually much clearer than I was expecting. I assumed it would be greatly obstructed by smoke from the Pole Creek Fire, which has scorched tens of thousands of acres along the eastern foothills of the Sisters. Another thing we found at the viewpoint was a memorial plaque for one Michael Wayne Prechel. A quick search on the internet turned up a big goose egg -- who knows, maybe he just liked this vista and wanted his ashes scattered from it.

Who knew that Chucksney was so bald!

Emily grabs a snack at the view point

The Sisters (looking east)

The view to the west

A fitting place for a memorial plaque

Once we had taken in the view and a quick break, we saddled back up and got ready for what we had come for, riding our bikes down a mountain at a high rate of speed, with a smidgen of reckless endangerment to ourselves. As we dipped into the woods the trail surface started out a bit rough, with loose sections and trail obstacles that required some attention. It was now late afternoon, making the forest feel pretty dark. Even so, occasionally the light would peek through the trees, producing some pretty nice lighting effects.

On the trail again

Emily heads out of the light, just down from the ridge

One thing I was a little surprised about was how fast the trail became, once we had dropped down from the ridge a bit. Since there were minimal switchbacks and relatively long side hill traverses, you could build up quite a bit of speed. Furthermore, the trail was smoother than I had expected, from reading the Lane County Ride Guide, which stated that the technicality was "Extreme” -- I'm sure that some of this had to do with the fully rigid bikes everyone rode back then. Due to the low light and based on how fun the trail was to rail, I didn’t take too many photos on the way down, which I’m sure Emily was just fine with… There was one short climb in the middle of the downhill that my legs weren’t quite ready for. On the other side of this short ascent, the trail headed back down again with more fast/flowy stretches.

Em finds some speed as the trail opens up a bit

Continuing the descent

Emily at one of the small stream crossings

Finding some patches of light

Emily heads down one of the long traverses toward the end of Chucksney Mtn trail

Before long, we reached the end of the Chucksney Mountain trail, teeing back into the Grasshopper Mountain trail. Now back in familiar territory we traveled the short distance to the Box Canyon trail, which we’d headed down the final two miles on back to the car, completing the lollipop. As always, the descent was much more fun than the climb on this one, and we only stopped briefly here and there for me to take a few more pics before it was all over.

Em rounds a switchback on the Box Canyon trail

Chasing sunlight

Rounding one of last few turns

Finishing up a great day of riding!

Conclusion:
Well I was finally able to check this one off the list. I must say that I really liked this ride, although I’m not sure I’d call it a classic. I actually like the more adventure-style rides and getting off the beaten path a bit, which this ride certainly provides; however, most folks I know would rather hit one of the more well-known/bedded down trails. The views and the downhill were amazing, but the climb was a bit of a bitch, mainly because it was hard to stay in the pedals during a good portion of it. That said, and in contrast to a mind numbing gravel road, the trail ascends through an amazing forest setting, you'll just need to go into it with the right frame of mind and not plan on hammering out the climb. All that said, I could certainly see myself doing this as a once a year type of ride.

The tracks from our ride:

The new interactive Wheels & Water Whitewater Map!

As the list of trip-reports on Wheels & Water has increased over time, I've been working on another way for anyone visiting the site to search through this ever-expanding list. With that, I present the new interactive Wheels & Water Whitewater Map (powered by Google maps):


View Whitewater Map in a larger map

With this custom map overlay, you will be able to find any of my whitewater trip-reports by simply clicking on the corresponding pushpin for either the put-in or take-out of that run. I have also added a link to the gauges I use for determining the flow for that particular river/creek. Probably one of my favorite features is the ability to get directions to the put-in/take-out through the power of Google Maps; this is especially nice with a smartphone that has GPS/turn by turn navigation.

In addition to the link above, his map can also be found at the bottom of the page, or on the sidebar near the top (under "Interactive Maps").

Although this information is geared toward runs on the west coast, I'm hoping it will prove to be a valuable resource for not only the locals, but also those who are on a road trip over here or planning to in the future -- we'd love to share our water with ya!

Enjoy!
Nate

Crawfish Trail, OR (9.29.12)

Deciding to actually stay around town for a weekend, I was fired up to hit one of the local mountain bike rides, which I hadn't done much of this season. A plan had already been set in motion to ride both Goodman Creek and Hardesty -- which sounded just right to me. Unfortunately the day of the ride (last Saturday), plans started to unravel a bit, and we ended up deciding on a different destination, Crawfish Trail, in the area of Brice Creek, OR. I was even more excited about this agenda, since I had not done Crawfish before and I had heard that it was one hell of a downhill. The rumors also stated that the climb up the dirt road was a real ball buster, but the weather was supposed to be mild so I wasn't too concerned, since usually my biggest issue on rides is overheating.

Our ride

We ended up having four in the crew, Roman Androsov, Jason Snook, Emily (my wife), and me. After meeting at LCC and consolidating into my car, we headed ~1 hour southeast toward our newly planned ride. Pulling into Cedar Creek Campground, where we'd be starting from, the temps were indeed on the cool side (~60 degrees), but the sun was shining bright, much like our spirits. We quickly changed, jumped on our bikes, and headed back 1/4 mile on the road we had just driven in on to reach the gravel road climb, a.k.a. Adams Mt. Road (FR 2234).

The climb started immediately and continued along at a pretty consistent grade. It certainly forced me into my small ring but at the same time was very manageable. Once again the cool temps were a big help, and with it also being mostly shaded, I wasn't sweating like a pig, which is usually the case. The other three had jumped out well ahead, mainly since I was grinding along at a relaxed pace and taking lots of photos along the way. The real hero of the climb was Roman, who was doing the damn thing on a singlespeed. It'd be one thing if he was an avid mountain biker who rode every weekend, but he's usually kayaking with me somewhere else instead. They did wait up once at an intersection, which was good since I really didn't do any research on the ride beforehand and wasn't really sure where I was going.

Startin' the climb

Mid morning sun

Beautiful skies along the way

Typical section of along the climb

Are we there yet?

Em enjoying a mid climb break

Back to the races

On the second part of the climb I stayed a bit closer to the rest of the crew, only stopping briefly here and there for a photo op. The last bit of the climb did begin to wear on me a bit, so I was pretty happy to see Jason and Em, sitting down on the side of the road checking out the view from the road summit. We had just climbed about 2,800' in six miles, and it was nice to take a bit of a breather before the descent. None of us really felt like riding up to the summit of Adams Mountain, so instead we headed down the road another mile to the start of the Crawfish trail, where the real fun begins.

Taking in the view at the road summit

Roman joins the party

Roman probably explaining how awesome it is to singlespeed the climb

The signage at the trailhead

Since I wanted to take some shots of the crew, I rushed out ahead while they were still prepping for the singletrack. The first part of the trail traversed along the ridge, with intermittent sections of large loose rock. I was really liking my 29" wheels, which allowed me to crawl through most of the sections without much issue. Before long I found a nice sunny spot to setup and wait for the others. A couple of minutes later they came flyin' past where I was able to grab a couple shots.

Jason starting off the ride

Emily rides through a loose rock section near the start of the trail

Em, happy to be riding her bike.

More loose rock

Once the rocky bits had subsided, the trail ducked into the forest and started off with some fun swoopy sections, small drop-offs, and steeper pitches. I ended up eating shit at one point, where I flew off the trail, after carrying too much speed off one of the drop-offs. Eventually the trail made its way down/around multiple rideable switchbacks, which were a real hoot. One notable switchy had a couple of line options, by either going high or low. As I came into it with some speed, I heard Jason yell out, "Go high!", which I did. Coming out of the turn it was pretty steep, but luckily it had a nice straight run-out. All too soon, the trail ended abruptly at a road crossing, signaling the end of the first section of trail. It should be noted that there is a hard left turn just before it drops down to the road -- carrying to much speed here and missing the turn could send you off the trail with some big air and a bad landing, which I'm sure has happened in the past.

Emily finds some techie bits near the start

Roman, trail blazin'

Threadin' the Salal

Lots of fun switchbacks

Emily takes the low/tighter line

The author goes for the high/steep line (photo by Jason Snook)

Exiting the turn (photo by Jason Snook)

On the other side of the road crossing we found more fun flowy trail, with lots of nice kickers to get some air off of. There were also some high banked turns to rail around and zig-zag switchbacks, although you had to watch your speed on a few of them since there was also a bit of soft dirt..

Jason finds some sun along the way

Em, gettin' some air

Jason enters a fun S-Turn

Exiting the S-Turn

After another road crossing, the trail took on a pump-track style descent, with more of the aforementioned features and some bigger jumps built just in case you'd eaten your Wheaties. A couple of the harder obstacles were found back to back near the end of the trail, a short rocky/rooty pitch and a super tight/steep left-hand switchback. The former didn’t present much of a problem for the crew, but Jason was the only one to make the switchback – in good form may I add. From here to the paved road were a couple of downhill traverses. Once the road came into view, it all sunk in that the fun was about to end.

Jason, comin' in hot!

Entering a nice high speed turn

Emily, entering the turn

Getting the slingshot out of the turn

Roman, hot on their heels

Jason rounds another high speed corner

Roman, in the middle of the pump-track section

Roman enters the rocky pitch

The author takes his turn (photo by Emily Pfeifer)

Jason styles on of the tougher switchbacks on Crawfish

Emily rides along one of the final traverses

Roman, on the same stretch

Still a bit giddy from the trail we had just descended, we pedaled up the Brice Creek road to Lund Park, so we could head back to the car via Brice Creek Trail. Don’t get me wrong, I do like this trail as well, but it certainly doesn’t have the "whee factor" that Crawfish does. It’s more of a technical XC up/down ride littered with lots of rocks and roots. This is actually a great trail in the winter time since the soil never gets too muddy and it’s rarely snowed in. After about 3 miles on Brice, we were back at Cedar Creek campground and our awaiting car. We quickly loaded up and headed back toward town, stopping along the way for some quality snacks at Taco Bell.

The crew enters Brice Creek Trail, at Lund Park

Congo line

Finishing up the ride at Ceder Creek Campground

Conclusion:
Hands down, one of the best descents I've ridden in Oregon! I’d put it right up there with Mary’s Peak, King Castle, and Maiden Peak – I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get on it. There is just a great variety of stuff along the way, and riders of all skill levels will surely find it enjoyable – you can send it or take it at a mellow pace, either way you’ll probably be smiling the whole way down. The road crossings actually act as a great place to regroup and also separate the trail into 3 unique sections. On a side note, it appears that the DH community has spent some days doing trail work here, with lots of man-made pump-track style features – props to them for all the hard work they've put into it. Even though the trail is soft in some spots and gets fairly dusty, it was never so bad that it killed the flow. There was also a spot or two where the trail is on a fall line and trenches have been dug from draining water, but they were quite short and actually added to the excitement a bit. If you haven’t already done so, do yourself a favor and bag this ride before the winter weather comes, you won't be disappointed!

The tracks from our ride: