THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022 P3
Singletrack offers prime spring riding
Central Oregon Trail
Alliance constructs
12 miles of new trails
BY MARK MORICAL
For The Spokesman
T
he volunteers with the Cen-
tral Oregon Trail Alliance
have done it yet again — built
new trails that further enhance our
mountain biking mecca here on the
High Desert.
Redmond has previously been an
underserved area for premium sin-
gletrack, but that is changing. The
latest new trails in the area include 12
miles of singletrack just west of Ea-
gle Crest Resort, accessible from the
Cascade View Trailhead. I was pleas-
antly surprised with an intricate trail
design of various loops that mixes
flowing singletrack with technical
rock areas, and just the right amount
of climbing.
Add in the sprawling views of
snow-covered Cascade peaks, and
these trails are worth the trip.
The Cascade View trailhead is
located off Eagle Crest Boulevard,
which is accessed from Highway 126.
The trail system is open to
non-motorized users and includes
about 7 miles of trails open to horse-
back riders, hikers and runners in
addition to the bike trails. The pedes-
trian and equestrian trails are sepa-
rate from the mountain biking trails
to reduce conflicts.
The trails are now well-signed
so bikers can know where they are.
A map of the area is available at
bendtrails.org.
I started out on the Blue-Belly
Stem trail which is a green (easy) trail
and enjoyed smooth, rolling single-
track through the hilly, juniper-laden
area.
After about half a mile, I passed
through a gate used by local ranch-
ers who graze cattle in the area. Gates
must be closed securely after passing
through.
After the Blue-Belly Stem trail, the
network continues south with basi-
cally three loop options: Blue-Belly
Loop, Stinger West-East, and Jack
Rabbit Connector.
At the first junction, I turned onto
Stinger West, a blue (intermediate)
trail and immediately encountered a
rocky, technical section. I was able to
roll over it with relative ease on my
full-suspension bike. The area fea-
tures many such sections, most of
which are fairly easy to ride through.
But I did decide to walk my bike
through some more-challenging
rocky areas.
I continued on to Stinger East
and began making a climb along
switchbacks on the west side of Cline
Buttes.
The ascent was challenging, but
not overly difficult, and the view of
the Cascades to the west was sub-
Mark Morical/The Bulletin
Views of the Three Sisters are abundant along the trails near the Cascade View Trailhead in Redmond.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
A trail winds through sagebrush and ju-
nipers near the Cascade View Trailhead
in Redmond.
Mark Morical/The Bulletin
A technical rocky section along the trails near the Cascade View Trailhead in Redmond.
lime. They dominated the horizon,
including Tam McArthur Rim, the
Three Sisters, Mount Washington,
Three-Fingered Jack and Mount Jef-
ferson.
Eventually the trail looped to the
north back toward the trailhead. I
rode the east side of the network
back, enjoying the descent along
both technical and flowy sections.
The area is still relatively un-
known, as I encountered only two
mountain bikers and two trail run-
ners during the 12-mile ride, which
included about 500 feet of climbing
and took about 1 hour, 45 minutes.
The Cascade View trailhead
should serve to take some of the de-
mand away from the nearby Maston
Area off Cline Falls Highway, which
has become an extremely popular
winter and spring mountain biking
spot.
Trails in the area should remain
in decent condition with the recent
stretch of cold weather and snow, but
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
as summer approaches will likely be-
come increasingly sandy.
For now, mountain bikers should
still have a few weeks to enjoy the
prime singletrack of another brilliant
COTA project.
█
Cascade View Trailhead off Highway 126
near Eagle Crest in Redmond includes
about 12 miles of new singletrack and a
few loop options.
Reporter: 541-383-0318,
mmorical@bendbulletin.com
(Right) A trail winds through sagebrush
and junipers near the Cascade View
Trailhead in Redmond.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Local students named to COCC Dean’s List
Central Oregon Community College has announced its winter
2022 Dean’s List. The Dean’s List recognizes students enrolled in 12
or more graded credits who receive a term GPA of 3.60 or better.
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