B10 THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021
82%
Central
Oregon
reservoir
levels
Madras
23%
83%
Haystack
Redmond
Sisters
86%
Prineville Ochoco
Bend
51%
58%
Sunriver
Crane Prairie
Prineville
Mark Morical/Bulletin
Andrew Williams, of Bend, flies off a jump feature at the Madras East Hills trail system on Sunday.
Freeride
Continued from B1
While many trails near Bend
have free-ride features, most
of them must be built within
the natural surroundings, such
as rocks, logs and trees. The
plethora of man-made features
at Madras East Hills makes it
unique to Central Oregon.
“Madras is a pioneer in so
many ways with this trail sys-
tem,” Morrow said. “It’s already
created a bunch of revenue
for the town. It’s put us on the
map. On the weekends, the
trailhead is packed out. And
that’s maybe 10% locals. People
travel here to ride the trails.”
I made the hourlong drive
from Bend to Madras on a
windy Sunday, and met up
with friends Mark Johnson and
Andrew Williams, also both
from Bend.
We started out on the West
Side Trail, one of the longer
trails in the system, which led
us to the west side of the net-
work through a treeless area,
the wind ripping into our
faces. Before long we arrived
at a ridgetop, then descended
a series of concrete berms and
jumps.
The trail then led us back
east across the flats to the east
side of the system. There we
pedaled up a challenging climb
and arrived at the top of an-
other ridge, where multiple
trail options were available.
We sampled a few different
trails, including White Buffalo
and Quarantine, both of which
include a series of freeride fea-
tures and lead back to the main
trailhead via the Bridge to No-
where trail. This trail included
a wood bridge, paver rollers
and a large table-top jump.
After one more lap we we
were ready to head back, hav-
ing ridden nearly 10 miles in
just under two hours. Even
though Madras East Hills is
built with a downhill, freeride
experience in mind, we still
managed to climb nearly 1,000
feet during the ride.
For some riders at Madras
East Hills, the climbing is less
of a chore, as the area is open
to electric bikes. While E-bikes
are prohibited on most na-
tional forest and BLM land,
they are allowed on the net-
work near Madras.
“We want to be a space that
everybody can come ride,” Mor-
row said. “E-bikes being a grow-
ing category, with some debate
going on, what we did was we
designed the trail with E-bikes
in mind, for both types of rid-
ers. It opens up opportunity for
those who might have physical
limitations, but still want to ex-
perience mountain biking.”
Morrow said the plan is to
eventually link the Madras
East Hills system to trails in
the Crooked River National
Grassland to the east, including
the Gray Butte area near Smith
Rock and trails near Prineville
and the Ochoco Mountains.
“We want to build trails
moving that direction over the
next five to 10 years,” Morrow
said. “We want to connect it to
a greater trail system that really
interlinks our awesome terrain
and beautiful scenery. We have
a team at COTA working on
that through the Ochoco Trails
group.”
While Madras East Hills is
an ideal winter and spring op-
tion, when many trails near
Bend remain snowy or muddy,
Morrow said the trails near
Madras remain rideable year-
round.
“They stay pretty good
throughout the summer, sur-
prisingly,” he said. “Here in
Madras, we have a clay-based
soil. So during the summer
months when things turn into
a dustbowl in Bend, our trails
are packed down pretty nice.
There are some soft spots, but
we’ve been fortifying those
with rock armor.”
The first race at Madras East
Hills is the Bone Crusher XCO,
featuring a 4-mile lap course
and scheduled for April 17.
Categories are available for all
age groups as well as E-bikes.
For more information, visit
madrastrails.com.
26%
Wickiup
La Pine
Crescent
Crescent Lake
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
Clarinda Simpson/Bulletin graphic
Find it all online
bendbulletin.com
Reporter: 541-383-0318,
mmorical@bendbulletin.com
Learn more about wine with
Monthly and Quarterly
Wine Club Options
Pinot Club
PNW Quarterly
Underground International Cellar
Custom & specialty
Tues-Thurs 11-6:30
Fri/Sat 12-8
Sun/Mon Closed
141 NW Minnesota Ave
Downtown Bend
541.410.1470
Quality Leather Gloves
LES NEWMAN’S
QUALITY OUTDOOR WEAR
On NE Franklin Avenue across from Les Schwab
541-318-4868
Cocktail Cabaret
A LIVE two-night event featuring
eleven of our region’s top
vocalists performing Oscar’s
favorite Academy
Award-winning songs!
Tickets and info at