This week, I traveled to Polk County to discover a little piece of cycling heaven for mountain bike riders called Black Rock Mountain. Located across 500 acres of Oregon State Forest at Black Rock Mountain in Polk County, this little piece of cycling heaven that offers “free rider” a true test of the stamina, not to mention a complete adrenalin rush!
Some of the runs at Black Rock are so steep that riders can reach speeds of 40 mile per hour, so each rider covers up from head to toe with plastic and neoprene rubber protection that they call “armor.” The bikes that they ride are specially designed to take punishing workouts across the forest – aluminum framed bikes with heavy-duty front and rear air shocks and disc brakes are common and the bikes can reach $5,000 or more.
What’s unique about Black Rock Mountain is that the trail system was created by a unique partnership between local government and riders and is the first “mountain bike only” area approved by the Oregon Department of Forestry. In addition, the entire trail system is maintained and operated by a volunteer organization, the Black Rock Mountain Bike Association (BRMBA). The seven year old organization has 1500 members and started Black Rock with the dream of “…getting people off the couch and out in the forest.”
From trail design to maintenance, BRMBA members are involved in the entire process of the project. It all begins with designing the features that riders seek at Black Rock; features that include ramps, jumps and berms – that are approved by the Oregon Department of Forestry and then built by the club members. The trail designers can also name the varied projects and include such imaginative names like “Sunday Stroll,” “Grannie’s Kitchen” and “Bonzai Downhill.”
The runs and the stunts have been designed and built with the approval of Oregon Department of Forestry under the “Adopt A Trail” program and volunteers make sure that the impact on the forest is minimal.
Whether catching big air or enjoying the freedom that comes from speeding down a forest trail on two wheels, the riders agree that there’s something for every level of experience at Black Rock Mountain.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 27th, 2009 No Comments »
Is it time for you to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday city life? Perhaps to unwind on a backcountry byway that will take you into a chapter of Oregon history?
I am a big fan of Oregon’s little roads; you know, the ones without numbers. Linn County has a few and sometimes these roadways let you set your clock back too – on a journey into unexpected bliss!
It feels like a Huck Finn sort-of -world at Shimanek Covered Bridge – a gorgeous beauty decked out in “Navajo Red” colored paint and it spans Thomas Creek.
Safety is important these days because traffic roars past at a shattering pace – a far cry from slower days of the past century. Still, there are other covered bridges that are off the beaten path and hint of bygone times. For example, Hannah Covered Bridge is picture-postcard perfect!
This stunning whitewashed covered bridge was built in 1936 and offers a bit of a Norman Rockwell kind of American moment. As you will see, there is plenty of water running under the Covered Bridges of Linn County, so don’t be surprised if you end up at Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Roaring River Hatchery. This is a place that raises really whoppers – the kind with fins. Seventy percent of Oregon’s catchable hatchery trout are raised at Roaring River Hatchery.
Last winter, we showed viewers how that energy is put into action when we visited a classroom full of enthusiastic students at Banks Elementary School You see, Roaring River Hatchery donates 100,000 trout eggs to hundreds of Oregon classrooms where the youngsters raise the eggs into baby fish. It’s a successful and unique environmental education program called “Eggs to Fry.”
Not far from the Roaring River Hatchery, you’ll enjoy a chance to relax at Larwood Wayside – only site in the state where a river flows into a creek. It’s called Crabtree Creek and it is where you will find Larwood Covered Bridge and it was built seventy years ago.
Oregon has more (49 authentic) Covered Bridges than anywhere else in the country, so it is something all Oregonians should be proud of so folks should get out to see and enjoy them.
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High above the Willamette Valley in the Willamette National Forest, follow the roadway that traces a trail along Fall River, near Lowell, Oregon and you could discover adventure that’s guaranteed to take you to new heights.
I met a group of climbers along this roadway near Fall Creek Reservoir. As I discovered, they were a small corp of climbers that was a breed apart from typical rock or mountain climbers. Just like rock climbers, these folks used gear that included harnesses, ropes, mechanical ascenders and even helmets. A hearty collection of people had gathered to meet guides with the Eugene-based Pacific Tree Climbing Institute who don’t climb tall mountains; rather they ascend Oregon’s tallest trees.
Jason Seppa, co-owner of PTCI and a lead guide in my adventure, coolly showed each of us the correct way to wear the harness and how to handle the ascenders; the main mode of movement up the giant trees.
The team had gathered to climb three of the tallest giants in the forest. Trees that had been nicknamed “The Three Musketeers” because the trio of 600 year-old Doug fir had grown so closely together.
Robb Miron, Seppa’s partner in PTCI, explained the advantages of climbing these big old trees: “They are really climber-friendly with a lot of limbs and a lot of architecture. When you’re up in them, it’s the kind of a feeling that you get being inside a grove of trees.”
PTCI operates under a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service and their climbing techniques and equipment do not damage the trees. Seppa and Miron called it “eco-friendly” climbing as they teach both newcomers and experienced how to reach for the tallest heights of the trees without hurting the trees they climb.
They employ the same equipment and skills that each had learned on their jobs as full time arborists in Eugene, Oregon. The trained arborists turned their attention to recreation climbing six years ago and agreed that the forest has much to offer people.
There was a genuine rush of energy and excitement at the doing of the thing and the unmatched view of the surrounding forest.
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Oregon offers a treasure trove of interesting places and fun activities that can reveal much about our region’s past.
In fact, one Eastern Oregon town offers fascinating lessons in “pre-history,” that – with a bit of imagination and some handiwork – can transport you to a quite different Oregon. In Fossil, Oregon all you need are some simple tools, keen eyes and curiosity to learn more about the state – as you dig into Oregon’s past.
Eastern Oregon’s gigantic landscape holds on to memories – old homestead sites – where families once worked the land and carved out their livelihoods across the high desert. Time has passed most of them by and what often remains today are small reminders in a big country that are worth a pause to consider.
Fossil, Oregon is worth more than a pause! Especially if you enjoy history, like to get your hands dirty and really dig buried treasures!
It’s a much different slice of outdoor life for the visitors who stroll through the back gates at Fossil’s Wheeler High School – pass under the goal posts of the school’s football field and then take a step back in Oregon history. It’s the only public fossil dig area in Oregon that offers surprises with each handful of dirt and rock that you turn over.
Today, the fossils that you dig reveal a much different scene in this part of Eastern Oregon. In fact, 30 million years ago the region was more akin to today’s Oregon Coast Range Forest – a temperate rain forest with ancient firs and cedars and ferns and even prehistoric insects. All were covered and trapped by ancient mudflows born of volcanic eruptions that were a common geologic feature in this part of Oregon.
All of it adds up to a stark contrast to the high desert sage and juniper country that surrounds Fossil in the 21st century. Just down the street, the new Paleo Lands Institute will teach you much about the fossils that you collect.
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