Swerving Excursions: Coast Range 3-day

The Velodirt organized Rapture ride is in it's 3rd year now, which is an unsupported all-day jaunt through the Oregon Coast Range. It's a fantastic route, but there are so many other roads I've wanted to check out in the area, so I used the finish line at Flying M ranch for the 2nd night of camping. The goal, like last year, get to the kegs before most people finish the Rapture.

Sorry, no GPS tracks for this one, as I'm pretty sure I was trespassing at some point

Day 1

Leave Portland, de-stress, find cool shit in the woods, don't get too lost.

The trails were looking dense, barely used and promising

Remnants of an old log cabin

While I got turned around a few times and the planned route got changed due to there not actually being a route, the tracks were still pretty good

This was tamest part of what became a 3-hour bushwhack section

Seriously, this is the trail

No simple task with a 65 pound bike for almost 3 hours

Finally made it to the junction of Middle Fork Trask and North Fork Trask rivers for the 1st night of camping

So good!

Day 2

The left option is North Trask road, part of the Rapture route. The right is Bark Shanty Road, which turned out to be one of the best sections I've ridden in the coast range

Even the best sections can get regraded for logging trucks. Not CX bike friendly.

Clearcut- while it's unsightly, this is the reason we have awesome roads to ride in the range. As long as you're camping in designated areas, the logging companies welcome bike traffic and many roads are closed to non-logging motorized vehicles.

Day 3

I made it to Flying M on day 2 with plenty of beer left in the kegs. The next morning, we're awakened by little airplanes landing in the field next to the campground, whose pilots meet at the ranch for an awesome breakfast that we all share together. After breakfast, I packed up and rolled back to Portland, happy my 1st bikepacking trip of the summer went so well.