The South Hills ridgeline trail offers mountain bikers a long trail with varied difficulty.
Getting outdoors
It’s fall, and new students may want to experience the splendor of the Oregon wilderness without traveling very far. Well then, check out the places listed below. These three spots are only a couple of hours from Eugene and offer great hiking or mountain biking trails that are a step removed from the standard buttes (Skinner and Spencer).
Sweet Creek Falls is an easy set of year-round trails that offers views of nearly a dozen cascades and waterfalls. The larger waterfalls are up to 75 feet high.
All the trails combined make for a five-mile round trip. The trail offers catwalks that hang over the churning river and a river crossing for those who don’t mind getting wet and don’t want to drive to the other trail heads.
To get to Sweet Creek, go west on Highway 126 (which starts as West 11th Avenue). Approximately two-tenths of a mile past the junction of Highway 126 and Highway 36 in Mapleton, turn south onto Sweet Creek Road. From there, go four and a half miles up the road and bear left to stay on Sweet Creek Road.
Eventually, Sweet Creek Road becomes Forest Road 48. At this point, it’s only six miles to the Homestead trail head. Parking lots for the Sweet Creek trail head and the Wagon Road trail head are shortly ahead on the same road.
To get to the Beaver Creek Trail, turn left onto FR 4800.490, which is one-tenth of a mile past the Wagon Road trailhead.
For mountain biking, try the five-mile (one-way) Winberry
Divide trail. This trail rides
the ridgeline of Lookout Point Reservoir and offers gorgeous panoramic views.
To find the trail, take Highway 58 southeast to the town of Lowell. Once in Lowell, go to the Lookout Point Dam. It’s very popular, and the signs can’t be missed.
From the dam, drive the North Shore Road for 11 miles. Then, turn north onto School Creek Road and drive four miles to the top of the ridge and the trail head.
At the end of the trail, riders can continue to the 4,000-foot peak of Tire Mountain. Be warned, the ascent is tough.
Last is the secluded Kentucky Falls trail. This year-round trail takes you through majestic old-growth forest to three amazing waterfalls. Each waterfall is about 90 feet high. Giant salamanders and deer are common on this beautiful trail, but people are not so common.
Start by driving west on Highway 126. After about 45 minutes, watch for a sign for the Whittaker Creek Recreation Area, which is approximately 12 miles east of Mapleton. Follow the sign and turn south into the recreation area.
Now go southwest for one mile on Whittaker Creek Road and bear left onto the paved Dunn Ridge Road. After seven miles, make a left turn onto the loose gravel road that goes to Reedsport. Turn right onto FR 23 after another 2.7 miles. After 1.7 miles, turn right again onto FR 2300.919 (which is paved). The trail head is 2.7 miles from there, on the left.
Chris Delissio is a freelance writer for the Emerald.