Outside

With recent warm temps exacerbating the dusty conditions closer to town, riders would do well to focus their energy on shaded and high elevation trails where summer has been slowest to chase the moisture from the soils. The snow's recent retreat has allowed crews to ramp up their trail clearing efforts at elevation, opening up more miles of riding a little further from town.
Some of COTA's recent work includes the not insignificant task of clearing the entire Metolius-Windigo trail from Todd Creek to Park Meadow trail head and north toward Sisters. Crews have also been out in the Vista Butte area just north of Century Drive where single track riders should find that most of the blowdown and debris from this past winter has been cleared. Please keep in mind the Flagline trail will be closed until Sunday, August 15 to protect elk breeding habitat. Wait until next week to ride that, please.

High and Dry. It is difficult to imagine that after the number of days of hot weather we've had recently there can still be snow blocking any trails, but it's true. The Metolius-Windigo trail is still blocked by snow and a few remaining downed trees that are due for cutting soon. Snow can also be found on the Kwohl Butte trail (off the South side of Mt. Bachelor) and on some parts of the 370 Road, which provides access to the Broken Top trails in the Three Sisters Wilderness area.
That said, trail clearing is progressing nicely. This is why we live in and visit Bend – the sheer volume of available single track for exploring. By mid-August, we will have access to almost 500 miles of trails within a one-hour radius of Bend. One COTA volunteer actually measured 272 miles of continuous single track accessible right from the edge of town!

During the hottest time of the year in Central Oregon some people would rather find activities that don't involve breathing a lot of dust while dodging mosquitoes. For the dedicated mountain biker these are trivial concerns but for others the call of the Coast or the lakes is too great to resist. That's OK. There are still trails with less of a dust problem and/or fewer mosquitoes, if you know where to go.
It goes without saying the mosquito count in the Cascade Lakes area is “strong”. One crew leader recently reported on a scale of 1-10 the mosquitoes were an “11.” Again the relationship to water here is key. Places like Cultus Lake, Waldo Lake and Lava Lake are notorious for bugs – the best thing is to keep moving or avoid those areas until later in the year.