![]() Prior to setting out check current local weather, conditions, and land/road closures. Terms of Use: As with each bikepacking route guide published on, should you choose to cycle this route, do so at your own risk. ![]() A mostly flat cruise along Siouxon Creek brings you to a narrow paved road descent and another few miles back to your car… and those loaded hashbrowns. Your final day on the trail is a mellow one. Siouxon is another popular trail but the upper trail is rarely accessed-which you drop into wrapping the day up in a glorious descent. Eventually you’ll connect with a series of little-used doubletrack roads that maintain elevation linking you north to Siouxon Creek. The exposure is gripping and the riding the most technical of the route as you traverse scree slopes with 360º views. You’ll probably wake to ambitious hikers huffing by for the summit, but you leave the throngs behind almost immediatly as you head east on Bluff Mountain trail. It’s soon worth it, though, as a picture perfect campsite rests on top of Silver Star with a hidden fresh water spring nearby. Tarbell is a stiff climb for a few miles but then branching off on the Chinook Trail switchbacks you’re forced to a crawl. Then it’s a flat paved pedal, a few beautiful creeks, and a steep push up Bells Mountain before a fun, rolling trail to Tarbell Trail at Rock Creek Campground. Load up on Backwoods Diner’s loaded hashbrowns. Countless waterfalls, working timber forests, the faux-alpine terrain of Silver Star (a byproduct of the Yacolt Burn), the giant scree fields of Bluff Mountain, imposing Cougar Rock, and the verdant green tunnel of Siouxon Creek. The variety of terrain you pass through is unique. We rode it in October with stunning fall colors, but late spring and early summer sport an equally beautiful wildflower bloom. It’s close enough that with an extra day you could even pedal there from Portland’s city limits. The trails are steep and breathtaking, but only moderately technical. There is plenty of water along the route, and a delicious hot meal waiting in Yacolt at the finish. You’ll climb (errr, push) to above 4,000′, and traverse rocky ridgelines before descending through one of the most stunning old growth stands in the area.Įach day is approximately 25 miles, but don’t let that fool you - the steep pitches are unforgiving. You get incredible backcountry singletrack and a remoteness that seems much, much farther than an hour’s drive from Portland. The Silver Siouxon route is the answer to that question. One of the most frequent questions I hear is: “What can I bikepack on a long weekend that’s close to town?”
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