The Old Cascade Crest is one of Oregon’s most remote and raw places to Mountain Bike, located in the Northern Sector of the Willamette National Forest.  Nestled right next to the Middle Santiam Wilderness, the OCC in total is a 42 mile backcountry lollipop just an hour from Bend Oregon.  This area was site of the 2017 Trans-Cascadia MTB race, split in half, we ride the Old Cascades Crest South on Saturday and Old Cascades Crest North on Sunday.  These two days are the best combination of riding in this area.

OCC North is a beautiful day on the bike, exploring the actual Old Crest of the Cascades, the highest point of the Cascade Mountain Range some 1 million years ago.  We’ll begin our day by getting dropped off near Scar Mountain.  We’ll climb our way to the jagged high point and an outstanding view of an outstanding slice of the Cascade Mountain Range.  From here we meander up and down the ridgeline until we get to our junction for the Gordon Peak Trail. 

From this junction we begin Gordon Peak trail and have a nice gradual descent as we begin, allowing for some playful riding a nice warmup for our massive descent to the valley floor.  The Gordon Peak trail is unique as it shares a wilderness boundary line and offers a remote and pristine trail experience, Big old growth trees and copious amounts of Duff.  This side of the system is a place not many people visit.  At the valley floor, we’ll take off our shoes and ford pyramid creek, a shallow but wide crossing that’ll cool the feet.  We’ll hop back on our bike for a ride back up to our shuttle pick up.  We have the choice along the way to checkout one of our favorite swimming holes, and a solid 30 foot diving board for those brave enough to walk the plank.  At our shuttle pick up, we’ll have our cooler with food and beverages and we can replenish the system for our last and final piece of the ride up and over Crescent Mountain. 

From lunch we get a nice little shuttle bump to skip some of the climb to our summit of Crescent Mountain.  We have a solid hour to hour and a half climb to get to our high point, an old fire lookout with remnants from generations of Cascade Mountain Adventurers.  From here, we’ll descend all the way down the South Side of Crescent, traveling through meadows and old growth trees and a strip of dirt so inspiring it makes you tear up.  Some high fives and a Drink, we’ll discuss the day and remember how Good It was!  A good way to experience this area is by riding both North and South on this weekend.  It’s a solid two days of riding and a great way to see this radical area.