MTB Oakridge Heckletooth/Bunchgrass & Larison Rock

We arrived in Oakridge and quickly found a campsite and got a game plan for riding.  We left from the campsite and rode up road 207 to catch the tail end of Bunchgrass.  Let's just say 207 was a grunt...207 was a mean punchy climb that did not let up.  It averages about a 15% grade for over a mile and ends up gaining about a 1,000 ft in that distance.  I was on the singlespeed and I had to dismount and take my bike for a walk a couple of times in order to catch my breath and let the legs recoup for a moment.  Ouch!  2 ohhhhh 7, one mean ass climb!  There is a good reason that the locals call that 'the wall'.

Once we approached the top we hopped on the trail that followed the contours of the ridge and snaked along the side of the ridge with great views of the valley looking south.  The riding was really good and it felt great to be out of town and focusing only on the trail immediately in front of us.

The trail started to drop in elevation and all that hard earned gain was paid off in spades with a nice descent back into town.

The plan was to link that up with Larison Rock so we meandered over to the other side of Hwy 58 and did the long climb to Larison Rock where we took the little 1/2 mile spur to the top to see what kind of views it offered up.  We hung out at the top for a little bit on top of 'Larison Rock' proper and noticed some climbing anchors up there.  After a few minutes we decided it was time to turn around and see how many ear to ear grins we could find on the way back down.

As usual, there were no lack of smiles and fun on the descent.  The trail was a little greasy in a couple of spots but overall it was riding really well.  We continued to take in the descent and stop frequently to look at the sights and snap a few pictures.  The trail works its way down through some great old growth (yup, seems like a reoccurring theme in the area) back towards the local day use area in town where we worked our way through town and back to the campsite.

It was a great way to start the 4 day trip and work some of the lead out in the legs.   We got back to the airstream and took quick showers and worked on dinner as we let the day's ride permeate through our soul and do it's subconscious therapy....ahhh