Oregon Dunes – North
17 Oct
Finally! After much talk and little action on my part, we finally put together a trip down to the south-central Oregon coast to check out the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The area held the promise of miles of uninterrupted beach riding and remote beach camping, both a rarity in Oregon. Ultimately, it was even better than I hoped and we managed to stumble on our own little fatbike heaven.
I’ll admit that I’m not good at describing much of anything. My go-to adjectives like “awesome” and “great” only go so far. I’ll just say that this is one of the best bike trips I’ve ever done. I’d like to think that means something given the riding I’ve been lucky enough to have done the last couple years. If you have a fatbike and live anywhere near here, this area should be high on your list. If you don’t have a fatbike, go get one. It’s the most fun you’ll have on 2 wheels. Seriously.
As far as the nuts and bolts go, we only hit the northern section of the dunes. The Umpqua River splits the dunes in two and unless you have time to ride around the bay (which adds about 20 miles on US-101 each way), you’ll need a packraft if you want to link the two sections up in one go. We opted to roll packraft-free this trip and just do the northern section, but I’ll definitely be taking the boat with next time. It’s one of those places where it just makes sense.
We started our trip in Florence, leaving the car on a side street just off the main highway. A few miles of highway and pavement later we were at the northern end of the south jetty and on the beach.
I only brought the GoPro camera, which is hit-or-miss on photos and video. I love that it’s waterproof and shoots in wide-angle, but I’m tired of having lots of dark, out of focus pictures. Not having an lcd screen is also a big disadvantage as you never quite know what you’re shooting. I also think that videos of people biking are typically boring (unless it has Danny MacAskill in it). Despite that, here’s the video I put together…
Here’s a photo of our respective fatbike setups. On the right is Alan’s Pugsley. He rolled with a traditional rack and pannier system, which worked well for most of the riding we did. He only had trouble when we hit the inevitable bushwacking. I’ve got a 2010 Salsa Mukluk and went with my usual Revelate seatbag, handlebar harness and gas tank setup. Since I don’t have a framebag for the Mukluk yet I used a tangle bag, which is nice, but wastes a lot of space.
There’s one major river that requires going around on the northern section. Fortunately, there’s a bridge crossing along with several established campgrounds near the beach, making it easy. I wouldn’t recommend the campgrounds if you’re looking for solitude, but there are toilets, drinking water, and even showers if you’re so inclined. This the only drinking water available along the northern section of the Oregon Dunes coast unless you’re treating stream or river water.
No stretching in front of the sea lions:
There was one other potential river crossing along the route that we chose to bypass by heading back to US-101 and going around. Turns out is was unnecessary, as the river is a creek and easily passable where it meets the ocean. The upside was ~3 miles of fun, fast & sandy single track (aka boring hiking trails…)
This was our feared river crossing – a shin-deep creek at the ocean:
Bush camping off the beach where a brazen coyote ran off with Alan’s mug right in front of us:
Crabs!
The end of the line at Umpqua Bay. The big problem if you aren’t packing a boat is that you have to reverse course and go back up the beach 3 or 4 miles to the last public beach access point in order to get back to the highway if you want to cut around the bay to the southern beach section. Lots of boring highway miles would ensue.
Alternatively, you could try following the inside shoreline of the bay and see where that gets you. The rest of the photos are what that got us – miles of bushwacking, lots of wildlife, and the most unexpected and best fatbike riding we had the whole trip. It was totally worth the day of suffering to see it all and it was the most memorable part of the trip.
Dead falcon:
A huge section of the interior is firm sand, perfect for fat tires. There’s no easy way to get here, but I’m coming back for more – guaranteed.
An old shovel. The rust interacted with the sand to make some crazy formations:
Back along the shoreline:
ATV tracks are not conducive to good fatbike riding. They chew up the sand too much.
Lots of wildlife. And tracks everywhere – coyotes, fox, racoons, deer…
and cougars:
This was just after wading across the marsh carrying our bikes…
Creepy witchcraft site we found literally in the middle of nowhere. Seriously – what animal has a bone like that? It was like a dinosaur’s phalange.
After a few more miles of schwacking than anticipated, the real road!
Getting some use out my new Poler Magic Tarpit in the rain. Full review coming soon!
Misc. Stuff:
- Get a fatbike.
- GPS route
- Although we mostly just rode when it was convenient, a tide chart will let you know when the best riding can be had – @ low tide.
- ATVs are a pain but are restricted to certain areas. There are enough off-limit areas to find solitude and good camping.
- Bring lots of water or a filter. The filter option is a bit of an unknown, as who knows what’s upriver of these creeks and rivers.
- The interior area we rode can be found on the GPS route- look at the big interior sandy area on the satellite map near the southern point. As I said, there is no easy access (Clam Bar OHV trail from the beach is the only known access), but it’d be worth the trouble to get there. The dunes are almost all ride-able. Note – no water access of any kind in this area.
- We used a GPS and satellite images on an iPhone for navigation through the bushwacking section. Don’t trust any “roads” on any maps except for the main county road (Sparrow Park Rd). We had cell service almost the whole trip, which allowed us to follow the sandy areas on the satellite map whilst schwacking to avoid the wooded areas (much worse). Smartly using modern technology to make our dumb decisions less painful?
- All kidding aside, bushwacking is almost never a bad idea. Some of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen with my bike were places I had to carry it. As long as you’re smart about it, it’s not dumb. Big kudos to Alan for being game for the longest, coolest schwack yet, with 70+lb bikes. What a day!
So Cool. I want to come out there and have some fatbike fun. Some many Pugsley challenges in those photos! Just rode in the Indiana Dunes on my Pug. Riding down a 100 foot dune is so much fun on a fatbike!
Get your ass out here Tom – We’ve got several more big(ger) fat bike adventures planned over the next 6 months or so.
Donnie
Don’t have much to say than thanks for such an amazing post.
Nice trip! Loved the time I spent on the OR coast. Such a wonderful place, doubly so that your state had the foresight to make the entire coast state property!
had a great time! thanks for getting the date set early, Donnie. and also being game for the suffering. i thought i found a tick in my bellybutton when i got home, but it was just a plant seed from one of those tall weed plants. gross!
someone at work told me that bone is a whale vertebrae.
also, i started a thread on the mtbr fatbike forum to share the post: http://forums.mtbr.com/fat-bikes/oregon-coast-dunes-fatbikepacking-745624.html
getting some good tips there.
Love it!
Very nice!
That is my idea of fun.
nice post – did similar in Victoria Australia – on a std ole steel 26″ mtb – with tyre pressure rim hitting low – it was heaps of fun!
Good story guys. I live north of florence two blocks from a closed to atv area that is about 700 acres. I,m also on da beach where i have about 7 miles of beach ride. I have tried to plan a ride been too busy. Many of the rivers and creeks can be crossed in summer. detours required on big rivers. Siuslaw,Umpqua,Smith and some rocky places. Look for my videos on facebook i will add u if u request. I have lots of local knowledge. First of which is avoid Bicycles 101 store. Bike Newport and Moe,s bike shop are real and freindly. I bought two Muklucs from Alan Moe in North Bend. Which is right where u have to detour around a big river. All rides should be planned around the tides. Usually a 30 mph wind from the North in summer. Best time of year here is sept / oct .