After climbing up a series of trails out at MERA the day before, we switched it up and decided to descend them. Our loop was 13.3 miles with 2248′ of climbing up to 5205′.
Mt Emily gravel/dirt road leads to the top though the further you go the lesser the road becomes. It’s washed out, rocky and rutted in places towards the top. After climbing up Red Apple, Upper Hotshot, and Zig Zag, we turned right on the road and headed up. It’s a pretty climb up through the forest and is completely shaded in spots. For the most part it’s a steady climb but it’s steep in a couple spots with a max grade of 31.3%! The views of the valley and surrounding mountains pop into view several times. We looked down on all the crop/grass fields below and in fact, some fields were stubble burning.
At the top we found the Ridgeline Trail that appropriately heads along the ridge briefly before pointing steeply downhill. The first part is rocky and then after turning on Upper Doing Time, the fine dust/powder starts up and to be first is key, otherwise the following rider has to hang back a bit to keep from being completely dusted out. The trail is very steep and rutted in parts but soon enough we were spit back out at the intersection with Caffeine Trail that we descended the day before. We took that to Doing Time and descended for a long ways. This trail is a blast with features everywhere though it is still pedaly in places.
These trails flow nicely with fun switchbacks and little features sprinkled in. It’s a nice trail system with great options for different skill levels and lengths of ride. There is a skills section of trails that have skinnies, drops, and jumps to practice on. It’s nice to see such a thoughtful trail system.
On the way back to camp we stopped to look at the Historic Upper Perry Arch Bridge. Conde B. McCullough arrived in Oregon in 1916 and in 1919 became the first Oregon State Bridge Engineer.McCullough believed that site-specific features and scenic considerations should factor into selecting bridge type. He also believed that well-maintained highways with attractive bridges drew more tourists, who then bought goods and services in local communities and boosted the all-important state gasoline tax revenue. It wasn’t the most impressive bridge, but a cool little piece of history.
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