To help meet the growing need for mountain biking trail opportunities, the Forest Service has partnered with the Port of Cascade Locks and the Northwest Trail Alliance to develop a 14.8-mile trail system in the Columbia River Gorge Natural Scenic area near Cascade Locks.
The emerging trail system will connect the existing Gorge #400 trail to the Herman Creek Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail to expand hiking, biking, and equestrian trail recreation. The new trails incorporate several existing corridors to minimize environmental impact – old roadbeds, powerline access roads, etc.
As a Forest Service partner on this project, the Northwest Trail Alliance has been organizing trail work days to build the new cross-country trails. In the last few years, the capability of the Portland Trail Association has grown exponentially in numbers, trail building, and organizational capacity.
Having explored the Gorge #400 trail a few years ago, we’ve been monitoring this area for some time, as its proximity to Portland makes it an appealing trail destination. Work on the trail additions began in 2023, and thanks to the efforts of trail contractors and NWTA volunteer trail builders, many sections of the trail are already open to the public.
While the Gorge Trail 400 is around 35 miles in length, bikes are only permitted on 3.4 miles of it. Knowing we’d be utilizing the new additions to the trail networks, it was time to put some skin in the game and pitch in on a recent trail-building day. With over 40 volunteers present, teams split up into groups throughout the network with some working to cut back overgrowth, remove down trees, and tread repair.
Other teams worked to clear vegetation so a mini-excavator could come in and rough in a new trail. With the trail-building machine, the group cut in a new section of trail and created some technical trail features to enhance mountain biking experiences, with berms and rock roll-over features.
To further increase trail-building capacity, a trail school was put on, providing an opportunity for new volunteers to gain knowledge and experience in building sustainable trails.
After working a few hours, we changed into riding gear and pulled out our bikes, joining several other volunteers to explore some of the new trails.
An aspect we enjoyed about Trail #400 is the classic mountain biking trail experience is suitable for both hardtail and full-suspension mountain bikes. The downside is #400 is that it’s an out-and-back ride unless you loop back along the bike path and road. The new additions not only add trail mileage but also new options for routes that include technical black diamond single track. Not only do the new sections add mileage, but many of the new trails are optimized for the mountain biking experience, with rocky sections that have good flow at the right tempo.
We also enjoyed the technical rocky climbs (and descends, depending on your direction of travel) that challenged both our lungs, legs, and skills. Another major bonus is that the trails are a good wintertime destination as they drain well thanks to the rocky sections and sustainable trail design. And although it started to rain part way through our 10-mile ride, thanks to the tree coverage we were barely wet on our return to our vehicles.
Keep abreast of new trail-building volunteer opportunities at NW-trail.org and on the Cascade Locks MTB Trails Facebook Group.
Additional Reading: Forest Service July 2021 Decision Notice
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd933495.pdf