Best Trails for Escaping Portland to Ride Singletrack

Fleeing the Portland sprawl in search of sublime singletrack? Check out this list of top trails close to Portland.

Mountain Biking Difficult, Severe, Extreme

Description

The city of Portland can be a conflicting place to live as a mountain biker. Despite being renowned as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the nation, that bike friendliness only extends as far as bike commuting and road cycling. Mountain biking? That's a different story.

Mountain bikers in Portland have been fighting a losing trail advocacy battle for years, with many of the best trails in the city of Portland being closed to bikes, despite ardent protest. As it currently stands, the options for true mountain biking close to the city are extremely limited, despite Portland claiming one of the largest urban forest preserves country.

So if you're looking for true singletrack to ride, into the car and out of the city you must go. But thankfully, within an hour's drive of downtown you can access some truly incredible trails! The Sandy Ridge Trail System is the closest hit to town, which means it's correspondingly ultra-popular. Timberline to Town is a shuttle run of epic proportions that's also quite easy to reach. And then with a bit more driving, locals can access Post Canyon and other trails in the Hood River area.

While the going may be tough for Portland mountain bikers, if you're willing to venture out of the city you'll soon discover a wealth of fantastic singletrack!

Sources: Singletracks.com Wikipedia.com)

Routes included