MERA Trail System: Northeast Oregon’s Hidden MTB Gem

The Mount Emily Recreation Area, or MERA for short, is quickly becoming known as the crown jewel of trail-based recreation in Northeast Oregon. This expansive trail system is home to over 40 miles of nonmotorized trails, plus another 45+ miles of moto-legal trails. With such an impressive array of singletrack set on a gorgeous mountainside, the mountain biking opportunities found here are truly sublime!

MERA began life as a private timberland that had allowed recreational use. To keep it from being subdivided and sold off, Union County decided to acquire and protect it as a public recreation area, with the help of grants from the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department. "Today MERA provides multi-use recreation, education, and natural resources for Union County and its visitors,” according to MeetMERA.org.

The flanks of Mount Emily are now covered in miles and miles of serpentine singletrack. These long strips of dark black dirt swoop and flow across the mountainside in all directions. With a berm in almost every corner and jumps spread all throughout the trail system, the fingerprints of mountain bikers from the Blue Mountain Singletrack Trails Club are readily apparent upon these trails.

This convoluted maze of singletrack can be difficult to navigate even with a map, so in this guidebook, we’ve not only created an excellent map for navigation, but have included the top routes for completing rewarding mountain bike rides in this network of trails. Whether you want to pedal just a few miles or half a day, you can find a route to satisfy in this guidebook!

MERA's top routes include this steep top-to-bottom loop ride with 2,800 feet of climbing (and descending) in less than 15 miles, and the enjoyable pedal on the MERA Loop and Sasquatch Trail. Or, you could try out some of the trails on the moto side of the mountain, and you definitely can’t miss the new Dirt Circus trail—the first downhill mountain biking-only trail at MERA!

Sources:
BlueMountainSTC.org
MeetMERA.org