Cycling

Day-cyclists and long distance riders love our trails and rural roads, with mountain and lake vistas and few other people.

Cyclists, we need your help.  The last few years have seen a crisis on our public lands just south of Crater Lake, with alarming increases in careless resource damage, trash and human waste, and lack of respect for neighboring private lands.  PLEASE recreate responsibly, so these special places stay open for public use.

Click on the Ride Name for Map, Ride with GPS, and details on RideKlamathRide.com.

ROAD ROUTES

GRAVEL GRINDERS & MOUNTAIN ROUTES

BIKES, SHUTTLES, & EVENTS

SELL, RENT, REPAIR BIKES: Zach’s Bikes (541) 851-9200 and RAD Used Bikes (971) 570-0903 in Klamath Falls sell, rent, and repair bikes.  Wheel Fun at the Running Y and Sky Lakes Wilderness Adventures in Chiloquin rent bikes for kids and adults.

SHUTTLE SERVICE: Agency Lake Resort , Waterwheel RV Park & Campground, Sportsman’s River Retreat (541) 783-3857, and  Sky Lakes Wilderness Adventures.

EVENTS

May – Annual Art of Survival Century south of Crater Lake, with family-friendly road routes, and portions through forest lands.

August – Crater Lake Century Ride

Two September Saturdays – Ride The Rim with portions of Crater Lake Rim Drive closed to vehicles.

Hiking

Take a leisurely hour-long walk, hike for a day, or explore a designated wilderness for a week. All the choices provide beautiful scenery, abundant birds and wildlife, and an opportunity for some solitude.

Hikers, we need your help.  The last few years have seen a crisis on our public lands just south of Crater Lake, with alarming increases in careless resource damage, trash and human waste, and lack of respect for neighboring private lands.  PLEASE recreate responsibly, so these special places stay open for public use.

West Side of Upper Klamath Lake

• High Lakes Trail (Restricted Use, mountain bikers welcome) Easy 1.5 miles, wheelchair accessible) to 9.3 miles. Great Meadows, Hwy 140 MP 38.  1.5 miles Great Meadow to Aspen Point Campground; 7.5 miles Lake of the Woods to Fish Lake; 9.3 miles Great Meadow to Fish Lake.  Easiest west to east, as 300 foot elevation gain going west.
• Fourmile Lake Trail (Multi Use). Easy 12 mile scenic loop. Past Lake of the Woods turnoff from Hwy 140, 5.6 miles on Forest Road 3661 to Fourmile Lake Campground.  Horse corrals. 41.455654-122.25163.  
• Badger Lake Trail (Restricted Use). Sky Lakes Wilderness from Fourmile Lake.  Easy to moderate, 10.5 m round-trip, starts about 200 yds onto the trail toward Twin Ponds past Orris and Norris Ponds and along the shore of Squaw Lake.
• Twin Ponds Trail. Easy and popular 10 mile roundtrip, starts at Fourmile Lake Campground and goes north west, following the old Rancheria Trail, a Native American trade route.
• Long Lake Trail. Easy 1.5 miles heads north from the Fourmile Lake Campground to Woodpecker Lake or continue to Long Lake and the heart of the wilderness.
• Rye Spur Trail (Multi Use)  Past Fourmile Lake, 3.5 miles to Forest Road 360 to trailhead.  Higher clearance and wider turns, so popular with horse & bike riders.
• Billie Creek Nature Trail. (Multi Use) Easy 0.9 mile, park at Rye Spur trailhead.
• Cold Springs/Heavenly Twin Lakes Trail. (Restricted Use) 3 mostly-flat miles to the Sky Lakes Basin, off Hwy 140 at MP 41.  42.542795-122.180889
• Cherry Creek Trail (Multi Use to Restricted Use). Gentle mile to first creek crossing, 5 more steep miles to first Sky Lakes Wilderness lake. Westside Rd to Forest Road 3550/3450. 42.589100-122.116491. An easier route involves a much flatter 4 mile route from the Cold Springs trailhead.
• Nannie Creek Trail (Restricted Use).  Strenuous 2 miles to Puck Lake, another mile to Sky Lakes Basin Views.
• Ranger Springs, headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Rogue River. 2.75 miles, one-way from Sevenmile Marsh Trailhead.  Westside Road to USFS 3134, or Nicholson Rd. from Fort Klamath to 3134.  GPS 42.589100-122.116491.  Gentle 1.75 miles to the PCT, turn right, and then left at Middle Fork Basin Trail sign over the crest of the Cascades and on to the springs.
• Mountain Lakes Wilderness (Restricted Use)
• Varney Creek Trail. Gentle 2 miles with 3 more steep miles to the first lake in the designated Wilderness. Off Hwy 140, MP 48.
• Tomahawk Trail (Multi Use). Easy 2.8 mile walk with gentle elevation gain and postcard views of Mt. McLoughlin, good choice for a family hike.  Forest Road 3600/190 off of Hwy 140 just W of Rocky Point Road intersection.  Park anywhere at the base of the hill and take the old dirt road/trail up Tomahawk.  GPS 42.447765-122.105457
• Eagle Ridge (Multi Use with motorized use welcome on the road.) Easy 2 miles on rough but nearly level narrow gravel road from the county park off Hwy 140, as it continues to the end of the ridge. Panoramic views of the lake and mountains.  The road is at the water’s edge, so more suitable for adults and older children. GPS 42.42668-121.937478
• Pacific Crest Trail (Restricted Use.) Start at the Summit Trail Head about 1.5 miles east of Fish Lake on Hwy 140 and hike north or south. North leads toward Fourmile Lake. South from the parking lot, the trail skirts the base of Brown Mt. and jagged lava flows.

North and East Sides of the Lake

• Crater Lake National Park Over 90 miles of one-way and loop trails, including 33 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Sun Notch Viewpoint, Castle Crest Wildflower Garden, Godfrey Glen, and the new Plaikni Falls hikes are 0.5-1.0 mile gentle strolls.  Moderate climbs of 1.5-2 miles include Annie Creek Canyon, Pinnacles, and Watchman Peak.  Hikes up Garfield and Union Peaks and Mt. Scott are strenuous with 1,000-1,600 ft elevation grains.  The strenuous Cleetwood Cove Trails ends at the lake’s edge.  Most Park trails are open mid-July to early Oct.  Check with staff for regulations specific to the Park. For example, pets are only allowed on a few of the Park’s trails.
• Collier Memorial State Park Interpretive Forest Trail. Easy and very popular 1.5 miles out and back.  Hwy 97 north.
• Wood River Wetlands (Multi use) Easy 1½ mile paved trail & 10 miles unpaved, all level walks from the Wetlands parking area. There are rich birding opportunities during any season. Most trails are MULTI USE, with hikers, horses, dogs, and bicycles welcome. Motorized use is not permitted on any summer hiking trails, even when labeled Multi Use. Wilderness trails are RESTRICTED USE with bicycles and mechanized equipment prohibited.

The Northwest Forest Pass, required to park within 1/4 m of many trailheads in National Forests, is $5/day & $30/year. It is available at Lake of the Woods Resort, USFS offices, and often at trailheads. Consult the Fremont-Winema National Forest website for more information on trails, winter snowmobile trails, passes, and permits.

High Desert Trail Riders Back Country Horsemen has info on our area’s great trail rides.  Lonesome Duck has luxurious cabins for you and a corral for your horse, and ask their staff for trail suggestions.  Collier Memorial State Park and Heartline Ranch have horse camping.

Birding

Welcome to Sunset Magazine’s #1 Birding Destination in the West, and the largest freshwater ecosystem west of the Mississippi.

Birders, we need your help.  The last few years have seen a crisis on our public lands just south of Crater Lake, with alarming increases in careless resource damage, trash and human waste, and lack of respect for neighboring private lands.  PLEASE recreate responsibly, so these special places stay open for public use.

Winter Wings Birding Festival is back, Feb. 17-20, 2023! 

The Upper Klamath Lake marshes and open water next to forests host a large variety of birds in a relatively small area. Over 350 species of birds call this major Pacific Flyway layover home! This is also a refuge for more than just birds, offering humans relief from their hectic lives.

Check the area map for symbols denoting birding hotspots. Visit the Klamath Basin Birding Trail  for additional details.

Look, listen, and enjoy.  If you’d rather bird with an expert, Lonesome Duck offers half and full-day tours with an experienced naturalist.

Seasonal Highlights

Fall: August and September are peak months for viewing pelicans, egrets, herons, and grebes. An estimated one to two million ducks and geese migrate through the Klamath Basin each October and November.

Winter: From November through February the largest wintering population of Bald Eagles, often more than 500, concentrates in the Klamath Basin.

Spring: March to May brings shorebirds and waterfowl migrating north to Alaska and Canada, with songbirds and raptors nesting in the forests and along the marshes.  Western and Clark’s Grebes dance on the lake.

Summer: Brood-rearing by shorebirds, waterfowl, raptors, and song birds.

Great Birding Routes

Odessa Campground and Upper Klamath NWR to Sevenmile Trailhead The 15,000 acre refuge offers excellent nesting and brood-rearing areas for waterfowl, bald eagles, osprey, and colonial nesting birds. Odessa, Malone, and Crystal Springs are part of a series of gushing springs that dot the western shoreline.  Species: Woodpeckers, chickadees, warblers, wrens, blackbirds, and night herons, black terns and Clark’s grebes, sandhill cranes, yellow-headed blackbirds and both white-headed and pileated woodpeckers.  Sevenmile Marsh, a high-elevation wetland with a mixed conifer forest. Nesting Species: Lincoln’s Sparrow, nuthatches, chickadees, and warblers.  Listen for yellow rails.

Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site to Fort Klamath Museum. The river aspen, marsh wetland, and open stands of ponderosa pine are excellent for viewing migrating songbirds. Nesting Species: Grouse, sapsuckers, grosbeaks, vireos, and warblers. Wintering raptors frequent the adjacent ranches.

Collier Memorial State Park to the Wood River Wetlands and Petric Park Collier State Park. Species: Jays, osprey and dippers along Spring Creek, as well as summer hummingbirds. The Wood River Wetlands and Petric Park offer riparian strips, marsh, and open water. Species: Clark’s grebe, terns, phalaropes, pelicans, and songbirds. In the winter, view Agency Lake’s waterfowl from the Wood River Wetlands and hawks and eagles from the country roads around Fort Klamath.

Great Meadow, Fish Lake, and Fourmile Lake Hwy 140 West up into the Cascades offers a diversity of habitats from wet and dry meadows, to ponds, to marsh, to mature and sub-alpine forests, to mountain lakes. Great Meadow. Nesting Species: Spotted sandpipers, American pipits, warblers, and Vaux swifts. Fourmile and Fish Lakes offer mature Douglas fir and grand fir forests surrounding sub-alpine lakes. Nesting Species: Woodpeckers, crossbills, nuthatches, and western tanagers.

EVENTS

Klamath falls hosts the Annual Winter Wings Festival on Presidents’ Weekend, with field trip, clinics, speakers, and more.