When mountain biker Randy Dreiling hurtles down the Alpine Trail, hugs the edge with empty elevation dropping off below him, passes through wildflower meadows and old-growth trees, by blooming rhododendrons or pedaling uphill, he has one thing on his mind.
“How beautiful it is. You can see Sisters and on a good day see Hood …” said Dreiling of his favorite trail. “I’ve ridden it 50 or 60 times and I still stop at all the viewpoints. You can see wildlife (and) you’re looking down at the eagles.”
Alpine, with three loops up to 33 miles long, is for advanced riders who thrive on speed. It’s one of about 500 miles of single-track in the Oakridge-Westfir area, about 40 miles southeast of Eugene, Ore., on the west side of the Cascades.
 Oakridge was a timber town before the mill closed in 1985 and the population shriveled from 6,000 to about 3,000 residents today. Now it’s Mountain Bike Mecca for those in the know. Trail maps are available at the Middle Fork Ranger Station in Westfir, four miles west of Oakridge on Highway 58.
It’s truly an area of road trips, hiking and some extreme trails. For those who have advanced skills, it might be time to challenge Bunchgrass Trail.
“Once you’re committed, there’s a place where there’s 20 miles and no bailout point,” said Dreiling, who owns Oregon Adventures Bicycle Tours and is executive director of the Oakridge-Westfir Area Chamber of Commerce. A rider might confuse an elk trail with a single track, so he suggests going with a guide.
“But you’ve really got to love the pain to ride something like that,” he said. “And then there’s the Deadly Switchbacks where it drops about 1,500 feet in a half-mile. It’s really steep and then you climb right back out of that.”
Fortunately for the rest of us, many tracks in eastern Lane County do not cause pain. Some allow you to skip the uphill grind. The Willamette Pass Resort, about 27 miles farther east on Highway 58, has the high-speed Oregon Skyway, a gondola that takes skiers, hikers and bikers to 6,666 feet.
Once at the top, ride or walk down the flanks of Eagle Peak. Or just go up and enjoy the scenery — or say wedding vows, which is what Dreiling did last summer.
One of the purest lakes in the world (look down 125 feet) sits at 5,414 feet elevation north of Willamette Pass. Waldo Lake sits in a pocket just at the edge of the Waldo Lake Wilderness and the Willamette National Forest.
Waldo was once visualized by commercial interests as the Lake Tahoe of Oregon. Today it has three campgrounds and more than 200 developed sites. No motorized boats are allowed on Waldo.
Bikers or hikers can circle the 19.6-mile Waldo Lake Trail from July to October. The grades are mostly easy except for one area with several short steep pitches.
 Near Willamette Pass is the 286-foot-tall Salt Creek Falls, Oregon’s second-highest waterfall. It’s a short trail with wheelchair accessibility and a viewing platform. Look for the falls 23 miles southeast of Oakridge on Highway 58.
For group rides, Dreiling’s Mountain Bike Oregon event out of Oakridge is in its fourth year, having grown from one event and 38 riders to 475 riders and two events last year. Bikers can choose from five to eight rides a day, then come back to the beer garden and hang out.
Another option is to drive north from Westfir on the Aufderheide National Scenic Byway (formerly Forest Road 19) to Highway 126. The byway travels along the McKenzie and Willamette rivers and through Box Canyon, but it’s not a road for the rushed.
Spectacular scenery along the byway and the area around its intersection with Highway 126 includes Westfir’s red-and-white 1944 Office Bridge, the longest covered bridge in Oregon at 180 feet; Terwilliger Hot Springs, Willamette River Gorge, Constitution Grove, Indian Ridge Lookout and access to many trailheads and campgrounds.
The hot springs, also known as Cougar Hot Springs, is 7½ miles south of Highway 126. The stretch from Blue River through Rainbow, McKenzie Bridge and Belknap Springs on Highway 126 has an abundance of options, including rafting down the fast-flowing McKenzie River.
 The Oregon Trail Ultra Series’ last leg is a 50K run on the 26-mile McKenzie River National Recreation Trail (Sept. 6, 2008). Bike Magazine once called this trail one of America’s 10 Best Trails, a roller coaster that follows the river with single-track, waterfalls, log bridges, a lake, a lava field and hot springs and old-growth.
And once the bikers and runners have gone home, the hikers, paddlers and runners take over in the Willamette Pass-Oakridge-McKenzie Triangle. But that’s another story!
If You Go
Oakridge-Westfir
Chamber of Commerce, (541) 782-4146); www.oakridgechamber.com
Best Western Oakridge Inn, 47433 Highway 58, Oakridge, (541) 782-2212
Oakridge Motel, 48197 Highway 58, Oakridge; (541) 782-2432
Trailhead Café, 47434 Highway 58, Oak Ridge; (541) 782-2223
Lane County CVB, www.visitlanecounty.org
McKenzie Bridge Area
Belknap Hot Springs Lodge & Gardens, (541) 822-3512, 59296 Belknap Springs Road, McKenzie Bridge; www.belknaphotsprings.com
Harbick’s Country Inn, (541) 822-3805, 54791 McKenzie Highway, Blue River;
www.harbicks-country-inn.com
McKenzie Bridge Campground, Try for Loop B so the river noise overpowers highway sounds; (877) 444-6777; www.hoodoo.com/mckenzie.htm
Terwilliger/Cougar Hot Springs, Quarter-mile walk through woods, by lagoon and waterfall; clothing optional; $5; (541) 822-3799; www.hoodoo.com/terwilliger_hot_springs.htm
Willamette Area
Oregon Skyway, 10 a.m. to dusk Friday, Saturday, Sunday through Labor Day; $12; www.oregonskyway.com, (541) 393-1425. Restaurant is open on weekends
Activities
Helfrich Outfitters, (800) 328-7688 for whitewater rafting; www.helfrich.com
Hiking. Willamette National Forest, (541) 782-2283; www.fs.fed.us/r6/willamette/
Mountain Bike Oregon, July 18-20, Aug. 15-17, Oakridge; (503) 459-4508; www.mtbikeoregon.com
Oakridge 24-Hour Adventure Race, Multi-sport competition, Aug. 9-10; www.bigblueadventure.com.
Oregon Adventures Bicycle Tours, (541) 988-5397; www.oregon-adventures.com
Where’s Waldo 100K Ultramarathon, National master’s trail championship, Willamette Pass; www.wpsp.org/ww100k
Willamette Pass Resort, (541) 345-7669; www.willamettepassresort.com
Willamette Wine Tours, www.Wildheartcycling.com/tours, (877) 846-9453
Outdoors travel writers Sharon Wootton and Maggie Savage, authors of “You Know You’re in Washington When…”, live in the San Juan Islands and can be reached at (360) 468-3964.
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