Badger and Chinquapin trails are now open and ready for riding. Chinquapin is an intermediate flow trail with lots of berms and small jumps. It is about 2 miles long and starts at J5.5 next to top of Nighthawk and ends at Shoalwater TH. There is about 1000 feet of climbing to the top of Chinquapin but the downhill is more than worth it. Badger is a intermediate cross country trail that climbs from lake level at the end of Queen of the Lake and ends about 3 miles later around the middle of North Star. Badger opens up a lot of new loops to ride in the center portion of Spence Mountain.

The Spring trail building season at Spence has arrived and Dirt Mechanics is hard at work. they are building a trail that connects the east side of Queen of the Lake up to the mid portion of North Star. the new trail will be around 3 miles in length and will climb from lake level (~4150 ft) at Queen to the high point on North Star (~4650ft). It will be intermediate difficulty and will allow for loops involving the new portion of Queen of the Lake completed last year. We will also finish Chinquapin trail this year. This trail is about 2 miles long and is an intermediate difficulty flow trail (lots of jumps, berms, and fun) that starts on Captain Jack above Junction 6 along with Nighthawk (black). It ends at the Shoalwater Trailhead. We will also start on the construction of Eagle Ridge Tr starting at the east end of Queen of the lake. This will be a traditional singletrack that will eventually cross most of the length of Eagle Ridge along the east side of Spence.

The Spence trail building is complete until the fall. We have a new 1.6 mi technical black trail called Nighthawk. This trail is a mix if rocks, flow, jumps and drops and will be a challenge for all but the best riders. The second trail is partially complete, called Chinquapin (a bush growing at Spence that is bane of trail builders). This trail is blue-rated and has 0.4 mi complete at present (scheduled to be complete in the fall). The trail ends at a skid road close to Rock Spur road and a short climb back to Jct 6. The route is signed. Even if it is short, the trail includes jumps, drops, flow and a few rocks. It gives a nice taste of what the complete 2 miles will be when complete.

Spence Mountain is officially open again. Thank-you for your patience during the fire closure over the last month. We are still at Level 4 or Extreme fire danger but temperatures have moderated and the nights are cooler. Also, from a resource standpoint Oregon Department of Forestry is in better shape with equipment and personal. Please continue to use extreme caution when recreating in the woods until we get moisture.

With the advice of the Oregon Department of Forestry, the owners of the Spence Mountain land tract have closed public access to the Spence trail system/roads/forest. This is related to the high fire danger. the hope is that this is a temporary closure and Spence will reopen when weather conditions or fire danger levels improve. They hope to have the land back open as quickly as is possible. Updates will be posted here as they are available.

Red Rover and portions of Speed King trails are now open.

Red Rover is a walking/stroller trail loop that is separated from the rest of the system to minimize interaction from other trail users. It is Ok for bikes, but as the builder says – “as long as you are 4 or 64.” This is an easy 1 mile loop off of the main 140 trailhead. Speed King is a flow trail that has 2/3 of a mile open at present, the rest to be completed in the fall 2021. This can be accessed from South ridge trail from a couple of signed connectors. Speed King is meant to be a fun trail with lots of jumps, berms. It is wide and smooth and one-way downhill.

Activities at Spence Mountain slow down in the winter due to snow and rain. Spence trails hold up better than Moore Park when wet, but they will get muddy as the moisture increases. Please stay off of muddy trails as they may be damaged in the process. That damage takes time and work to fix in the Spring.