Mountain Biking Ashland, Oregon
One of the first mountain biking destinations we decided on was Ashland, Oregon. We'd heard that it has an amazing trail network, good beer and food, nearby camping, fun culture, and was a quick ~6.5 hour drive up I5 from our wedding location in Point Reyes.
Mountain Biking Ashland Oregon // tahoefabulous.com
We'd planned on camping at a free USFS campground on Mount Ashland, and, while the campground was open the access road was not. We had way too much stuff to make the hike into the campground, so we headed towards other campgrounds in town. We ended up camping at Emigrant Lake County Park, which wasn't the best campsite on the trip, but definitely wasn't the worst. For $20 for a tent site, it was fine. Plus, the bathrooms were really clean and it stayed quiet on the weeknights we were there. It was in the oak woodlands and pretty hot. We never ended up swimming in the lake, but there is water access. We also got this great sunset view.
Ashland's great access to the outdoors, a huge Shakespeare festival, and a university make it into a really cool town. We didn't spend as much time as we would have liked exploring the city, but we'll definitely be back.
Mountain Biking
We woke up eager to ride in Ashland, so after delicious bagels at Little Shop of Bagels, we headed to Ashland Mountain Adventures, excited to catch the shuttle. We arrived and the store was closed. That's when we discovered that the upper part of the trail network was closed to riding, and, therefore, the shuttle wasn't running. Oh, well, we decided. We'll just pedal up - Greyson told me that the trail we were most excited about riding, Jabberwocky, was only ~500 feet of climbing.
Caterpillar/Lizzard/Jabberwocky // tahoefabulous.com
As you can see, this was not true. We had to climb up and up and up and up a hot, exposed road, then a hot exposed fire road before we got to the trailhead we were looking for. It was really, really hard and we regretted not taking up the shuttle offer of the local we met at the bottom parking area. On the bright side, none of the climbs for the whole rest of the trip seemed as bad in comparison.
Caterpillar/Lizzard/Jabberwocky // tahoefabulous.com
We ended up riding Caterpillar to Lizard to our ultimate goal, Jabberwocky. The trails were all definitely well built, flow trails. Jabberwocky is the newest trail in the network, and has machine bermed corners, table top jumps and not much in the way of rocks or roots. It had a few super steep super tight turns that were above my pay grade, especially early on since I didn't yet trust the dirt to hold me. It's got a couple of small, easy rock gardens and rollable drops. I had the most fun on the Lizard trail segment. It was also a flow trail, but nothing that sketched me out as much as the steep corners on Jabberwocky, so I could just relax and ride.
Caterpillar/Lizzard/Jabberwocky // tahoefabulous.com
We'd originally planned to spend three days riding in Ashland, but since much of the mountain biking was inaccessible, we decided to shorten our stay and do an extra day on the Oregon Coast. We wanted to do a quick ride and get on the road for day two, so we drove up to the highest parking area and cut off almost 1,000 feet of climbing.
Caterpillar/Lizzard/Jabberwocky // tahoefabulous.com
This time, we rode Lizard again (which confirmed it as my favorite trail we rode in Ashland) and lower Caterpillar. Lower Caterpillar was still fun and flowy, but much easier and a little less "built" than Jabberwocky or Lizard.
Trail Stats
Trails of Note: Jabberwocky, Lizard, Caterpillar
Location: Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon
Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced
Gear Used
Bike: 2016 Transition Smuggler
Helmet: Bell Super 2RHydration Pack: Camelbak Solstice
Shoes: Five Ten Kestrel Bike Shoe
Kneepads: SixSixOne Recon
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