They each offer a concentration of trails for all levels of riders, active trail-building clubs hard at work on new trails, and mountain town or city amenities that make a multiday bike trip that much more memorable.

Hood River, Oregon

The town of Hood River sits in the transition zone where the Columbia River Gorge shifts from dripping hemlock to dry foothills, where the last stringers of wet westside weather blow themselves out on the river’s legendary gales. It’s long been known for its wind-surfing scene, but the tailgates and trailheads around Hood River tell a story about the town’s rise to fat tire fame.

In the 1990s, trail builders began constructing rogue freeride lines—massive gaps and high-wire, high-consequence wooden features in the forested hills of Post Canyon, located 10 minutes southwest of downtown Hood River. But the tracks ran afoul of the county forestry department, which manages the land for its primary economic use of timber extraction.

After a catastrophic windstorm in 2012 toppled scores of trees onto the trails and the salvage logging that followed disturbed the area even more, local builders approached the county to plead their case for new trails.

Thanks to the efforts of the Hood River Area Trail Stewards (HRATS) and its volunteers, the county acquiesced. And although the county continues to manage the area with timber top of mind, Post Canyon has weathered the storm and come out of it a stronger trail network, showcasing the trail-building transition from rocky, root-tangled tech to contemporary bench-cut jump and berm trails.

One look at Family Man Staging Area, one of the main portals to Post Canyon, shows that, although Post Canyon may have matured, there’s still plenty of high-energy riding here. Come midweek and you’re just as likely to see preschoolers on push bikes rolling out next to big senders.

The bidirectional trails, like Lower– and Upper Eight Track, are smartly laid out and rarely overwhelming to ride; riders going uphill aren’t likely to hit a wall or stall out on steep climbing turns, but beginners can build their descending skills on the return trip.

Meanwhile, expert riders can descend from the top of Upper Eight Track on Bad Motor Scooter and Upper Grand Prix, where one immaculately crafted berm after another connects massive tabletops, step-ups and step-downs.

Upper Eight Track also ties into a broader network of singletrack and motorcycle trails that honor the area’s legacy of chunky, suspension-testing tech. Now, though, the trails are legal and sustainable.

This year, HRATS has ambitious plans to give Family Man a facelift and expand Golden Eagle Bike Park and Pump Track in coordination with Hood River Parks and Recreation. It’s all part of a plan to nurture a grander transition: from beginners to lifelong bikers.

Spring is an ideal time to visit Hood River: Passing showers give the trails a regular refresh but don’t tend to be day-drenching affairs. When in town, don’t miss the legendary Dirty Fingers Bicycle Repair, a Hood River institution and an all-in-one bike shop and pub. Next door, KickStand Coffee & Kitchen will get your caffeine and calories sorted.

HRATS, informally known as the Hood RATS, build and maintain the trails at Post Canyon in addition to backcountry trail networks along the Hood River and across the Columbia, so consider making a donation after enjoying their trails.

Wenatchee, Wash.

On the sunbaked east slope of the Central Cascades, Wenatchee has developed into a shoulder-season destination for riders on both sides of the state, thanks to the hallmarks of east-slope riding: towering pines and steep, flowing descents on the sandy ridgelines that separate the Wenatchee Valley from the Cascade Crest.

In the foothills on the west side of town, #2 Canyon has transitioned from a rogue riding network to a fully sanctioned and Forest Service-supported trail system. The Central Washington chapter of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance put the public’s pandemic-inspired desire for outdoor activity to work for them, building out miles of new, buttery-smooth trail to connect to classics like Stairway to Heaven mtb trail.

The flowing berms on New Sundance replaced a heinous fall-line climb but kept the spectacular views of Mount Stuart and the central Cascades, while The Still added a swooping, 3-mile loop that flows equally well in both directions. And Evergreen has ambitious plans for even more miles this year.

Thirty minutes west, Leavenworth Ski Hill/Freund Canyon rewards riders with immaculate flow and a bird’s eye view of the Bavarian-village vibe of Leavenworth—that is, if you can take your eyes off the sidehill gap jumps of Rosie Boa.

Methow Valley, Wash.

If you haven’t ridden the Methow (“Me-tow“), go. Now. The wildflower displays on the open sage-covered hillsides, with the snow-capped battlements of the North Cascades in the background are second to none.

First, the bad news: The catastrophic wildfires that surrounded the Methow Valley in summer 2021 decimated the Chickadee trail system at Sun Mountain, where the Methow chapter of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance had just completed a three-year building campaign on trails such as Thompson Ridge—a trail that had opened the year prior and offered a backcountry mini-epic to the popular trail network’s forested, flowered tracks.

The good news: The Methow Valley boasts a number of other trail systems, such as the classic singletrack loop on Buck Mountain and the Rendezvous Hut network outside of Mazama. Better news: The community in the Methow Valley is resilient and has already been hard at work raising money to rehabilitate its trails, which are a pillar of the recreation economy and the community’s identity.

Support the Methow Valley’s efforts to recover by shredding, sipping and shopping in the region—and go the extra mile by donating money or muscle to Evergreen’s “Bring ‘em Back!” rebuilding campaign.

Sandpoint, Idaho

Despite being home to Schweitzer, one of the largest ski resorts in North America, Sandpoint locals and tourists alike often refer to the city on Lake Pend Oreille as a lake town that just happens to have great skiing. And although they share similar sentiments about the community’s trail offerings, Sandpoint is quietly developing into a dirt destination.

The transformation is in large part thanks to the Pend Oreille Pedalers (POP) and their work on the Syringa Trail Network on the west side of town. Syringa, which encompasses a trio of public lands and private parcels—Sherwood Forest, Pine Street Woods, and Velo Tout Terrain (VTT)—offers a healthy mix of kid-friendly rollers and expert-level tech.

And POP continues to add new trail as fast as people can ride them; this spring, they have already opened two new trails in VTT, the newest acquisition at Syringa. Zen Garden and Chaos Theory trails add intermediate- and expert-level tech to VTT’s entry-level berms and rollers.

Meanwhile, up on the mountain, Schweitzer is putting the finishing touches on three new flow trails, a beginner, intermediate and expert. With these new additions, Schweitzer adds some modern manicured lines alongside its notoriously gnarly old-school tech trails like Pinch Flat. And it’s only the beginning: Like its neighbor down by the lake, Schweitzer is building them as fast as its guests can ride them.

McCall, Idaho

Like Sandpoint, McCall is known first and foremost as a lake town. And like its North Idaho counterpart, this southwest Idaho community on the shore of Payette Lake boasts its share of excellent biking, with trails that bridge buffed-out flow to backcountry epics.

The Payette Lake Trail (PLT) aims to combine the two. Modeled after the Tahoe Rim Trail, the approximately 30-mile Payette Lake Trail will circumnavigate the mountain lake on mostly new, modern singletrack.

And, like the famed Tahoe Rim Trail, the PLT will feature near-constant views of the lake far below. So far, crews have completed the west leg, which ties in with the Payette Rim Trail, a McCall classic.

This season, Brundage Mountain Resort, in collaboration with the Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association, will build an 8.4-mile connector between the resort’s 30-mile lift-served singletrack system and the Bear Basin trails, a 15-mile network of flowy machine-built trail on Forest Service land just outside town.

Bear Basin trail system connects with the Payette Rim Trail, which means that, in seasons to come, riders will be able to drop off the top of Brundage and circumnavigate the lake, all on trail—proof that McCall is truly both a mountain biking and lake town.

Boise, Idaho

Idaho’s City of Trees is also the city of bikes. Centerpiece to Boise’s biking bona fides is the Boise Foothills trail system, which encompasses some 200 miles of tread radiating out from two-dozen trailheads across a patchwork of private and public lands only minutes from downtown.

The urban trail network has earned the city the honor of being an International Mountain Bike Association gold-level ride center, one of only seven in the world. From the trailheads, often at the end of tree-lined residential boulevards, the singletrack curls and snakes through the scalloped ridges and ravines that border Boise to the north.

Ask a local for a favorite route, and they’ll likely recommend the one closest to their driveway; they’re uniformly good. And from most of those trailheads, riders can climb some 5,000 vertical feet to Bogus Basin Bike Park. Here, amid subalpine firs, a far cry from the dry sagebrush below, riders can circle the ski hill on Around the Mountain—Idaho’s top-rated trail on Trailforks—or sample the lift-served trails that have received the input and manpower of the of the numerous pro riders that call Boise home.

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Central Idaho’s Epic Mountain Town: McCall, Idaho – By S. Michal Bennett

Experience Fall Harvest and Adventure in Wenatchee – By Lisa Laughlin

Head to Lake Pend Oreille for Glamping and Fall Singletrack – By Aaron Theisen

Find Fall Hiking, Biking, Food, Drink, & Family Fun in the Palouse – By Lisa Laughlin

Feature story from the September-October 2021 print issue.

For more travel and tourist information, visit local tourism websites: Sandpoint, Wenatchee, McCall, Pullman, Moscow, Visit Spokane, Visit Idaho, Visit North Idaho, Washington State.

For more travel destination and road trip stories, visit the OTO Travel archives.

[Feature photo by Holly Weiler. // View of the Palouse from Kamiak Butte.]

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Water & Forests

McCall is located on the southern end of Payette Lake and is surrounded by the Payette National Forest to the north and east and rolling meadows to the south. The best place to view the lake is from the sweeping granite cliffs at the far end of Ponderosa State Park, a verdant peninsula near downtown that also offers camping, hiking, and fishing.

At the top of the lake sits North Beach where the North Fork of the Payette River flows into the lake, an area sometimes referred to as “the Meanders.” This lazy stretch of river is perfect for swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboarding and is surrounded by soaring ponderosa pines, lush wetlands, and a wonderland of wildlife.

Other water adventures await at Goose Creek Falls, just north of the town of New Meadows, and Zims Hot Springs a few miles up U.S. Route 95.

If you’re looking for less of a crowd, head 14 miles south to Donnelly and camp at a state park on the shores of Lake Cascade. Tamarack Resort, just up the road from the lake’s east shore, is nestled close to Mica Ridge, a difficult-to-reach but scenic peak. Visit McCall also has great resources for other hiking and mountain biking trails in the area. (Read this OTO story about mountain biking in McCall.)

If exploring the backcountry on wheels is more your style, you can rent an ATV from Mountain Meadow Adventure Rentals or drive up the rough road to the fire lookout on No Business Mountain.

Mountain Meadow also offers boat, wave runner, SUP, and snowmobile rentals in addition to snowmobile, RZR (a sporty side-by-side), and Jeep tours in the Donnelly and McCall areas.

Winter Recreation

McCall isn’t just a summer and fall destination. With Brundage Mountain Ski Resort to the north, Tamarack Resort to the south, the Manchester Ice Center downtown, and Nordic ski trails throughout the area, there is plenty of play to be had during the winter months.

Eat & Drink

Just want to cozy up in a vacation rental, enjoy some great food and drink, and soak up the mountain town life? Here are some of my favorite McCall eating and drinking establishments: McCall Brewing, Evening Rise Bread Co., Café 6 three 4, Blue Moose McCall Drive Thru, Lonchera Rosita Mexican Food Truck, Rupert’s Restaurant (for cocktails), The Sushi Bar, and Frenchie’s on Third.

For more McCall road trip resources, check out Visitmccall.org.

Find more stories about McCall in the OTO archives.

Visit the Travel archives for more adventure travel stories, recommended destinations, and travel gear reviews.

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Hikes

Hikers should head up Lick Creek Road east of Payette Lake, which provides access to a number of justifiably popular hikes, most of which access granite and lilypad-lined lakes with little effort. Just east of Lick Creek summit, about twenty miles out of McCall, the Duck Lake trailhead takes hikers to either Duck (2.4 miles round trip) or Hum (4.4 miles round trip) Lake through the ruddy color of huckleberry shrubs and sedge. 

Hot Springs

West-central Idaho is a hotbed of geothermal activity, and visitors can soak sore muscles in a number of hot springs, both commercial and natural. East of Donnelly, about twenty minutes south of McCall, Gold Fork Hot Springs features a set of hot concrete-lined pools that drain down to a pair of sandy-bottomed warm pools. Before you leave civilization, be warned: Gold Fork is cash only. For a more natural experience, take the short hike into Last Chance Hot Springs, between McCall and New Meadows. The small spring pools into a rocky alcove where swimsuits are definitely optional. 

Boats

Power boaters often ply Payette Lake, but human-powered watercraft will find calm water on the Upper North Fork of the Payette where it pours into the lake. Backwoods Adventures rents canoes, kayaks, and SUPs on-site at the inlet. 

Eats

For a post-hike/SUP/soak beer or dinner, stop in at Salmon River Brewery. Housed in McCall’s old train depot, the brewery boasts a fine view of the lake from its outdoor seating area. Pair a beer with pub fries (parmesan bacon and rosemary) for a snack or order the Black-N-Blue Elk Burger for something more substantial. 

Of course, it’s hard to beat simply sitting on the grassy lawn of Legacy Park on the shore of Payette Lake and watching the sun behind Brundage Mountain. 

For more travel stories and recommended destinations in the Inland Northwest, visit the OTO Travel archives.

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