BEND, Ore. — Don’t ride on muddy trails.
That is advice frequently heard in winter and spring from agencies and organizations concerned with building and maintaining trails in Central Oregon.
Riding mountain and fat bikes on muddy trails ruins the singletrack, deepening ruts, causing erosion and possibly turning ankles of hikers and runners who also use area trails. Riding around or on the edges of them is also a net negative, widening the singletrack and contributing to erosion.
“Not only is riding through mud not exactly fun, it damages the trail tread and causes erosion, causing more maintenance work for our mostly volunteer trail workers,” said Emmy Andrews, executive director of the Central Oregon Trail Alliance, an avid cyclist and monthly contributor to the Bulletin’s Explore section.
I recently experienced what happens to trails when the plea goes unheeded. To be clear, damp, firm trails are fine to ride on. A frozen section of trail could be fine to ride on in the morning hours, and after a few hours of baking in the sun, turn to sludge of which one should steer clear.
My recent out-and-back ride on Swamp Wells Trail from Bessie Butte to Horse Butte, about 2.75 miles each way, clarified to this reporter the challenge of riding a firm trail, only to encounter several yards of sludgy mud. When I hit a muddy section, I avoided adding to the already deep grooves here by dismounting and carrying my bike to the next dry portion. When I returned on a run a couple of days later, I was glad I had because, true to form, the muddy sections of the trail were difficult to negotiate on foot.
Even when temperatures hit the 60s, trails in some popular riding areas, such as Phil’s Trail, may remain muddy into early May, Andrews said, adding that it’s best to try to investigate before you go whether a trail is likely to harbor mud. She advises checking Bend Trails (bendtrails.org), “which often has comments from other riders about which riding areas are muddy and which are not. Typically, Maston, Madras Trails, the Radlands, Cline Butte, Cascade View and Horse Butte are the first trails to be mud-free.”
“If you encounter one or two patches of mud and ride straight through them, that’s not so bad, but if you are consistently encountering mud, please turn back,” Andrews said. “You can hop on a nearby forest road instead so you can still get in a ride. You’ll help preserve the trails and you won’t have to spend an hour cleaning your bike and all your gear when you get home.”
