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Cool Places to Stay for Cycling Adventures

From its dusty eastern reaches to its river valleys and lava flows, Oregon attracts adventure-hungry bicyclists. And the Oregon Scenic Bikeways program makes it easy to explore. So point your wheels down one of these routes chosen to highlight a variety of landscapes, skill levels and distances.

Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway

It's exciting: riding past fields of world-class hops, rolling along hills dotted with rows of wine grapes, leaning your bike outside a small cafe at a rural cross roads for a strong cup of coffee. The bounty of Oregon is on full display as you cycle the nation's first scenic bikeway,134 miles down a river valley snaking between the Coast Range and Cascade Range.

Old West Scenic Bikeway

The 174-mile Old West Scenic Bikeway weaves through rangeland, along rushing rivers and toward an unending desert. And around these parts, folks are known for their put-your-feet-up hospitality.

Cascade Siskiyou Scenic Bikeway

This 55-mile route starts and ends in Ashland and includes 5,000 feet of climbing. Fromtown, you climb through tropical grassland into deep forests. Stay in Ashland. Or turn the ride into an overnight ride and stay in a cabin in the woods.

McKenxie Pass Scenic Bikeway

This 38-mile route climbs through a forest to a 65-square-mile lava flow with 360-degree

views of the Cascadian Volcanoes. The 25-mile,4,000-foot descent to the McKenzie River has brake-burning turns through the forest.

Professional tip: The MeKenzie Highway is closed during the winter, but for several weeks before it opens to cars in the spring, the road is only managed for non-motorized use.