Hood River

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Description: Hood River is a classic mountain bike destination about an hour outside of Portland. It tends to be much dryer than in Portland, but also gets quite windy through the gorge.  There are rides on both sides of the Columbia and the trails and trails networks start to merge into Mt. Hood Territory especially as you go up highway 35. Despite living in PDX for nearly two years I didn't ride in Hood River that often since you can't really ride there afterwork and I tended to venture further on weekends for climbing or skiing.  I did get in a few great ride though.  I did get in some good rides:

 

Surveyors ridge: My only beef with Surveyors is the full loop is a grunt of a climb, lots of logging roads on the ridge to get the main trail and then the Oak Trail descent is steep with lots of switchbacks so if feels like the descent is wasted.  The descent down Dog River Trail is fantastic, so I would recommended doing it in a way that includes that descent. 

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Post Canyon: Post Canyon is a trail network which shares trails with Motos for the upper half.  During fall of 2016 it also had some active logging that was impacting some of the upper trails.  It used to be a free-ride network, but now has lots of options for all abilities.  The lower trails have a clay-like dirt which made them super slick when we went between rainstorms.   But the upper trails of Dirt Surfer and Whipsnake may have been some of the more fun trails I've ridden anywhere.  Perfect loam with super fun naturally banked trails and some excellent trail features. 

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Falls Creek: Falls Creek is on the Washington side. Even with a shuttle it made for a good sized day.  Its mostly single track nestled in the woods with a remote feel.  Nothing terrible technical, but it feels like it just keep giving with descent after descent. 

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