Field Reports
route launches, stewardship campouts, events, and other musings.
Border to Border on Orogenesis: Part II, Oregon
Who was that chasing Kurt Last year? Meet Jacob Ashton. Jacob has been touring by bicycle nearly nonstop for many years now. In the summer of 2025 he rode Orogenesis trailing Kurt Refsnider by a few weeks. Here are his stories.
Border to Border on Orogenesis: Part I, Washington
Who was that chasing Kurt Last year? Meet Jacob Ashton. Jacob has been touring by bicycle nearly nonstop for many years now. In the summer of 2025 he rode Orogenesis trailing Kurt Refsnider by a few weeks. Here are his stories from Washington.
Tillicum Trail, Tended.
Unlike the Rhozone farther south, the winter storms seemed to have spared the Indian Heaven area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, and by the end of day one we had completed our objectives and not only fully cleared the Tillicum Trail, but gotten a good ride in as well.
Rhozone Ruminations
Wow, many hands make light work they say. Which is true, but they always forget to mention the December windstorms in that proverb.
Meet Mamiko, an Extraordinary Volunteer
Mamiko is very humble. Despite working most weekends, she’s one of our most frequent volunteers. She loves these rich natural environments and the hard work it takes to maintain the trails through them, and when she’s not volunteering with us, she’s probably at another chainsaw training or volunteering with one of the half dozen other trail orgs she’s active with.
Ultra-endurance cyclist Kurt Refsnider completes the first-ever expedition of the 5,000-mile Orogenesis route from Canada to Cabo
SAN JOSE DEL CABO, MX – December 17th, 10:02 AM – On a bustling plaza at the tip of the Baja Peninsula, the theoretical became physical. Kurt Refsnider, endurance athlete, rolled to a stop this week, marking the successful completion of the first-ever continuous passage of the "Orogenesis" route—a bold new backcountry trail corridor spanning from the Canadian border to the southern tip of Baja.
KURT TRACKER—Follow Kurt Refsnider 4,664 miles from British Columbia to the tip of Baja California
August 4th, 2025, 9:00AM Kurt Refsnider’s rear wheel left the Canadian border outside of Oroville, Washington. His front wheel is headed towards Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico—4,664 miles of unknown dirt trails into his future.
Recap: Resurrecting Rhozone - an Orogenesis & Hoodland Trails Collective Collaboration
This past weekend a hearty group of 20+ volunteers descended upon a long forgotten stretch of trail in the southernmost reaches of The Mt Hood National Forest. The area is affectionately referred to as “The Rhozone” as it is framed in by the Rhododendron Ridge Trail which spans the length of the ridge dividing this zone almost equally between Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson. With epic views of both mountains, deep loamy forest, rocky outcroppings, and beautiful Rhododendrons lining the trail - it is truly a spectacular place.
April 23rd, 2025: Loowit Tier Launch
In less than two weeks we’ll release the first tier of the Orogenesis route publicly: Packwood Washington to the Columbia River Gorge. We’ll be leading a group ride in early August on the Klickitat Sisters Trail, but the other 180 miles are excellent as well. Are you making plans to ride the Loowit Tier this summer?
Recap: 4th Annual Cispus Collaborative Chainsaw Training
The Cispus Collaborative Chainsaw Training wrapped up on Sunday in Randle—cumulatively we've certified more than 100 sawyers over the past four years at this event. But even more impressively was the amount of knowledge present over the weekend.
The Sagebrush Rabbit Hole—Scouting the Sierra Camino
Sand. It's unpredictable. After a rain, it can be nice and firm and easy riding, but once it's really dry, or has seen a bit of traffic it can start to get thick and harder to pedal through. It seems to be a patchwork of firm ground versus thick sand out there, so hopefully there will be a way to find the best route possible for that section.
Cispus Collaborative Chainsaw Training - 2025
Do you love the smell of bar oil in the morning and waking up next to your sweetheart, Stihl? Make a date with your bestie chainsaw to attend the 4th Annual Cispus Collaborative Chainsaw training hosted by the Upper Cowlitz Valley Trails Coalition.
A look back at 2024
Hey, we were busy looking at maps, so it took a while to crunch the numbers. In 2024 we tackled the first major route revision in several years, inventoried all 1,552 miles of singletrack, and selected the best of the best to launch in 2025.
First Thru Rider of Washington’s Colemonti Crossing: Dustin Raisanen
I got to spend 17 days in the wilderness on my bike. Life can’t get much better than that. Every sunrise and sunset, some really incredible descents at last light. But mostly the kindness along the way, and all of the wonderful conversations with strangers.
A glimpse at what’s to come—Claim your map now
“Can I ride Orogenesis yet?” The answer is finally yes, at least parts of it—we’re ready to share Orogenesis with the world.
Klickitat Sisters—an ancient upcountry portal
The Klickitat Sisters Trail is an ancient upcountry portal into another way of life. There are stories from oral tradition and eyewitness accounts that for millennia the people of the Yakima, Klickitat, and Columbia River have passed through these ridges and meadows as trade routes and during annual huckleberry harvests. Its reawakening provides a trove of treasures for those who seek.
Ride of the Month: Lost Cannon Canyon
Continuing our Fremont theme from last month’s Ride of the Month, we’re excited to share this remote Sierra high country gem. This loop climbs 2,500’ through lush stacked meadows, interspersed with aspen copses before topping out at almost 9,000’ and then descending along the banks of Mill Creek—a fast, narrow, and rowdy descent that sees very few tires.
Ride of the Month: Charity Valley
Believe it or not, Charity Valley is the route General John C. Fremont and Kit Carson took crossing the Sierra’s Carson Pass in 1844—in a mid February blizzard no less. Hopefully we’ve gotten smarter since then, and are now recommending you ride this route east (downhill) instead of west, using a mountain bike instead of a horse pulling a cannon, and definitely not in February.
Finding Lost Trails: The Basics
Lost trails, ghost trails, historic trails—whatever you call them, these relics of the golden age of trail building are an intriguing treasure hunt for us today. Aside from the intrigue, why do we care?
Ride of the Month: Lost Sierra Bikepacking Route
The Lost Sierra Route is a 250-mile gravel bikepacking loop starting and ending in Truckee CA. The route dives straight into the backcountry of the Lost Sierra Region, known for its rugged landscape and gold rush history. Combining Tahoe, Sierra, and Plumas National Forests, the diversity of this route is deep in history, and beauty and filled with surprises and challenges!