Dead Mountain #3566

Overview
Catch a morning shuttle to warm up on one of the area’s newer trails, Dead Mountain, and then catch an afternoon shuttle to Larison Rock. You can ride back into town from the bottom of either trail and by the end of the day you’ll have notched over 6K’ of descending.

Route Details
Dead Mountain is a great introduction to the riding in Oakridge. It isn’t as deep into the backcountry as some of the other trails but to compensate it bumps up the fun factor. Once the shuttle rig drops you off you can add a quick bonus loop by pedaling up the remaining quarter mile on a doubletrack road to get to the summit, which then loops you back down on singletrack to the official start of the Upper Dead Mountain Trail.

The upper part of the trail is flowy with lots of rollers to pump for speed but plenty of sidehill to keep you honest. The lower section opens up with faster, straighter segments, the trees flying by in a blur of emerald green in your peripheral vision. The corners come up fast when you’re moving at speed so get ready to haul on the brakes so you don’t overshoot the turns. After five glorious miles of descending you’ll end at the lower trailhead off Salmon Creek Road. If your vehicle isn’t here and you need to head into Oakridge, you can keep heading downhill and hop on the Salmon Creek Trail for a pleasant creek-side spin back into downtown.

This ride is good when paired with the nearby Larison Rock shuttle (https://www.trailforks.com/trails/larison-rock/).

Riding Season
Spring through fall.

Important navigational note:
There is a confusing trail sign on this trail. The trail that mountain bikers call lower Dead Mountain is signed by the official forest service trail name "Flat Creek Trail #3566". Continue straight at the Flat Creek sign at the road crossing, you are still on the correct route.