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Horse Ridge Area Trail
Trail Snapshot:
Trail Description
E-bikes NOT allowed on Horse Ridge Area
Horse Ridge is one of Bend’s winter-time mountain bike areas. About 16 miles east of town on Highway 20, the terrain and foliage is really different from the trails you’ll find in the Phil’s area — it’s a wide-open, rocky, juniper forest. Peaking out at about 4700′ the ridge offers quite a bit of climbing and fun downhill in a compact area. All total, there are about 30 miles of trails on Horse Ridge — so lots of great mountain biking loop options to mix things up.
Check the ODOT camera at Horse Ridge for current weather.
Trails in Horse Ridge Include:
CONNECT WITH BEND TRAILS
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Horse Ridge riding well. Very little mud.
Parkway is perfect. To my surprise Sand Canyon had braking bumps. So many.
LOST: If anyone finds my gray Fid Lock water bottle I would love to get it back! Pretty sure I lost it on Has No Horse coming up from Mad Max road. Local Area code & 213 0084.
Sand Canyon, Parkway, Has no Horse all riding fantastic. Only minimal snow/ice/mud. 99% perfect.
Trail update brought to you by Hearthside Medicine Cycling Team!
Thanks for the conditions report. Was perfect. I took Parkway, but didn’t see a bottle.
Parkway was 90% dry with a few spots of mud/snow towards the top.
48°. Hero dirt. No freeze thaw muck on Parkway nor Sand Canyon.
With nights well below freezing, the trails today are frozen dirt with no mud or ice. Go when it’s cold and it’ll treat you right.
Riding great. Wet sand from top to bottom with just a couple of soft spots.
Compacted snow in all the shady, north-facing areas. Mostly the trails have great traction – but with a few hidden pockets of slippery ice to keep you honest.
Trails were so perfect today. Grippy moist sand with only a few really small gloppy spots.
The top of Has No Horse and upper Sand Canyon were pretty gloppy tonight. It’ll probably be perfect by the weekend.
Rode the Parkway Sand Canyon loop tonight. Super good. Tiny bit of mud, but 99.9% hero sand. If hero sand is a thing.
There are some deep, squared-off ruts in the steep sections from all the Summer rain we received. Once the trails get more traffic (or cows), they’ll probably get ground down. They’re not really a ‘trail hazard’ per se — just be aware the ‘usual line’ might have changed.
Trails are perfect! Go get some before the sand settles in for the season!
trails were dry and perfect pretty much all day 4/7 as it DUMPED rain in town.
Quite wet up top but the trail itself is mostly free of snow/ice save for some of the shaded sections. The Parkway-Sand Canyon loop is entirely rideable.
Small patches of snow on the way up the Parkway but nothing major and minimal mud too.
Once across the fence line things got a good deal messier with a couple sections of full on ice. Very ride-able and well packed down, but a bit terrifying when you get up to to speed on the Sand Canyon downhill!
Horse ridge parking lot is COMPLETELY full, overflow to the road. More than I have ever seen. I turned around immediately.
I climbed Parkway which had a few mud puddles up to the Moscow junction — then, going down Moscow it was really sloppy in the shade. I’d guess everything above that point was still mud or ice. It needs a few more days of warm weather to melt out. Or, try to ride when it’s frozen ’cause it’s sloppy when warm.
Packed snow today with plenty of sticky dirt spots and lots of fun. I was on my 29er with 2.45 tires, it had no problem. Mad Max Drive-Has no horse- Parkway
Prime conditions today. Damp, dank, and sticky.
Trails were good today. Loose on the way up but made the down that much more fun.
No mud anywhere.
Not bad on the way up, but pretty sloppy and soft from snowmelt near the top of the ridge and on the top. Some snow squalls/sun this afternoon. Should dry out quickly and be great in a couple days
Trails were perfect this afternoon.
Just want to thank the wonderful folks at Pine Mountain Sports for the safe return of the wheel I left out at Horse Ridge last week… Specifically Maui Chris who took the wheel back to the shop! Reunited and it feels so good :)
Pert near top to bottom hero dirt. Go getcha some!
I left my front wheel (stans/hope) out at the Horse Ridge today (3/14). It’s a longshot… but did anyone find my wheel out there in the parking lot??? A genius move on my end and I am certainty kicking myself!
Otherwise, first time out at Horse Ridge. Trail conditions were top… Escape from Moscow is a RAD trail.
I left the lot around 4ish and didn’t recall seeing a wheel :(
Riding well! Did parkway to Sand Canyon and it was riding great! No mud, no lose sections. Good stuff!
ride-able until first fence, then about 2 or 3 inches of snow turns into a leg/lung burner
Everything riding well today. Tad bit of moisture from light snow and some snow covering up top but very thin. Fingers were just about frost bitten after heading down Holy Loop.
Horse Ridge trails are riding great — it’s just beginning to get sandy and loose in the corners. I dunno what happened to winter. Weird.
IF YOU CAN’T RIDE SOMETHING DON’T REMOVE TRAIL FEATURES TO MAKE IT EASIER!
Monday afternoon or early Tuesday someone removed many of the rocks in Sand Canyon, especially those on the right side after the rock g-out. Please, do not change the trail to make it easier! Learn to ride it or slow down if it’s too hard to go fast. Changing the trail to sanitize it is not acceptable!
Rode the Parkway > Has No Horse > Sand Canyon route… still riding PERFECT!
Perfect conditions today. No mud, no snow. Tee shirt and shorts.
Horse Ridge trails are riding great. It’s been staying really cold out there and the sun hardly hits the trail-side of the ridge so no freeze/thaw going on.
Great condition! Cattle gone, cow pies off the trails and tread packed down. Should remain good through rains and until the next snow/freeze. Enjoy!
Didn’t see any cows yesterday and the chewed up lower trails (Parkway especially) is riding well again now that we’ve had some rain and riders on it.
Dodging cows is the name of the game. They really tore up all the lower trails.
Are you saying that there are still cattle out on that allotment?
The lower Horse Ridge trails are in really good shape. The higher you go, the more slush and water you run into.
From the Moscow/Parkway junction (and higher) it gets pretty sloppy and wet.
It looks like 2-3 inches of snow fell on the summit, but it’s already sparse and patchy and won’t last long — especially if it warms up a little.
Upper all dried out. It’s perfect :)
Rode Mad Max, Has no Horse, down Sand Canyon loop. Aside from wind on Sat. excellent conditions. No snow.
The best riding options are mini out and backs, going up Parkway and Escape until you reach the patchy snow. Turn around. Rimes and repeat, and letting the muddy zones dry a bit further.
I was at Horse Ridge today and managed an hour and a half ride. Up the trail which parallels the highway to the Parkway. Up the Parkway part way to Escape from Moscow. Back to the highway. Up the old highway to snow, turn around. Back down to the bottom. Turn around and do it again. All rideable, no mud.
Ditto. Same conditions today. Snow is getting thin out there, it won’t be long now.
Mr. Don Leet said he ventured out to horse Ridge. Not rideable but only a few inches of slushy snow on top of a firm base. Should be ready to go soon
Tried out this trail on Wednesday, December 7th and too much snow to ride. Would have been great with a fatbike, but very difficult to climb. I put in about 7 miles just cruising around and had to cut the ride short b/c of excessive snow.
Heads up on this map! It is inaccurate. The top of sand canyon trail is actually on the far side(west) of the research area, not in the middle as shown!
Keen eye Chuck… The green box you see on the map labeled “Horse Ridge Research Natural Area” is actually what’s incorrect — and that comes from Google, so we can’t fix that. Kind of confusing, I know… If you switch to satellite view and zoom way in you can just see the fence-line at the start of Sand Canyon.
Escape from Moscow and Sand Canyon were prime last night. It was raining pretty hard when I got back to the car, so I’ll bet it’s going to be even better today.
Mostly firm, especially once you get above the trailhead area. Might have gotten some of the rain we had yesterday in Bend. Windy. Cars in the parking lot, but didn’t see a soul on the trails even though Saturday.
Kickass conditions at Horse Ridge today. Yes a little wet and windy, a perfect March day!
high winds and snow today, but the trails are in great shape
Beautiful Morning Ride Today! The rain has made the trails perfect. No mud, just firm packed dirt.
Nice tacky trails during a lunchtime ride yesterday. Snow began dusting the trails around 1 pm but didn’t appear to be the makings of poor trail conditions.
Freeze thaw in effect again. Great mountain biking in the morning but turning to mush with lots of mud by lunch time.
Perfect conditions today. In fact some soft sand is appearing. The predicted rain will only make it better.
Today I rode all the trails at Horse Ridge. Everything is good. Some small mud patches up high. Please ride through the mud not around. “Check yourself was a little unpredictable but still fun.
It’s always a question very muddy, some mud. I think it depends on if the reporter has fenders or not. I use fenders. Some mud, 100% rideable, the mud is not deep. Please do not detour around the mud puddles suck it up get your bike dirty and don’t scar the landscape. I still didn’t get to the Lookout. That had some snow. Sand Canyon very fun, be careful on those lower left hand corners as the have some hidden mud. ENJOY! It was 70 when I was there Monday.
Trails are riding well up to the fence, and after that very muddy from reports.
Great conditions today everything rideable except over to the lookout had a bit too much snow. Be wary going down Sand Canyon, hidden bits of mud and ice. Still it was great riding.
Here’s a report from Don on Jan. 27th: “Not everything is rideable, but most is. Some snow up high spots of mud. Horse Ridge can change from good to great or good to bad in a day. But I’m thinking it will improve daily for the next week or ”