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Trail Description
E-bikes NOT allowed on Sector 16
Sector 16 runs from the Swede Shelter to the Shooting Star Shelter around some private property (hence its square shape). Of all the trails in Bend, this one tends to accumulate the most deadfall in the winter. If you want to help clear trees come summer — have a look at our blog post about Clearing Deadfall for some pointers.
Often called Sucktor16 by locals, it’s a twisty trail with lots of tight trees and corners — modern wide handlebars will make it even tighter. Riding Sector 16 fast is a challenge because staying off the brakes in all those sharp back-to-back turns requires Jedi-level focus.
Sixty second clip of mountain biking the Sector 16 trail in Bend, Oregon.
This trail is maintained by Central Oregon Trail Alliance.
Rode today (Oct 24, 2024), a few icy puddles, but otherwise great.
Sector 16 cleared of deadfall this morning
There is 1 patch of rideable snow. It’s probably already gone! Otherwise it’s all dirt – maybe even a bit of dust!
All of Sector 16 is closed 7 days a week. Use Southfork or Tumalo Ridge to bypass.
It appears that Sector 16 will open again Aug 21, according to the latest update from the FS:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1075856.pdf
I went at today there was one snow drift but otherwise riding well.
There is a trail closure on the east part of Sector 16, however there are no signs if you come from Swede Ridge until you get to Shooting Star Shelter. Not very well marked.
Trees now clear. Thanks Don, Erika, John, Mike , Ashby and Missy
The good news is: it’s dirt all the way! Only tiny spots of snow here and there, and only one in the actual trail.
The bad news: 53 (yes, I counted) rider-stopping branches/logs, plus about 12 that I rode over. My dinky little hand saw could not cut it (literally)!
Trail running report — tons of downed trees around sector 16 / shooting star area. One part was particularly tough to navigate even on foot. Mix of snow patches around 5,300-ish.
Patchy snow on the 1/4 mile west of Shooting Star Shelter, one big down tree at the junction with the fire road at the shelter.
about the mile closest to swede shelter is lots of snow patches. Some rideable – but overall it’s a bit early for prime time.
Rode in from Shooting Star shelter and cleared 6 small trees. Rode well until then but snow patches got deeper and longer at that point.
Should have said I hit the snow patches about 1.5 miles in from Shooting Star
Dozens of downed trees, none too big. Lots and lots of long puddles today. Probably needs several days to dry out.
Clear and riding great.
PLEASE don’t clear any more trees on SECTOR 16 until AFTER Thursday the 20th. There are some power sawyers being certified and they need trees to cut. Thanks!
Cleared all the trees in the first 1.5 miles from Shooting Star shelter. After that the snow got deep so I turned around.
Unrideable snow and lots of little trees down
Approx. 7 trees down and two large clusters of trees down in the first .75 miles starting at the eastern entrance to sector 16 (at the shelter). The last one of this group is a small one with a ride around on the right. All clear past this last tree.
Cleared this afternoon between Swede and Shooting Star shelters.
cleared this afternoon.
Trees down in the first half mile of the trail from the swede shelter and at the end, maybe a mile from the shooting star shelter (rideable). There’s a significant amount of water from todays storms that will keep it pretty muddy until more sun.
All clear. Riding well! A few pine needles but they are getting broken up quickly.
Just rode through this morning. Someone cleared all the blowdown. Some snow patches still but rideable.
What route did you take to get to sector 16? Did you use the upper whoops access road and if so, was it clear of snow?
I rode double track from near the GS/SK junction. It was clear all the way to shooting star and I expect the upper whoops access road would be too.
Thanks!
East half is pretty much clear of snow. West half is less than 50% snow, but with quite a few 2′ deep drifts. Not bad for running. Fewest winter blow down I’ve ever seen on this trail. Probably only 8 or sow, all under 8″.
Several tree hazards on S16 last night. One leaner you can ride under (for now) on the Swede Shelter end. One around mid-way about tire-height in a fast spot (watch out for that one), maybe 5″. Then, a cluster of down trees you can ride around close to Shooting Star — those can probably stay in place since they just pushed the trail over a foot or two (and they’re kind of massive).
Alex and I cleared all the trees blocking the trail this afternoon. We left the leaner close to shooting star since you can pretty easily ride under it.
One 6” tree down near the Shooting Star shelter. Trail forks said my coordinates were 44.017720,-121.526699 but may be off a bit.
Got the tree. Thanks for leaving the gps coordinates.
Sector 16 is now clear of trees (57). A couple of snow patches left.
Thanks for Swamping and carrying water for me Alex Anderson!
thanks so much for clearing. Pretty much expected lots of downed trees, but full on clear
thanks again
Looks dry but I got tired of jumping downed trees so turned back. Too big for most handsaws
Made it about 1/4 mile from shooting star hut before hitting two really big trees that fell diagonally onto the trail. Too hard to find a path beyond so turned around.
Riding better than the other 4 or 5 visits this season after recent rains. Still loose in places.
There is a tree down on the eastern N/S section halfway between the road crossing and the E/W section. Looks like it went down last night.
Trail gnome beat me to it. All clear
One small patch of snow to ride through.
Caution at the junction of Sector 16 trail and the access road on the way to Shooting Star shelter. On the north side, about 10 feet off the trail is a yellow jacket nest in the brush. People often briefly stop here. If possible, keep riding through the intersection. One rider was stopped waiting and got swarmed by them today. Three of us got nailed.
All trees cleared and corridor widened. Riding better than you’ll remember. Thanks Chris scotch, Seth Gehman, Lev Stryker, Dave Caplan and joe Myers
Nice work on the corridor widening. Much less sucktory!!!
Very little snow but probably about 20 trees down between Swede and Shooting star shelter. It gets worse as you get closer to Shooting Star (from Swede). Trail itself though is mostly clear. If people are heading up there to clear the trees, I’d be happy to help!
I counted about a dozen trees down but the snow isn’t bad for fat bike riding. I was riding towards Shooting Star shelter. I’m guessing the other direction would be more challenging but not impossible.
DR reportedly cleared about 2/3 of sector 16.
DR finished clearing today. Woot.
tons of downed trees (between Swampy and Shooting Star shelters). We ended up doing it anyway..prob. climbed over 30 or so on sector16 and dozens on Swampy. Too bad because the trail conditions were otherwize most excellent. stopped seeing downed trees on upper whoops, which was super fun and in great condition
Too many downed trees. After climbing over 5 downed trees, the 6th was impassable and I turned around.
Riding well, nicely dampened dirt, cool weather!
Deadfall and puddles are no more
Not sure if the downed tree is the same as last report but seemed like it was about half way. Lots (!!) of standing water this afternoon. You can ride through without rutting but definitely took some of the fun out of it.
Riding great except a new tree down (about 8″ diameter) about half way through.
Lots and lots of puddles!
Cleared the remaining trees from trail with Adam Craig yesterday. Still a few snow patches
Pretty much perfect. One tiny snow patch and trails are soft and killer. Thank you to Joe and Adam for clearing the trail. That trail can be a bi*** with all the deadfall in there. Hit it before the tourists and mosquitos arrive!
Started from the Swede Shelter side, cleared about ~20 trees, there are maybe 3-5 remaining that were too large for a hand saw, but I did limb them. A chainsaw will be necessary for the remaining downed trees, but it is riding well other than that. Thanks to the guys who stopped and helped me, and to the guy on his dirt bike: please stay off mountain bike trails.
To clarify, there were several deep patches of snow closer to Swede that required a dismount, including one section where you can lose the trail pretty easily.
There’s about a half mile of solid riding from shooting star and then you start hitting deadfall very regularly with most forcing a dismount. Snow really wasn’t much of an issue but I’m sure there is some farther up if you really enjoy climbing over and around fallen trees. My tolerance is about 6 on that.
There’s a small tree across the trail pretty much halfway between the shelters.
No puddles, just a few soft spots.
There were a couple mud puddles, but the rest of the trail was perfect
no trees down, but pretty dry with many blown out corners
Who has a saw to cut out that last tree and leaners on Sector 16? More than a hand saw is needed.
from Scott on FB: Heads up on Sector 16. Two large trees down about 1/4 mile west of the road crossing on the way to Shooting Star. The remnants of one of those trees still standing is very unstable and I think it will fall in a decent wind. Looks very bad, watch out.
Yes there are a few leaners for about 50 feet right where the downed tree is that is kind of creepy. Ride fast through there!
One new tree down about 2/3rds of the way down from Swede Shelter. Otherwise, great condition.
Thanks to Dan and Hugh, Sector 16 is clear as of noon today! Thanks boys!
Checked out Sector 16 as I was riding Swede Ridge Rd yesterday.
Lots of deadfall, and plenty of work to be done.