We recommend you spend at least a couple of days exploring this great biking country. For your overnight stay, we suggest our comfortable, charming, and affordable Adventure River House, which can sleep two to twelve!

Following is a review of the trail by William Sullivan, excerpted from Oxygen.com's website http://thriveonline.oxygen.com.

This Ancient Douglas fir and red cedar six feet in diameter tower above the McKenzie's roaring whitewater along this easily accessible trail. The ride passes Belknap Hot Springs, an old-time, woodsy resort with a tempting 102-degree swimming pool. If you don't have a car, you can still join this bike tour by taking the Eugene city bus to the trailhead, at the Willamette National Forest McKenzie River Ranger Station. This is the uphill version of the trip.

Cross the highway from the parking lot's west entrance and enter the forest on an obvious but unsigned trail. After 50 yards, reach the riverbank and turn right on the McKenzie River Trail through a lovely old-growth forest. (Note: the McKenzie River Trail officially begins one mile farther west, but because that portion of the path simply follows the shoulder of Hwy. 126, it's better to start here.)

After turning right on the McKenzie River Trail, follow it along the river's edge for 0.7 mile. Then the path detours inland for 1.5 miles to avoid riverfront summer cabins and Paradise Campground. Some highway noise is audible along this section. Back in the solitude of the riverbank, the trail crosses rushing, 40-foot-wide Lost Creek on a footbridge at a nice picnic spot.

Finally the trail winds away from the river again and comes to a paved Belknap Hot Springs Road with a double yellow center line. Cross the road and continue on the McKenzie River Trail. After another 1.7 miles, the path emerges briefly at Hwy. 126. Turn left on Buck Bridge across the McKenzie River to find the trail's continuation, now on the river's other shore. After another 3.3 miles you'll cross the Deer Creek Road beside a river bridge. Continue straight across the road for 3.3 miles to Trail Bridge Dam, then skirt Trail Bridge Reservoir for 0.8 mile to Trail Bridge Campground -- a good turnaround point.

The 26.5-mile McKenzie River Trail continues past Trail Bridge Campground a total of 12.5 miles -- all the way to the river's source -- but the upper portion is closed to mountain bikes.

Water ouzels frequent the river, as do osprey. The McKenzie is also famous for its trout, although declining stocks have led to many angling restrictions.

Two hot springs along this route offer you a chance to melt off the trail dust on your return trip. Belknap Hot Springs is commercially developed. When the McKenzie River Trail crosses paved Belknap Hot Springs Road (with a double yellow centerline), turn down the road toward the river 0.2 mile and sign in at a rustic old lodge. The steamy pool overlooking the river is open 365 days a year 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the fee is about $4. Bring a suit, as cutoffs are not allowed. Simon Belknap, who staked a claim to the springs in 1870, claimed the waters cured "female weakness, inflammations both external and internal, and general debility." Perhaps so.

Deer Creek Warm Springs is natural, undeveloped, uncrowded, and unmarked, but it usually isn't quite hot enough to satisfy veteran hot tubbers. When the McKenzie River Trail crosses Deer Creek Road (beside Deer Creek Bridge), look for a small unmarked trail that follows the bank downriver a few hundred yards to the five-foot-wide pool on the river's edge. Depending on the river level, the pool may actually merge with the chilly river, or it may be separated by a leaky dike of cobbles. The pool's temperature varies accordingly.

The river is dangerously swift and cold, so don't venture out on logs where you might fall in.

PERMITS/FEES:
A Trail Park permit is normally required to park at trailheads in the Willamette National Forest, but because you'll simply be parking in the ranger station's parking lot, you won't need a permit at all.

HOW TO GET THERE:
From Portland and Seattle and Eugene: Take I-5 to Hwy. 126 east. Head east up into the mountains approximately 60 miles. Be sure to stay on Hwy. 126.

WHEN TO GO:
This is a nice tour to repeat in different seasons. Snow seldom closes the lowest portion of this trail. By April, dogwood trees fill the understory with their white crosses, and trilliums dot the forest floor. In late May, crowds of fishermen arrive, but so do delicate pink deer-head orchids and great yellow bunches of Oregon grape blooms. And in fall, chanterelle mushrooms sprout in the forest while vine maple turns the river banks scarlet.