Erin Reis on a rock roll in Golden Basin.

Horse Ridge Recreation Area is among local mountain bike riders’ local favorites because its trails are rideable most winter days and provide steep and technical terrain less prevalent at Central Oregon’s other mountain bike trails.

These trails were socially built, meaning they were put in by users without approval of the land manager. A National Environmental Protections Act study will be done on the area, and the project is currently in public scoping until March 13. Now is the public’s chance to let the Bureau of Land Management know how they feel about the area and its development.

Social trails on public lands are unprotected. They can be closed to users, opened to new users such as ATVs, or be used for resource extraction. The BLM’s Prineville District Deschutes Field Office recognized HRRA as a special resource for recreation and is in the process of formally adding the trails into its inventory, thus protecting them.

What’s coming to Cline Buttes Recreation Area?

Currently, there are 37 miles of singletrack at HRRA. An additional 44 miles are proposed, and 7 miles will be decommissioned that go through private land or the Horse Ridge Research Natural Area.

Changing trails

From the trailhead heading east parallel to Highway 20, two trails will be added between the highway and the old highway to get to the start of Has No Horse. A new trail will be added to connect these trails up to the junction of Has No Horse and Parkway. The upper most part of Parkway will be rerouted to stay out of the research area as well as Has No Horse will be rerouted around the south end of the research area. This reroute will gain a new trail connecting it to Crazyhorse, the loop trail in Golden Basin. Two substantial sections of Crazyhorse will be rerouted to stay off private land. An additional ridge trail will be added parallel to Crazyhorse on the south-southwest end of the loop. The trails to the west of the trailhead will only have more downhill trails added including designated up trails.

Horse Ridge Recreation Area is open to and frequented by hikers and trail runners. A section of the 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail, a thru-hike growing in popularity by backpackers, crosses HRRA. Parallel bike trails and widening where this is not possible along the OR Desert Trail will make this route friendly for both user groups. Additionally, designating some trails as directional for bikes will reduce user conflicts.

The Badlands trails across Highway 20 from HRRA will remain closed to bikes, so hikers and equestrians will have areas to recreate if they want to stay separate from bikes. Speaking of conflicts, fencing will be added along Highway 20 to prevent garbage dumping and target shooting in the area.

Popular destination near Bend

Horse Ridge is not a secret. On sunny winter weekends the two trailheads, Horse Ridge and Big Sagebrush, are over capacity, forcing users to park along the road, disturbing soil and plant life and creating potential road hazards. Both trail heads will see an expansion that includes American Disabilities Act parking and ADA-accessible toilets. The singletrack at HRRA is largely suitable for adaptive bikes — many of their riders fly down the tech — and making sure these riders can access the trails will be a great addition.

The BLM is interested in how HRRA is important to you and how you want to see it develop. This is a call to action. The BLM needs public input on this plan. Take a look at the map and read BLM’s Public Scoping document, then submit your comments.

Comments can be submitted via email at blm_or_pr_horseridge@blm.gov or by calling 541-416-4634.

Do you want a place to ride your ebike? Love the area for steep and technical trails and want to see more of that? Enjoy taking your family here to do short laps and think a picnic area would be nice? Excited to have routes designated to reduce disturbances to wildlife, plant life and soil? Hurray for toilets?

This is your chance to voice what is important to you.

Bend man reunites with lost treasure: his old mountain bike