Alsea Falls Loop (Corvallis/OSU)

Corvallis, OR, US

Route Overview

Cycle Oregon

Building Community Through Cycling

68 mi.
3,935 ft.

“Westward Exploration”

This route explores the western edges of the Willamette Valley, and even into the Coast Range a bit. The route passes in the shadow of majestic Marys Peak, enters the deep-forest setting of Alsea Falls, and returns via Alpine and Bellfountain roads.

Route Details

The route begins on the OSU campus and uses a bike path, city streets and county roads to avoid Highway 34, arriving in the community of Philomath five miles from campus. From Philomath, the route is relatively hilly and continues south for twelve miles on lightly traveled county roads. The route then uses twelve miles of State Highway 34, which leads to the Oregon Coast at Waldport. Near the top of the first big climb on Highway 34 is the junction of the BLM road to the summit of Mary’s Peak, the highest peak in Oregon’s Coast Range (there is a paved road, a little over nine miles, to the summit of Mary’s Peak, at 4,097’). After reaching the Alsea Summit on Highway 34 (1,230’) at the Mary’s Peak Road junction, it is a downhill ride to the small community of Alsea.

Three miles after leaving Alsea, the road becomes a BLM maintained road, and is a gentle to moderate climb of about nine miles to the summit. During the climb, the route passes the Alsea Falls Recreation Site. This area has picnic tables and hiking trails leading to the falls (a short walk from the first access area) on the South Fork of the Alsea River. After leaving the falls, another 4.5 miles of moderate climbing leads to a summit and a two-mile downhill before leaving BLM lands en route to Alpine. After Alpine, riders will travel north through Bellfountain, and pass the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge (great scenery, but only gravel road access). The last nine miles of the route contains some rollers (short hills) before entering Corvallis and returning to the OSU campus.

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