The Fork in the Road Tour: West Linn County, Oregon

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Linn County, OR, US

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Michael and Dee Kinkade

Fun exploration rides in Oregon and around the world!

39 km

91 m

A beautiful scenic ride through rural Linn County appropriate for a family ride, serious training rides or visitors who want to explore rural Oregon. This route can also be broken into shorter routes along protected bike trails for young riders!

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This beauitful, easy ride takes you through the wonders of Western Linn County, following along multiple scenic waterways.  Suitable for families or experienced bicycle riders, this route is generally flat with a route that follows along the South Santiam River, the Albany-Lebanon Santiam Canal, and historic Cheadle Lake.

You start your ride at the Mark Slough Trailhead, which has a safe and lightly used parking lot at the dog park.  You then proceed on a system of trails and rural roads, briefly passing through the City of Lebanon as you head towards Cheadle Lake.  If you like, @poi[multiple breweries and coffee shops](80305041) are only minutes west of the route in downtown Lebanon.

As you enter the @poi[Old Mill Trail](80305042) you have a choice if you are riding a gravel bike; you can ride the mile-long gravel-fun Eagle Scout Trail or the paved Old Mill Trail.  If you can't decide don't worry, you can do both as you will come back this way!  There are several locations where you can stop and soak your feet or @poi[wade](80305049) in the crystal clear shallow @photo[waters](13602967) of the @photo[Santiam River](13602968) along this route in the warmer months.

Your next highlight is a brief tour of @poi[Cheadle Lake](80305045) (look for migratory Canadian geese around the lake). Cheadle Lake is surrounded by all paved bike trails with ameneties such as restrooms and multiple benches and tables for breaks.

You will then proceed along the Santiam River (look for egrets hunting in the fields), passing the low head diversion dam, which has a  ladder where you can watch salmon proceeding upstream in the spring and fall.  This @poi[low-head dam](80305048) is the headwaters for the Albany-Santiam Canal (you will cross this several times on the remainder of the route).  You will backtrack a little here as you now proceed to rural farm roads next to beautiful grass seed fields (Linn County considers itself the grass seed capital of the world) until you discover the whimsical "@photo[fork](13602964) in the road" artwork and picture-taking point on Gore Drive.  In the spring local sheep farmers graze their sheep in these grass seed fields, and this attracts a plethora of @photo[bald eagles](13602970) January through April- it is not uncommon to see 8-10 bald eagles in the fields and trees along Gore, Tallman and @photo[KGAL roads](13602966) (look up in the really tall trees). You then end your ride back at the parking lot, which is again only a short ride to multiple family owned restaurants, coffee shops and breweries in @poi[downtown Lebanon](80305041) if you would like refreshments at the end of your ride.

This beautiful and scenic ride is good all year round - Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter each have their delights on this route as bird and wildlife migrations occur during each of the seasons.

# Important Reminders

On this route you will cross @poi[Highway 20](80305064) @poi[(twice)](80305054) which is a busy highway, so be careful!  Other than this the route has low rural traffic volumes and protected bicycle trails.

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The Fork in the Road Tour: West Linn County, Oregon

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