This is Hoskins to Moonshine -- an absolutely epic ride through some way, way off-the-grid coastal mountain wilderness through the ghost town of Valsetz. It's also the gateway to an excursion to the elusive and legendarily difficult-to-find Valley of the Giants which, alas, has been cut off by a massive debris washout which makes that route unpassable for probably the next two years.

No matter, this is an excellent way to sample this hunk of wilderness between King's Valley and the Siletz River, all mostly gentle gravel logging roads with no expectation of traffic (I was passed once by a pickup in 33.5 miles.) Be aware, this is Weyerhauser land for the most part and fire closures are in effect for much of the summer for most of this route.

That also means keeping an eye out for logging trucks and/or equipment and being aware of logging activity in the area. The apex of the route, at roughly 9.3 miles, used to be a shaded, mossy thicket of rain forest but now is a clear-cut exposed slog through deep gravel deposited for the trucks working the area -- making it now one of the tougher sections but thankfully short.

Another challenging section comes right after the big descent around 25-26 miles as the surface turns to old chip seal remnant, a jagged not-quite paved, not-quite gravel section that feels like rolling over a thousand immovable pointy shards of wrist torture. Thankfully it gives way to a rapid and scenic downhill roll toward Moonshine Park.

Otherwise, the riding is mostly blissful, almost all of it shaded and much of it adjacent to flowing waters. As anyone who has been to the ghost town can attest, there's not much left there for the imagination to fill in, but the miles leading toward VOG from there are just spectacular scenic downhill, smooth and flowing. As the bulk of the climbing is accomplished in the first third of the ride, the back end is one long silly grin across the face.

You'll want a good computer and downloaded maps for this course. This backcountry maze is no joke. I had a running discussion with my Garmin over the final third of the ride, which for some reason had the route marked just a few hundred feet off the real road, enough so that my device kept firing "off course" warnings at me to the point I wanted to chuck it in the creek. Fortunately, both of us survived the journey.

Also: Forgot to give a gear recommendation. I've ridden to the ghost town three times now, on a fat bike (!) with 26"x4" tires, on a MTB hardtail with 29"x2.6" tires and, for this complete route and write-up, on a gravel bike outfitted with 27.5"x48c tires. All performed well and none felt underbiked (the fat bike, admittedly, probably overbiked) but I will say that I had a mild heart attack around mile marker 5 when I heard a quick hiss and felt liquid spraying my calf -- the classic signs of tubeless sealant doing its job. Which is to say, this is remote wilderness and the roads aren't exactly civilized, so tubeless is a very good idea if you can swing it.