Lyda Camp (OR) Report

[liv2day]

Decided to mix things up a bit and check out the other side of Hwy 6 that heads to the Oregon coast; hit Lyda Camp and staged out of there to explore a bunch of trails I haven't been on before.

Picked my buddy up and met the rest of the gang at Coleman's for some b-fast. Enjoyed BSing around the table and some good grub, then headed west and of course missed the turn to Lyda Camp whilst yaking...lol. Turned around and navigated to staging.





The place was packed with a ton of people camping for the long 4th weekend; and it seemed some of the yahoos that usually clog Browns Camp (first OHV area you come to on Hwy 6) must have trickled down - maroons pulling wheelies down the road through the middle of campers with kids running around. Anyway, we found places to park, unloaded, and headed out.

You know, navigation always looks so easy when it's on a map...lol. We spent the first 20 minutes trying to find the entrance to the warm-up trail; only to find it and then have someone go blasting off in the wrong direction. After some waiting and chasing, a couple of us went back to staging and a couple of us went on the search. 20 minutes after that, we were a group again (lol) and plenty warmed up.



The loose plan I had in mind was to head southwest from Lyda and work our way toward Jordan Creek. Hit Tomans Knob, Hogsback, Archers, Bat Bridge, and so on. It didn't quite work out as well as planned (go figure), but we did hit a bunch of the trails I was hoping to on the first part of the loop.

First off, Tomans Knob is a blast and definitely one I'll hit again. There's a pretty crazy section that involved walking the bikes down due to how steep it was, but everything else was awesome. Hitting Hogsback and Archers was fun - lots of rocks to avoid; as well as any 4x4s that might be heading the other direction. We completely missed Bat Bridge - really tough to find a trail when it's not marked. But, we found the short section of Morrells Maze and hooked that into Jordan Creek.

Had a great time running Jordan Creek and then hit Spaur Creek and took Stick in the Nose up. I had a close-up with terra firma on the way up; damn front washed out and gravity took over from there. We stopped for a bite to eat and break after finishing Stick in the Nose - such an awesome view.







After the break, it was the various sections of Firefox and what a blast those were. We ended up hitting almost all of 'em and then found the bypass trail off of Roger's Road. This is outstanding single track that hasn't been ridden a ton. I think I did most of it with the motor off - pretty good decline

This put us out right at Hwy 6 and then it was time to figure out how to head back toward Lyda. We bombed up the logging road and took Jordan Creek back up. I haven't done the set of switchbacks before and they were fantastic, if a little dusty. On the map, there was a little green trail that supposedly cut some road time off, so we took what we thought was that...NOT. As we were heading along this nice single track, it occurred to me that this trail looked familiar for some reason. That's because I'd seen a video posted on the OMRA board a day or two before that showcased a trail they'd opened for the ISDE called "The Drop". It's a good thing I caught up to Dru before he went too far...lol. We had to haul his bike up, but it could have been a ton worse. I'll post the video - it's cuckoo...lol.

Back on the road to try and find Buckup. Never did find it, but we did go up Chainbreaker and then looped back on ourselves...lol. Since it was getting later in the day, we decided to skip Benny Hill, Denny's, and George's Loop. Hooked up on Archer's Firebreak and basically took that back to the point where we could find Elk Bellow. Now there's another trail to hit - awesome single track to end the day.

All in all, logged just under 50 miles and had a great time in the woods. I want to get back out and hit some of the trails we missed - just need someone that knows the area as many of the trail entrances aren't marked that well.





Tons of video as usual...lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2ASZXCmQbI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSMiruxp-Wo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRab0Zzmm6c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5BeZ_Q5y3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEpOi84cJGA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=114_K1Ttpg0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyUQz_KhVLs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfP_LHbXeCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znOdonebYo4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7hPaiRj-Xw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STTh-nmB7ks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xof1yMi-v7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVLcGF0naPA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO73TjmtiIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqvcRSYcIrw

[firffighter]

Great report Brad! Looked like a great day of riding. My brother and I did virtually the identical route yesterday

Very fun area that I'd like to learn a bit more.

Nice job on the switch backs! I hate the right handers, always give me trouble.