Bend has some of the best mountain biking you’ll come by, and with that, a lot of trails. When you put trails together for the perfect downhill day, it’s such a win. Grab all your friends and check out this super fun route from Wanoga Sno-Park to the Welcome Center.
Distance: 17-18 mi
Time: 2-3 hr
Elevation Gain: 946 ft
Trailhead: Wanoga Sno Park
Route Finding Skills: Moderate
Physical Exertion Skills: Moderate
Map
Getting there: To get to Wanoga Sno-Park, drive up Cascade Lakes Highway towards Mt. Bachelor. Wanoga Sno-Park will be on your left after you pass Virginia Meissner Sno-Park on your right. After parking, there are two main trails that leave Wanoga Sno-Park: Funner and Tiddlywinks. For this route, we head down Funner.
Funner leaves from the north side of the parking lot, while Tiddlywinks is the one that goes behind the bathrooms. Follow the downhill trail Funner for about 4.3 miles as it parallels Cascade Lakes Highway. This trail is mostly downhill and has some rocky sections and some drops if you so desire, but you can also avoid them too!
You will end up at a four-way intersection and some big boulders marking the meeting point. Make a left on Storm King Trail. Please note Storm King is also the trail that goes straight. Use an app like Trail Forks to make sure you are going the right way!
Storm King trail passes by the Green Gate Parking Area and eventually, you will cross over Cascade Lakes Highway. Stay on Storm King another 4.5 miles or so until you intersect with Phil’s Trail. Make a left and in less than a mile you’ll pop out on a dirt road. Make a right and go about 100 feet until you see signs for the Lower Whoops Trail to your right.
Now the fun begins! The next 1.8 miles is one of Bend’s iconic downhill trails, “Lower Whoops”, complete with bumps and jumps galore.
You’ll end up at another dirt road and parking area. From here you can make a right and either right up the road, or take the EXT trail that parallels the road. Be careful not to hop on Pine Drops or you’ll climb back up to where you started!
Ride the road or EXT for 0.5 miles until you make a left on Phil’s Trail. Enjoy this fast-paced trail for another mile until your next intersection. Here, make a right on Voodoo and continue downhill until you meet the next dirt road. Pay close attention here, as you do not want to go straight on Voodoo, but rather take the trail angled off to your right called Voodoo Child. There is no trail sign here, so a map would be helpful.
Take Voodoo Child for 0.6 miles until you intersect Ticket to Ride. From here, bear to the right and this trail takes you 2.6 miles to the Welcome Center.
Please note that this is not a loop, so a car drop will be needed! Enjoy!
PROS:
- You hit two of Bend’s best trails in one ride!
CONS:
- None 🙂
THE SPLIT DECISION:
Jay’s Take: “While this is a one-way trail, there is still a lot of elevation gain on this route so be prepared for that. The stoke is always high on whoops and getting to do it with a big group was really fun!”
Tyese’s Take: “I really loved this ride, and I think everyone was stoked on how we connected it! Funner and Lower Whoops are two of my favorite trails in Bend, and Ticket to Ride South is high up there too, so combined, it was awesome!“
