Metolius-Windigo » Lava Lake
Trail Snapshot:
Trail Description
ebike allowed or not caveatE-bikes NOT allowed on Metolius-Windigo » Lava Lake
The Metolius-Windigo trail is over 100 miles long and begins in the north at the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness and runs all the way south to Windigo Pass near Crescent Lake. To minimize confusion the “Met-Win” trail — as it’s often called — is broken into distinct segments each with its own character.
After the segment from Flagline to Mrazek, this part of the Metolius-Windigo from is probably the most popular and is accessed from Bachy West XC trail.
It can be ridden in either direction if you’re idea of “riding” is pushing your bike up long sandy climbs. If that’s not your thing, you’ll definitely want to ride south from Bachelor towards Lava Lake. There are some climbs, but the trail drops over 2000′ when you ride in that direction (and those sandy climbs are pretty fun to ride down). That said – there are short time periods in the early fall and early summer when the trail can be virtually sand free with just the right amount of moisture.
You can either leave a car at Lava Lake, or pedal onward up and over the Edison-Lava trail (and beyond) to complete a big loop around Mt. Bachelor.
This trail is maintained by BackCountry Horsemen.
wingoTrail Photos
Rode XC-Bach > Met-Win > then bailed onto Quinn Creek. Riding well in the northern part but then a lot of deadfall between Sparks Lake turnoff and Quinn Creek turnoff. I ran into volunteers at the horse camp and they said more deadfall between there and Lava.
Hey Casey or anyone riding this trail. I am looking to ride this trail next Saturday. Any idea if the windfall trees have been cleared? Is the trail riding well? Making a huge ride this is the only wildcard. Riding North Fork all the way down MetWin then up Edison and back to town Via Tiddly and COD.
All clear from cascade hwy to sparks lake trail. Sparks Lake trail has three trees down. Sandy and loose on both trails.
Riding well from Bachy XC down to Lava Lake. No mud present, but about a dozen down or leaning trees south of the Quinn Creek junction. Some are rideable, but most will require a dismount.
Rode XC-Bach –> Met-Win –> Lava lake. Pretty good deadfall down. I got 4 out of 7 cut before I ran out of time. There are 3 left that can be cut with a hand saw, but there are 3-4 BIG trees that need a chainsaw and some time. Cheers! Oh…and it was riding good! ; )
Trails were epic yesterday, other than a few trees down. I’ve never seen the trails so perfect on this route – No dust or mud.
6-7 trees still down. This is a backcountry horseman cleared trail typically – so if you plan to clear this trail please send them a message.
About a dozen trees between Bachelor West and Lava Lake. Some big ones. Maybe 20”. All of them are pretty easy to climb over.
A bit loose in spots but overall it’s just a lot of fun right now! The run-in to Lava Lake was a hoot.
FB report from Sunnyside Don says Mike Ripley cleared the deadfall yesterday. I’m guessing there’s still a couple snow patches left but shouldn’t be there much longer.
Those trees I reported a few weeks ago have been cleared (trail gnomes). Should be all good from Sparks to Todd Creek Camp but I didn’t go all the way up there. I also took out a couple trees on the section of Sparks Lake #4 that connects met-win to the highway.
Four 8-14″ trees down between the last junction and Lava Lake. Two are in downhill sections and you come up on them really fast.
I rode from Dutchman to Lava Lake and encountered 12-14 downed trees. Other than the trees, the trail is in good shape, and riding well
Made it down to the Sparks Lake Trail intersection on foot but most of it is very rideable on 2 wheels. Several large snow drifts remain in this section but upwards of 98% clear.
Deadfall report:
* 2 6-7″
* 3 4″ or less
If you are going out to clear blowdown it may be easier to access starting from the Sparks Lake trail as they are all much closer to that side. Bonus of this approach is you can clear anything that is on that trail also.
41 trees counted by OTT from Edison to Todd Lake. Snow last 2 miles to todd required hiking. Otherwise all is well.
Trail is in great shape. Get out and enjoy the back country.
We started with the Sparks Lake Trail to connect to Metolius-Windigo and ran into a lot of blow down on that section. Then we made the mistake of riding Appaloosa/Katsuk/Quinn to reconnect back with Metolius-Windigo … the horse traffic has completely ruined that section of trail. Like everything else in Central Oregon, that trail is being loved to death. After reconnecting to Metolius-Windigo, the trail was in great shape all the way to Lava Lake.
The first couple of miles of the trail shown here is not the Met-Win, but the Bachy XC trail that starts at the yellow gate off the Bachelor Access Road.
Metolius / Windigo is clear from The Mt Bachelor trails to Lava Lake. It’s riding well.