Anywhere to Maupin
 

Hey,

Seems all the Deschutes River rafting trips leave from Maupin. As far as I've been able to discern from Google, there's no public transportation into the city. Anyone recommend a bike route from a nearby bus or train station?

Good luck with that, if your coming from portland you will need to take highway 35 or 33 check map. It mergers from 26 on top of blue box pass on MT. Hood. If or you can go south on highway 197 i believe from the Dalles to maupin. Not good to do on a bike. Narrow shoulders on some streches, vehicle traffic is a times 90+ miles per hour. Huge hills, good luck with it.

And no not all Deschutes River rafting trips leave from Maupin, check Sunriver Oregon, plus they have great cycling down there. Also La Pine Oregon has rafting trips as well. Another place to check is Bend Oregon, just off of Simson st. and Century Drive, I know there is a place that does Rafting Trips. A good resource would be to call The Powder House in Bend oregon. Or any other outdoor store, they would be able to clue you in.

I lived in Bend for 2 years, i know for a fact that there are many rafting trips available. as well as in Sunriver oregon.

Sorry its not highway 33 or 35, its Highway 4 and it takes you to highway 22, to highway 197, then takes you into Maupin.

There's also whitewater rafting on the Clackamas in spring and early summer. Depending on the time of year, the Clackamas can be pretty challenging.

but if you're set on going to Maupin
 

I rode to Maupin from Portland awhile back via Estacada, the Clackamas River Hwy, Forest Rd 57 to Timothy Lake, briefly on Hwy 26 (busy/good shoulder), then Hwy 216 (very quiet) to Maupin. It was a really nice two-day trip, with great camping options before and around Timothy Lake, but maybe more than you had in mind just to go rafting. There's camping right in the Maupin city park, though, so you could do a fantastic excursion combining bikes and rafts.

You could check the Statewide transit schedules to see if anyone gets you close; maybe a Portland-Bend service would drop you and your bike at the remote intersection of Hwy 26 and 216, but that would take some good persuasion, I'll bet.

Also get a copy of the Oregon state bike map; it shows general traffic levels and whether there's a shoulder; in my brief experience riding in the region around Maupin, there's not much traffic, and the few busy highways there are (26, 97, 197) have reasonable shoulders so it's kind of noisy but safe. But check first, there are exceptions.

Thanks, cdc. That's a fully-loaded ride o' help!