(Photos: Cascade Huts)
Mountain biking on Mt. Hood isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a family-friendly summer bike adventure; but that might change thanks to Cascade Huts.
Since their launch five years ago, the founders of Cascade Huts — James Koski (yes that James Koski) and Don Bain — have attracted quite a bit of media attention. Earlier this month, Outside Magazine named Cascade Huts the 2nd best hut-to-hut mountain biking system in America.
And now, in partnership with the US Forest Service, the company has announced the addition of two new huts that are set to open for riders this summer. The new huts are in the Surveyor’s Ridge area to the east of Mt. Hood.
Koski says the new huts have enabled them to offer rides for riders of all abilities and they’ve announced a new, three-day, 26-mile Surveyor’s Ridge package. “This can be a family-friendly ride with limited climbing and rides of less than 12 miles per day. Or, it can be an exhilarating and exhausting exploration of singletrack riding,” says Koski.
Given the short distance between these new huts (about 5 and 1/2 miles), Koski says they make, “This kind of bike touring available to a wider audience.”
If you want something more challenging, Cascade also offers a six-day, 160-mile “Grand Tour” that takes you on a loop from Hood River that goes around the entire mountain. Sounds great to me. Check out CascadeHuts.com for more info.