Biking Redwood's Rehabilitated Logging Roads

Bikes are usually barred from backcountry hiking trails at national and state parks, but here several trails run on roads that once carried timber. Those roads have been rehabilitated, and they are sturdy enough to slow erosion and wide enough for several kinds of users. Most of the riding is in the southern part of the parks.

The Ossagon Trail Loop covers 19 miles of old-growth forest, reaching the Pacific coast before looping back. The ride starts at the Ossagon Trailhead on Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, where the first 1.8 miles climb and then drop roughly 700 feet. From there, riders head south on the Gold Beach Section of the Coastal Trail for about 6 miles before turning east toward Davison Road. E-bikes are not permitted on this loop, and riders should watch for flooding, mud, and fallen branches.

The Davison Trail stretches about 3 miles along a former logging road that once ran to a sawmill and a log deck. The National Park Service acquired that land in 1996 and began a large restoration effort. Today the path runs past wetlands, hills, and streams that are gradually recovering. Cyclists and hikers may spot spawning salmon, herons on the banks, and songbirds, with alders lining the creeks.

The Lost Man Creek Trail tells a similar story of recovery. Loggers clearcut much of this area in the 1960s, and the old road is now a narrow single-track trail. The first couple of miles wind through old-growth groves. Salmon-friendly bridges from the 1990s support streams that had been choked with logging debris for decades. The trail can be ridden as a 22-mile loop, but that uses Highway 101, so an out-and-back ride to Bald Hills Road is the better choice.