Oregon Hikers

Wondering what is open if I want to hike or bike in a forest.

Sounds like parking at all trailheads in Mt Hood or Gifford Pinchot are closed to prevent people clustering in one area.
But I read you can park somewhere else & then ride your bike to a trailhead.
Is that legal right now?

Can you go for a bike ride on the forest roads as long as you don't park at a developed site?

What you describe is legal... except in Skamania County, where you can't do anything outdoors right now.

Mt. Hood National Forest finally has a detailed FAQ page: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mthood/h ... EPRD719614

The trailhead parking areas in those USNFs are closed. The forest roads are not closed. The legal status of biking to a trailhead and then hiking the trail is unclear to me. The spirit of the stay at home order is pretty clear though; it asks us to stay at home except when leaving home is necessary. Traveling more than a few miles from your home to recreate is strongly discouraged, but to the best of my knowledge it is not technically illegal under the governor's orders - mainly because it would be impossible to enforce anyway.

Note that for lands in the CRGNSA, it is prohibited even to enter. Full order and map:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 716508.pdf

Personally I think the more people try to push out the letter of the law rather than following the spirit--or even just go with what they figure they can get away with--the slower it will be for outdoor recreation to open back up for everyone: "Well, we could get people back out on the trails safely as long as they take basic steps to recreate responsibly... but they've already shown us we can't trust people to act responsibly, so better hold off a while longer."

especially, avoid a crowded area regardless of whether it's officially open or closed or ambiguous

if our leaders see large violations of social distancing, they'll make the rules more aggressive

if people are staying well more than 6 feet apart, they have bigger problems to worry about

if you go somewhere and there are a lot of people, go somewhere else

It should be noted that all WA DNR land is closed; can't even drive/bike the roads.
I suppose that's changing 5/5 though, but for day use only. I already have some things on my to-do list, but will try to avoid weekends, avoid trails, try to be somewhat responsible.

I heard that Skamania County will be reviewing their closure order this coming week.

squidvicious wrote: ↑

May 2nd, 2020, 12:09 pm

Personally I think the more people try to push out the letter of the law rather than following the spirit--or even just go with what they figure they can get away with--the slower it will be for outdoor recreation to open back up for everyone: "Well, we could get people back out on the trails safely as long as they take basic steps to recreate responsibly... but they've already shown us we can't trust people to act responsibly, so better hold off a while longer."

Louder for the people in the back, please!!!!!

The better job we do of not hiking now, the sooner we get to go legally hiking for real! Don't cock this up for everybody!!!

Mt hood website specifically says using the trails is OK if you park on the side of the road and not a designated trailhead.

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