China Hat

[shopupnorth]

A group of us are going to head down to China Hat the first part of October from Washington and are looking for any suggestions on camp grounds and the best trails. 

Thanks for the help. 

[EmpireofDerp]

A lot of folks stay at 2510, it's pretty open and has vault toilet, no water though. Pretty dusty. I like Camp 2 better, less dusty, more sheltered, vault toilet. China Hat Campground is best if you want to ride the tougher, rockier southern section of EFR, vault toilet, takes longer to get to than the other two. As for trails, Chelsea's Challenge is a good starter, nice cross section loop of trails about 50 miles long and includes some of the most difficult trails in the system though I'd say none of them are beyond beginner skill level. The trails marked yellow/black as "most difficult" for motorcycles only are nothing compared to Washington Cascades riding.

[shopupnorth]

Thanks for the the info HeavyRotation, we are all intermediate or better riders so some challenging stuff would be good. 

[firffighter]

4 hours ago, shopupnorth said:

Thanks for the the info HeavyRotation, we are all intermediate or better riders so some challenging stuff would be good. 

Head to the Southernmost end of China Hat/East Fort Rock. The South Lava staging area and ice caves are where the better trails are located. Some don't like riding down there because there are rock sections, but there's also tighter trails and less whoops. Nothing in China Hat is very "technical", but there's some fantastic twisty stuff that seems to go on forever. 

The 2510 area is decent, but lots of whooped out trails. 

 

Have fun, it's a great area to ride and explore. 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2018 by firffighter

[EmpireofDerp]

Head to the Southernmost end of China Hat/East Fort Rock. The South Lava staging area and ice caves are where the better trails are located. Some don't like riding down there because there are rock sections, but there's also tighter trails and less whoops. Nothing in China Hat is very "technical", but there's some fantastic twisty stuff that seems to go on forever. 
The 2510 area is decent, but lots of whooped out trails. 
 
Have fun, it's a great area to ride and explore. 
 
 

They asked for campground, there's no campground at Lava. The best riding is definitely down that way though.

[firffighter]

There's a dry campground just West of lava staging area below gravel pit play area. Dry campground with vault toilet. Definitely the prettiest and most trees of all the camping areas at China Hat. Access is just South of LaPine on Hwy 22 (Finley Butte Road). It's 20 miles from LaPine to camping/staging area. 

If you're looking for a full service campground with amenities, LaPine State campground is just out of town and has running water, showers, cabins, etc. Takes about 30 minutes to access riding from here, where the others mentioned, you ride right out of camp. 

[EmpireofDerp]

There's a dry campground just West of lava staging area below gravel pit play area. Dry campground with vault toilet. Definitely the prettiest and most trees of all the camping areas at China Hat. Access is just South of LaPine on Hwy 22 (Finley Butte Road). It's 20 miles from LaPine to camping/staging area. 
If you're looking for a full service campground with amenities, LaPine State campground is just out of town and has running water, showers, cabins, etc. Takes about 30 minutes to access riding from here, where the others mentioned, you ride right out of camp. 

This is a really good idea because you can also roll south to ride 3 Trails, which is way better than EFR anyway.

[2 Stroke Boogie]

Wife and I have been looking at real estate around the Medford area. Probably gonna try to move by the end of 2019.  China Hat seems to be about 3 hours away? I've scoured Rider Planet and checked the riding areas around Medford. There seems to be 4 or 5 within a 2 hour drive. China Hat isn't listed on Rider Planet. So, there must be more that aren't that would be closer to Medford. 

Are there trails (marked or not) on public (blm, forestry, etc) lands anywhere in that area? 

[firffighter]

5 hours ago, HeavyRotation said:

10 hours ago, firffighter said:

There's a dry campground just West of lava staging area below gravel pit play area. Dry campground with vault toilet. Definitely the prettiest and most trees of all the camping areas at China Hat. Access is just South of LaPine on Hwy 22 (Finley Butte Road). It's 20 miles from LaPine to camping/staging area. 
If you're looking for a full service campground with amenities, LaPine State campground is just out of town and has running water, showers, cabins, etc. Takes about 30 minutes to access riding from here, where the others mentioned, you ride right out of camp. 

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This is a really good idea because you can also roll south to ride 3 Trails, which is way better than EFR anyway.

Absolutely! How's 3 trails been this summer? Heard logging? Any closure from fire danger?

[EmpireofDerp]

I understood literally every riding area in the state was closed. Maybe I'm wrong? I rode it a bunch this spring, was great then.

[firffighter]

30 minutes ago, HeavyRotation said:

I understood literally every riding area in the state was closed. Maybe I'm wrong? I rode it a bunch this spring, was great then.

Think that may be the case 

[EmpireofDerp]

Think that may be the case 

I'm heading to warshington Friday. TigerTanker ride

[firffighter]

Up in Olympic Nat'l forest now on family vacation.

[Russ Henry]

On 8/14/2018 at 1:56 PM, shopupnorth said:

A group of us are going to head down to China Hat the first part of October from Washington and are looking for any suggestions on camp grounds and the best trails. 

Thanks for the help. 

What is your email and I will send you a nice colored map