MOORE PARK
FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
Moore Park has an amazing playground, tennis courts, and serves as a pit stop with picnic tables and a porta potty, right on the edge of the upper Klamath Lake. It’s a perfect little zone for the little ones to have some fun while parents ride the mountain bike trails on Moore Mountain.
It’s a very fun little family zone and progression area. There’s a number of little features for kids to progress their skills. You’ll find a small drop zone with three different height drops, some tabletop jumps, a couple of berms and other features to check out along with very short and repeatable singletrack loops that are just a few minutes in length. My daughter would absolutely love ripping this thing at five years old, and I think your kids will love it too.
There is another short green connector trail that parallels a really nice mellow, relatively low grade road. On that road, you can walk, hike, pedal up. There’s also a really nice and simple single track climb trail next to it. So again, if you want, you can pedal up, get a little flavor for the dirt, or just pedal up the road altogether as a family.
The trails higher up on Moore Mountain have beautiful lake views over the Upper Klamath, and there are a mix of difficulties to provide fun for even the most experienced riders. The trails are rather narrow, steep and technical, so be prepared for a more natural and rugged experience.
SPENCE MOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN BIKE TRAILS
The primary reason that we’ve been in Klamath Falls the past two years is for our eBike Shootouts, where we have been testing by repeating a ton of race laps on the technical back side of the hill, out of the Shoal Water trailhead. With varied and challenging terrain to ride, and minimal traffic ensuring it remains in good condition, this is a perfect spot to hammer out laps, whether you’re testing or just looking to enjoy the ride. Our two favorite trails on Spence are Night Hawk and North Ridge, as they beautifully blend technical rocky chunk with sections of impeccable flow. For those looking to ride one of the most fun and well-groomed Blue Flow trails, Chinquapin is truly a treat of trail riding experience. Prepare for endless grins and corners!
Speed King is a jump trail that progresses the opposite way to normal, transitioning from a more advanced trail down to beginner. All the beginner small jump trails are lower down, making it more accessible for less advanced riders, while the more challenging advanced-level jump trail is higher up for fitter and more skilled riders. The very thoughtful goal here was to get newer, and often less-fit riders able to lap shorter tracks quicker and as they build skill, and fitness, progress to the higher zones in times. There are plenty of places to cut in at unique spots, where you still get to climb some single track, and can easily repeat your favorite parts of the trail.
WHAT’S COMING FOR KLAMATH FALLS MOUNTAIN BIKING?
We talked with a couple of key members from the Klamath Trails Alliance and found out what’s in store for Spence.
“A new signature trail called Eagle Ridge is in the works for Spence Mountain, running along the northeast ridgeline. This Blue trail is quite unique, with several Black alt lines to spice things up for those who are interested. There’s techy rock climbs, there’s drops, there’s a cedar plank area over a little exposed rock so it’ll be a really fun. The trail is beautifully carved into the landscape and is a ton of fun! This trail is the first in a new zone that will offer even more amazing trails to those looking for fun on the north side of Spence Mountain.
Right now it’s two and a half miles long and the total trail length is going to be three and a half to four, but the goal is to have riders connect into the system from this aspect. And what’s really cool is we’ll be able to have a perimeter trail right around the whole 7,500 acre Spence track of land, which is about 25 miles or so. A true epic for this part of Oregon!
There’s also a preliminary plan in place on the the Shoal Water Trailhead side of Spence for, what we’re calling the Cinder Pit area, for now anyway. The plan is to have a number of blue and black flow trails, tech trails, flow tech trails, with the addition of them being adaptive mountain bike accessible. We are currently in a budding relationship with OAS, Oregon Adaptive Sports, to get some folks down here and help us assess what they need to get on the trails and what makes for a fun experience for them while also keeping it super fun for able-bodied riders.”
Any Future Plans for Moore Park?
“There’s a little project we’ve been working on for a while now… which we’re calling the “Back 40”. It’s the north-northwest aspect of the city property that makes up Moore Park. Currently it’s undeveloped, except for a couple of skidder trails over there. The plan is to add about five additional miles, with a proper climbing trail, a blue flow trail, and at least one – maybe two – black, technical descents. The idea is to take that piece of the park and put some fun stuff on it and make something that Moore Park doesn’t currently have. We’d like to build a dedicated progression zone, where you can do laps and different types of loops for different skill levels and technical abilities.”
NEED MORE REASONS? HOW ABOUT QUIET TRAILS
Since we first met the team from KTA, they have seen a notable uptick in riders, but it’s still quiet. We asked our hosts how the investment in trail building and MTB tourism has been working out. Here’s what they had to say.
“We would say that there’s definitely been a noticeable increase in the buzz around Klamath Falls, in part thanks to your eMTB Shootouts being held here. It’s not unusual to see Sprinter vans full of bikes rolling through. And now with us working closer with Discover Klamath, they have a way to measure the usage at Spence because it’s heavily tourist funded. I think the numbers are 9,200 recreation visits a year on the Spence trails. Six out of ten are locals, but four out of ten are estimated to bring like $900,000 in spending to our local motels, gas, food, and shopping. So yeah, that’s legitimate for us as a smaller town looking to bring more people in to help our community out.”
Since most of our crew currently lives in a highly tourist-driven town, Bend, Oregon, where you can’t even find a parking spot at the trailhead. The empty trails and quiet woods and scenic lake-front views are always appreciated. Not to mention, the trails are free of bomb holes and braking bumps!
BEST TIME TO VISIT KLAMATH FALLS?
Klamath Falls can – and does – get snow, depending on the winter season. Some of the riding is aspect dependent. Some trails that are north facing are quite steep and wooded, so those could see a couple months of down time on heavy snow years. On a mellower winter year like this one – 2025/2026 – it’s likely that you could ride all the trails year round.
In our opinion, the prime time is Spring after some rainfall, but Fall is also great. We personally love visiting in Fall, as the weather’s a bit cooler, you can enjoy the beauty of the changing leaves and possibly get some light rain to dampen the trails. Summer is obviously a safe time to ride, but it can be very dry and dusty.
WHERE SHOULD YOU STAY IN KLAMATH FALLS?
If you’re looking for a spot to stay, we highly suggest the Running Y Resort. It is our favorite place in town, equidistant from the awesome trails at Spence Mountain and Moore Park. There are a number of accommodation options at the Running Y, whether you’re looking to rent a home with a big group or you’d like to stay in one of the hotel rooms in the lodge. They’ve also got a pool, fitness center, amazing golf course, restaurants and a mini mart on site. So if you’re looking for a spot to stay, definitely check out the Running Y, and tell them the Loam Wolf sent you!
We’d like to once again thank the team at Discover Klamath and the Running Y for their support in making this feature possible. If you’ve got a town you’d like to see us visit, leave a comment or email Info@theloamwolf.com
