“Team Hate” - look for our new nutrition line #fueledbyhate
Emily Keddie, Erica Raggio, Jason Hardrath
In-depth Trip Report
And
Yelp review
Of
Mckenzie River Trail O & B 50mi
Through kismet (or some circumstances which involved much enthusiasm), three of us ended up with nothing better to do than spend our Sunday running. For fun. Not even a race. Just… running for no metals or buckles or anything. A “training” run is what we called it. Anyway, we started a little after 7am at the lower TH near McKenzie Bridge, ran to the upper TH where we had a vehicle-based aid station, and then we ran back to where we started. Sounds simple, doesn’t it. The FKT website guidelines refer to this style as “self-supported” though I feel this is misleading because I think if any of the three of us really “supported ourselves”, we would have found something better to do with our time.
Anyhow…
We have reviewed various aspects of the trail for your reading pleasure and future planning. Hope you find it helpful.
Way too many bridges. And why do the bridges have to have stairs? Please rebuild with a ramp up to the bridge. Also, many of the bridges only had one rail which made me feel even more unsafe. Please fix these problems, these bridges are not child friendly. Also not ADA compliant.
This is supposed to be the Mckenzie River Trail, not the Mckenzie River Highway Trail, was way too close to the highway at two points...totally unsafe. What if a texting-and-driving driver flies off the road into oncoming hikers. One star.
Waterfalls were just a bunch of water falling down. And you couldn’t even stand under them. Should have just stayed in the shower. One star.
Blue Pool was just like some kinda blue water in a pool, it just sat there. Kinda boring. Waterfall has apparently gone extinct. Again. One star.
Rough rocks on trail at points, hurt my feet. One star.
Trail paved in parts along Clear Lake, disrupting my connection with nature. One star.
Hot springs were very limited. One was a private resort and one was ten miles from the start of our effort and so we could not stop to soak. Need better access. Again, could have stayed in shower. One star.
The Out and Back is actually just the same trail twice, once one way, once the other. One star.
Speaking of one way, the trail is supposed to be up one way, and down the other. It definitely appeared to be up both ways. This needs to be rectified before anyone else attempts such stupidity. One star.
Doesn’t going fast ruin your experience to enjoy the beauty? One Star.
Someone told me “FKTs are just internet trophies”... still don’t see a trophy anywhere. Scam Alert. One Star.
Saw Alex King on his way to the one way FKT, that dude is too fast. One star.
Beer at finish was non-alcoholic. Five Stars.
[this is satirical humor]