This is a short and sweet route to add to your repertoire on how to get from the neighborhood south and west of Brookswood Blvd down into the river corridor. Yes, Brookswood has a painted bike lane, but it is a fast road on a hill, and I have felt in danger at times riding on that road. This is a back route that makes use of the open space along the Central Oregon canal as a way to link together the Brookswood and Woodriver neighborhoods.
The crux of the route is a short hike-a-bike that allows you to get down from Rock Bluff Ln to the Canal Trail and open space.
If you are far south enough, it might make more sense to take the COID road from River Canyon park instead of using the hike-a-bike. Though note that with the gate closed, it can be difficult to get particularly wide bikes through the gap (i.e. a bakfiets)
1. Getting to the open space:
Head east on Porcupine Dr until you get to Powers Rd. Powers Rd here is pretty comfortable, we are going to follow it North around the bend and take the first left on SW Rock Bluff Ln. Three houses down there is a right of way between houses 61379 and 61383. Head down the right of way and take the small, steep, improvised path. I generally walk this section, but if you are confident in your bike handling skills, you could probably manage it on a bike with wider tires. Long bikes with a lower bottom bracket might struggle a rock rollover here.
2. Getting to the Woodriver Neighborhood
Now you are in the open space! You have to weave through the canal trail space to get over to Milo Ave. There are a number of improvised trails that achieve this. Once you get onto Milo, you are going to follow it north, take a right on McClellan, follow that around the bend and take a left to go down the big Hill on Woodriver Ln.
3. Getting to the Deschutes River Trail
Follow Woodriver Ln down the big hill and snake through the neighborhood until you take a right on Alderwood Circle, and head north until you get to the traffic circle on SW Reed Market Rd. Use the traffic Circle to get into Farewell Bend Park and the Deschutes River Trail.
Then you can take the Deschutes River Trail north along the river until you reach the Old Mill!