Hayward
Hayward
An all-gravel trip through tree farms with mountain views
An all-gravel trip through tree farms with mountain views
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Roadside native poppies on the way up to Hayward
I've been tackling the off-pavement (like Bacona) on a road bike but I got my first flat of the year on the gravel path to Cherry Grove. Looking ahead at the remaining communities on the list, I realized that reaching any of the remote logging communities was a dicey proposition.
So I got a new bike.
I could have gotten this bike in either black or pink. Of course I went pink. Warning: some may find graphic depictions of Multnomah county disturbing
It's a gravel bike with wide tires, a front suspension and a dropper post. While not a full mountain bike but it's resilient enough to traverse any road the US Forest service, Stimson Lumber, and Washington County dept of transportation can throw in my way. My trip to Hayward is my first real test of the bike's capabilities.
Hayward is a tiny community in the hills between Hwy 6 and Hwy 26, northwest of Banks. It's reached from either highway by an unpaved beltway (Cedar Canyon/Hayward Rd, depending on which direction you approach).
The community has an interesting non-history. As far as anyone can tell there is not nor has there every been a resident with the name "Hayward". Here's the entry in the Oregon Geographic Names book:
The compiler's skepticism is palpable. I'm in agreement: this story is a load of crap.
Both the Manning and Bateman/Washburn/Fir post offices were operational at the time. Both are closer than Greenville. Hermann was from Roseburg so I'm not sure how much he'd care about homesteading in the mountains beyond the Willamette Valley.
Hayward was a pretty atypical place to put a post office, too. Every other office in the county was along a major transportation corridor (whether that be rail, road or river). Hayward was not on a through-road and on top of a hill and without a population center.
So I posit another, unverified theory that sounds more plausible: Hayward was an intentionally temporary post office that opened to support logging operations in the late 1890s. Could the eponymous Hayward have been an exec at the company? By rights, this place should be called Bothmanville (Bothmania?).
In any event, its a community that's hung on since the post office, as a mix of farming and small timber. They had a school through the 1940s and appear to have a landing strip today. Many mountain bikers and gravel bikers pass through here on their way to Wildcat Mountain.
I had planned to start from the Banks trailhead of the Banks-Vernonia trail but...they charge for parking now.
Wat?
So I pack up the car and drive...2 miles to Killin. Sure I could have found free street parking in Banks. Or free trailhead parking in Manning. Or used one of the many pull-outs along Hwy 47 and 26.
$10 is too much to pay to park in Banks.
Views of Hood from Eberly Rd
From Killin, I take a quick spin around Eberly and Killin Rds. It's a not-strictly-necessary loop through farms but adds more gravel to an otherwise short trip and the scenery is nice. However, it also had what ended up being the most trecherous descent of the day: loose gravel and a brief 20% grade I considered walking and ended up riding the brakes.
After that, it's up Cedar Canyon Rd. Literally up. It's a steep climb to Hayward. Sometimes through forests:
Cedar Canyon Rd. The deer must be a permanent fixture.
Sometimes past farms:
Occasionally, I get views:
After two miles and 1200 vertical feet, I arrive. Hayward has its own Cemetery. It's still active so be respectful. The founding Bothman clan has their own section. From the cemetery, I can see Hayward Farm.
Unsurprisingly, area is also chalk-full of hobby farms and rustic rural properties:
I pass an occassional plot of recent clear-cut logging and get views of Hood again:
From the top, Wildcat Mountain Road is an inconspicuous turn-off. This leads to the massively popular (among extreme gravel cyclists) Wildcat Mountain area of the Tillamook forest
There's just one problem: The sign says that the road is private. Based on the county maps I've studied, I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. The road sort-of connects to the public forest land, but the last couple hundred feet of road is "closed" and on private land. Judging from Strava heatmaps, most cyclists who make it up here take the "closed road" as guidance, not fact, and quickly and respectably cross onto the forest land without incident.
Now that I'm up, all I can do is head back down. The road out of town is just as steep, I have a nice flow going. I rocket down the hill passing a plane landing strip. The runway looks maintained but I don't see on any aviation map.
It's all downhill and all gravel until I reach US 26. I wait for a break in traffic and scurry across to the Manning trailhead.
I've been here before, but this time, the owner, Jay is out fixing the place up. I talk to him about the Salmonberry trail progress and he shows me the veritable museum of local history he has inside. Paintings of local tribes, photos of logging operations in Timber and Cochran, Oregon Trail artifacts.
He also offers an invitation: anyone who wants to see his collection is welcome to stop by.
From here, it's a short ride (all on pavement, alas) back to Killin. The major highlight on the way are three deer, snacking on someone's field:
Would I go back? Yes! I appreciate a gravel-heavy route with steep climbs and agreeable descents. The views are great. If I'm looking for a short-ish off-road route close to the home, Hayward will be one of my first choices.
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