They don’t leave much doubt about the remote and risky nature of these climbs!
Wow! Read and heed the sign (photo) – this is an all-time classic warning sign and is a bit appropriate as we barely finished this one, getting ourselves into a pickle with adverse weather towards the top of the climb (and then pushing on down and then back up the western Bear Camp ascent – when will we learn!). Beware that there are NO provisions and very little traffic and no civilization on this ultra-remote climb – well, that’s why it is EPIC! The east side of Bear Camp is a tale of 3 climbs (a) the first 4 miles are at 3%, (b) the next 5 miles are at 8.2%, gaining 2,350’ and (c) the final 11 miles are back to 3% average grade. We are surrounded by forest which borders the roadway most of the ascent, thus blocking distant views. There is a viewpoint at the end of the climb “Bear Camp Overlook” in fact! However, we were there on a miserable rainy overcast day which drastically limited views from the upper section of the climb. The roadway surface is very rough and this is a single lane road. There is very little traffic and the traffic we encountered was slow to react to us – we are certain drivers do not expect to see cyclists out there, so be very cautious.
Enter the National Forest at 13.4
Old sign - forest as of 2004 is the combined Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
Established 2004; 1,723,179 acres.
It was miserable weather during our May, 2016 trip.
Source: The Weather Channel and Wikipedia.