10.5 miles of hiking • 2750' elevation gain •
After resting on Friday from our Bend/La Pine trip, we headed out to the Bonnie Meadow trail. The last time we were here was before I had meniscus surgery, and the pain in my knee was challenging. Happily, this time my knees felt great. We were going to try and make a loop on the ridge trail at Bonney meadow, but it was a bit further than we wanted to go. The ridge ended up being fairly comfortable, despite the heat! We only saw one mountain biker the entire day!
Comments
Mileage Mike
July 11, 2015
Hi Jeremiah! We parked right on NF-48 near the trail. Unfortunately, there aren't any signs indicating where the trail is, and the trail looks more like an animal path. To be honest, the section of the trail between NF-48 and NF-4890 appears to be somewhat abandoned. I think most people are parking at this location to go down to the White River?
However, I believe that driving up NF4890, where I placed the car (attached map) icon, is a better place to park and start the ascent as there are signs incicating where the trail is located. Another option would be to drive up Bonney Meadows Road and going to the Bonney Meadows Campground. To me though, Bonney Meadows Road isn't very appealing to drive on unless you have a high clearance vehicle. I'm just mentioning this last option in case you want to use the campground as a starting point to head into Badger Creek Wilderness. It is interesting to note that there are Wilderness signs right after ascending the trail east of NF4890, and exiting the wilderness before Bonney Meadows road.
I hope this helps? I could always send you my gpx file if it isn't clear?
JM
July 13, 2015
Thx Mike. We were here once accidentally on a "wilderness drive" years ago when we also drove to Badger Lake. Fun times!
JM
July 10, 2015
How do you access this Trail?