Rim Trail at Paulina Lakes on MTB - Oregon, United States

Paulina Lakes is an absolutely great mountain bike ride of about 20 miles.  It circles the rim of of the huge Newberry volcanic crater (caldera).  Great views, excellent trail conditions, and high altitude. 

Newberry is an "active" Volcano. The caldera is roughly four to five miles in diameter. [Although several thousand years old, it's about 10X larger in area than Mt St Helens!]

I started the ride at Paulina Lake. From there climbed steadily 1000 ft up in the first 4  miles along a rutted gravel road. Hard riding. 

Once you find the trail (at about 7300 feet elevation) the great riding  begins. You start off on a fairly gradual downhill trail with loose gravel for about 4 miles. There's plenty of obsidian around which is neat. Trail condition is excellent. 

After about mile 6 you start into a gradual 8 mile climb. Theres a fiar amoun of small up and down along this part, and most of this trail is excellent. There are only a few steep pitches. Nothing highly technical.

Once you pass the lookout point you have only a hundred feet or so to climb. Form there is it a descent all the way in. The trail is sandy in spots and at least this year there were plenty of obstacles and trees and such.

Basically 16 miles of single track heaven. 

I rated a 5 star. It is "worth a trip" to ride this one.

Park at Paulina Summit and start the ride from there. You'll need to hitch hike but worth skipping the road up, which is miserable.

very single-speedable riding. tough riding in spots, but nothing super technical

bring a lunch for a great picnic spot about two thirds way round.