Mountain and Gravel Bike Riding

Prineville is a very good area for both mountain biking and gravel riding, and I’d actually put it on your shortlist if biking is one of the reasons you’re considering a Prineville trip.

Mountain biking

The 66 Trails are the obvious starting point. Lower 66 Trailhead is right in town, with a compact network of singletrack offering easier loops plus some technical sections. The city describes the 66 system as its primary nearby singletrack network for a range of abilities.

For a bigger backcountry experience, head into the Ochoco Mountains.

Gravel biking

This is where Prineville really stands out.

The Crooked River Canyon Scenic Bikeway runs from Prineville toward Big Bend and offers dramatic canyon scenery. The BLM describes an 18-mile moderate version from Prineville to Big Bend Campground.

There’s also a graded gravel section of the Lower Crooked River Back Country Byway, and BLM specifically describes it as a favorite with gravel-bike riders.

And then there’s the big one: Ochoco Gravel Roubaix.

This is a 119-mile gravel route with nearly 9,000 feet of climbing that starts in Prineville and heads into the Ochocos. Travel Oregon describes it as an extreme gravel grinder and notes that the annual event is known as “the toughest gravel event in Oregon.”

Bird Watching

Prineville is a surprisingly good bird-watching destination, especially if you like a mix of water birds, raptors, and eastern Oregon species. I would consider it a particularly good choice if you’re already interested in fishing and outdoor recreation there.

The best areas

1. Prineville Reservoir — probably your best bet

The reservoir and its surrounding wildlife habitat offer a combination of open water, mudflats, willow, grassland and canyon habitat. Oregon State Parks specifically recommends driving the northeast shoreline road, where the reservoir becomes shallower and the shoreline transitions to mudflat, meadow and willow shrubland — excellent habitat for wildlife.

You can look for:

Bald Eagles
Ospreys
Great Blue Herons
American White Pelicans
Double-crested Cormorants
Western and Clark’s Grebes
Canada Geese
Various ducks
Shorebirds
Gulls
Raptors along the surrounding cliffs and open country

2. Ochoco Reservoir

This is another good nearby location for waterfowl. The combination of reservoir, surrounding grassland and the Ochoco Mountains gives you a different mix of birds than the Crooked River canyon.

3. Crooked River

The river corridor is worth exploring because riparian habitat attracts songbirds and other wildlife. As you move away from the water into the surrounding high desert, you’ll get a different set of species.

4. Ochoco Mountains

If you like woodland birds, I’d definitely spend some time in the Ochocos. The area contains ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer habitats, wetlands and meadows — a very different birding environment from the reservoir. Oregon’s State Wildlife Action Plan specifically identifies maintaining wet meadow/wetland and ponderosa-pine habitat as conservation priorities there.

Rock Climbing and Bouldering

Prineville is a very good base for rock climbing, although the biggest attraction isn’t actually in Prineville itself. The real prize is Smith Rock State Park, roughly 35–45 minutes northwest of Prineville.

Smith Rock is the big deal.

Smith Rock State Park is one of the premier climbing destinations in the United States. Oregon State Parks says the park has several thousand climbs, including more than 1,000 bolted routes.

It’s particularly famous for:

Sport climbing
Technical face climbing
Multi-pitch routes
Trad climbing
Bouldering
The iconic Monkey Face

The basalt and volcanic tuff formations produce some spectacular climbing, and the Crooked River canyon makes the setting exceptional.

How far is it from Prineville?

That’s one of the things that makes Prineville an interesting vacation base. You can stay in a quieter, less touristy town and make day trips to Smith Rock.

Smith Rock is close enough that you could easily spend several days climbing there while staying in a Prineville vacation rental.

There’s also excellent bouldering — SmithRock.com documents 300+ boulder problems spread throughout the park and surrounding areas.

And if you like crack climbing, I’d put Trout Creek on the list. It’s a BLM climbing area about 45 minutes north of Smith Rock, known for its columnar-basalt climbing. However, there’s an important seasonal restriction: the climbing area is closed January 15 through August 31 for golden-eagle nesting.