Great Klamath Circle

The southern hub of the proposed Great Klamath Circle route is Moore Park, on the shore of Upper Klamath Lake in the city of Klamath Falls. A network of existing trails there, including the newly-constructed Klamath Ridge View Trail, take hikers, bikers, and runners along hillsides with stunning views of the surrounding countryside.

From Lakeshore Drive — the current end of the Klamath Ridgeview Trail, the route will continue through to the Running Y Ranch and Restort, connecting through to JWTR properties and connections that will extend past Aspen Lake and into U.S. Forest Service land, up the the Great Meadow and Lake of the Woods.

From the Great Meadow Area, the Great Klamath Cricle will continue northeast on already-established snowmobile trails, interfacing with Crater Lake National Park and providing access near the Annie Creek Sno-Park. To the east, the trail will connect to the Jackson-Kimball State Recreation State and the establish route connecting to Collier State Park.  Collier Park will be a major hub in the eastern section of the Great Klamath Circle.

From Collier, the route will head southeast through the Winema National Forest east of Chiloquin, ending up at Swan Lake Rim, where it will continue on a proposed BLM trail. That trail will extend down to the OC&E Trail near Dairy.

The OC&E Trail — a linear park along a former rail line with an established one hundred miles of paved and unpaved trails, managed by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department –forms the southern backbone of the Great Klamath Circle.

The western end of the OC&E Trail approaches the west side of Lake Ewauna in Klamath Falls, ending just short of the railroad yards. The Klamath County Master Transportation plan includes a proposal to extend the trail to cross the rail yards by building a “fly away” over the whole property, and grant funding is currently being sought for this project. Once over the rail yards, the OC&E Trail will be connected with the Lake Ewauna Trail and complete the circle back to the Link River and Moore Park.

The OC&E Trail also extends east, through Bly and Beatty, and has a northern spur (the Woods line) that offers potential for a second loop connecting back to Collier State Park through National Forest land.