2026 Focus: Lower Taylor Creek Trail

In 2026, grants from Travel Southern Oregon and ExtremeTerrain helped to provide tools, tool maintenance, fuel, food, and support for our volunteers while we restored the Lower Taylor Creek Trail in the Briggs Valley. Seven miles of pure Southern Oregon singletrack – fully cleared and ready for your next adventure!

Between January and June 2026, the Southern Oregon Trail Alliance (SOTA) volunteer crew tackled the Lower Taylor Creek Trail (#1142) in the Briggs Valley, west of Grants Pass. More than 30 incredible volunteers stepped up, crushing a combined 560 hours of dirt-moving, brush-clearing, log-sawing labor.

If you’ve been out there since the 2018 Taylor-Klondike wildfires, you know how rough the deferred maintenance and aggressive regrowth got. Armed with chainsaws, hedge trimmers, McLeods, and shovels, our crews braved the rain and thick brush to bring this low-elevation, year-round gem back to life. Longtime trail users are already telling us it’s in the best shape it has been in years!

Whether you’re hiking, trail running, mountain biking, horseback riding, or heading out on an motorcycle, the backbone of the Briggs Valley network is officially wide open. Grab your gear, enjoy the swimming holes, and get out there!

A massive thank you to every single volunteer who put sweat equity into this project, and to Travel Oregon for helping fund this effort. We couldn’t do this without our community. Huge thank you to Shane Stiles of Mazama Creative for capturing the trail work day on film and helping us out with the video!