The Orogenesis Trail promises to be the longest mountain bike trail in the world. Once complete, the long-distance bikepacking route will run roughly 5,000 miles from the Canadian Border to the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
We first reported on the Orogenesis Trail in January of 2023, and on April 23, 2025, the Orogenesis Collective announced the publication of its first trail segment: The Loowit Tier.
Missing sections of the Orogenesis Trail
Technically, several large portions of the Orogenesis have already been completed. Gabriel Amadeus Tiller, Executive Director for the Orogenesis Collective, was the mastermind behind the creation of the Oregon Timber Trail. “When we published the Oregon Timber Trail, another route called the Baja Divide was published the same year,” said Amadeus. “And if you look at the two on the map, you’re like, ‘Well, we’ve got to connect the two through California.’ They’re both these two linear routes. They’re pointing at each other. So it just seemed like the obvious thing to do.”
Aside from the two major routes already completed, Amadeus has had plenty of work to do mapping the missing segments. And there are some sections of singletrack that need to be built, too.
“Along those 5,000 miles there’s about 200 miles of gaps where there isn’t a trail currently,” said Amadeus. There are workarounds and detours, but some of them spit riders onto a highway or a long stretch of road. In one section in the Western Sierra Nevadas, if they were to build one-and-a-half miles of trail, it would eliminate 60 miles of road riding.
While building the missing stretches of singletrack will take years, Amadeus is finally ready to begin publishing the missing route segments for the Orogenesis Trail. The Loowit Tier is the first segment he’s published, but he plans to release five more segments through spring and summer 2025.
Introducing the Loowit Tier
The Loowit Tier is “a 200-mile bikepacking route that traverses the majestic landscapes of Washington State,” according to Amadeus. “The Loowit Tier offers riders an immersive experience through diverse terrains, including moss-laden forests, pristine aquamarine swimming holes, and the otherworldly expanse of the Mount St. Helens blast zone. With an elevation gain and loss totaling 32,000 feet, this route promises both challenge and awe-inspiring beauty. “
The Loowit Tier begins in the town of Packwood, WA, and finishes in White Salmon, WA, just across the river from the iconic mountain bike destination of Hood River, OR. Along the way, the route traverses well-known mountain bike trails, such as the Plains of Abraham on the flanks of Mount Saint Helens. As it winds its way through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the route links together many lesser-known singletrack trails — such as Klickitat Sisters, Strawberry Ridge, Tillicum, Buck Creek, and more — with extensive gravel roads. About half of the total route is singletrack.
The trails on the Loowit Tier are not for the faint of heart. “The riding in the Gifford is notoriously steep, remote, and rugged, but the views and descents make it worth your while,” according to the Orogenesis website. “The Klickitat Sisters Trail, in particular, has some very steep sections—don’t overestimate how far you can travel each day. Resupply is very limited along this Tier as well—only two options exist, and the first (Northwoods) is 100 miles into the route from Packwood.”
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