Alternate Routes for Oregon to Orange County, Ca?

[David85]

There's three routes I know of to get from Oregon to Orange County.  One is the ACA route which I believe follows PCH for the most part.  The other two are ones I found on google maps when I used the bicycle route search.  One takes the Oc&E Woods Line State Trail and the other takes the US-395 S.

The other two look like they go through less mountains, which is appealing to me but I'm not familiar with these routes.  Has anyone taken them or know of them?  Are there many camp sites around these routes?  What's the terrain like?  If anyone has any input I'd be happy to hear it. 

[valygrl]

You could use the ACA Sierra Cascades route, but that won't be "less mountains."  Actually, I would think less mountains with those start/end points would put you in the inland valley (at least in CA)  - hot and barren and agricultural - ick.

Google maps bike routes aren't really recommended bike routes, it just shows roads where bikes are allowed.  I wouldn't put any faith in them.

[aggie]

I'm not familiar with the Woods Line state trail so I can't comment on it.  I'm familiar with the 395 from Reno to Southern California.  When I drive up to Tahoe I like to take the 395.

Between Reno and Carson City you may want to check out the following website to see where bicycles are prohibited http://www.bicyclenevada.com/restrict.html.  South of Carson the road is pretty good and it generally (but not always) has a wide shoulder (although the state has installed rumble strips).  There are several campgrounds along the way and in other areas you could probrobly camp out of site of the road and no one will bother you.  The scenery is pretty good until you get close to Ridgecrest when it really becomes what is called high desert.  You will also find at least 2 good sized climbs.

There is one 30 mile stretch I don't recommend because of high traffic and no shoulder.  That is between Kramer Junction (Hwy 58) and Victorville.  

[cgarch]

The OC&E Woods Line trail doesn't do what you want. At all. It is a rail trail out of Klamath Falls that heads east and dead ends in the woods to the east of KFalls. Even the reviews of it on the Rails-to-Trails web site aren't that positive. As for your route choice, it somewhat depends on where you're starting in Oregon, no?