A letter from a local
Track Town is secretly a trail town.
Pre's Trail, the bark-chip loops along the Willamette, is five minutes from anywhere and holy ground if you run. Spencer Butte's summit is fifteen minutes south — the whole valley and the Cascades from the top, before breakfast.
The serious goods sit 45 minutes east up the McKenzie: Oakridge's legendary mountain bike descents one way, the McKenzie River's blue pools and class III water the other. The coast at Florence is 75 minutes west when you want sand dunes and cold surf. You sit in the middle of the wheel and pick a spoke.
University town rhythms, Willamette Valley beer and produce, rain you learn to dress for. Eugene doesn't shout. It just keeps handing you Saturdays.
— Rowan