Verboort Sausage Populaire

Join Oregon Randonneurs for this fun and free ride!

Description:
This populaire starts in bucolic Forest Grove and quickly enters the countryside and quiet roads of Washington County. The route heads north and east for a quick stop at Longbottom’s in Hillsboro. Someone will be waiting there to sign your card. Grab a quick espresso if you’d like. Next, through North Plains then on to Mountaindale. All that remains of this community is the closed and run-down Mountaindale General Store. Head north along Dairy Creek Valley with its dairy farms, nurseries and rural mini-homesteads. You’ll turn around where the pavement run outs at the site of the former hamlet Snooseville. Look for the shelter with hot coffee, hot tea, hot cocoa and bake goods. Yep, it’s all free.

After the Snooseville turnaround, it’s a gentle downhill back to Mountaindale. Head west on back roads through wetlands to Banks and then push on to Cedar Canyon. You leave the quiet of Cedar Canyon, head east, then south on rolling terrain, skirting David and Clapshaw hills to the west. On the way to Verboort, be sure to check out Love’s barn full of antlers.

The ride will finish at Verboort, where you can feast at the annual Verboort Sausage & Kraut Dinner. This is just a couple of miles from the starting point in Forest Grove.

One of the purposes of a populaire is to introduce people to randonneuring. This ride will feature: checkpoints where the rider must answer a question about their location; getting a signature or receipt at a business; a staffed control with food, drink and chairs; and the ever-popular “secret” control with volunteers waiting for your arrival by the side of the road.

Cumulative elevation gain is approximately 2,000 feet.