Trail will link Tollgate to new high school

The end of Wagonwheel in Tollgate will be the head of a new trail. photo by Tom Chace

A trail linking the Tollgate subdivision to the new Sisters High School tops the priority list of an ambitious master plan for a community trails system in Sisters.

The final master plan for a series of hiking and biking trails in and around Sisters is nearing completion, according to an announcement this week from Jeff Sims, a volunteer with the project.

Sims, who is a Lands and Special Use Forester with the Sisters Ranger District, said, "We've scheduled the opening Trail Kiosk ceremony for next month during the Sisters Bike Festival (September 20). We hope to have the final trail plan completed at that time."

A printed draft has been circulating throughout the community for the past six months. Planners conducted a number of workshops and meetings for individual and group input since early in 2002.

Not much will be changed from the draft plan to the finally adopted plan.

The Community Trails proposal, which will take years to complete, envisions 36 trails totaling over 143 miles within an eight-mile radius of downtown Sisters. Virtually every area of greater Sisters can be reached by hiking or biking when the total plan is completed.

This is a non-motorized trail system.

"It is a vision of a community with a safe, accessible network of trails serving every neighborhood within the greater Sisters School District, connecting them to downtown Sisters, to schools and to regional trails within the Deschutes National Forest," the proposed plan states.

"It's a trail system for everyone, from the residents of Cloverdale and Black Butte Ranch to the citizens of Crossroads and Aspen Lakes.

"It's a trail system that will make the Sisters area a better place to live, connecting us to our community and to each other."

The first trail proposed on the master list is from Tollgate to the new high school.

According to the preliminary proposal, this trail would be a "multi-use path, accommodating both bicyclists and pedestrians with two-way traffic, approximately 10 feet wide and either paved or with a compact gravel surface."

Second on the priority list is a trail between Crossroads and the high school.

"This trail would use existing Forest Service roads to connect the Crossroads subdivision with the school campus," the report states.

Distance for this trail would be about 1.63 miles and it also would be for multi-use. It would be made of compact gravel.

Compact gravel is the surface on the present Camp Sherman biking and hiking trail from Metolius Meadows past the Black Butte School to the Metolius Bridge. It has been in use for about five years with little or no maintenance.

Others on the list include Camp Polk Road to Wilt Road/Buffalo Road; Squaw Creek Foot Trail; Camp Polk Loop to the Redmond Highway; Cloverdale Road; Indian Ford Road; Three Creek Road; and Sisters to Indian Ford Road along Highway 20.

"We still have a lot to do before we can actually begin construction of even the Tollgate Trail," Sims said. "Our trails committee will probably meet with the school board in mid-September to discuss permission to cross school property.

"In addition to the school board, we'll also need permission from the Deschutes Basin Land Trust since they hold a conservation easement on 160 acres of the school property," he said.

Betty Fadeley, business manager of the Tollgate Property Owners Association, said that their organization will probably schedule a vote of the property owners to permit an easement over a corner of their property as soon as CATS, (Community Action Team of Sisters, one of the sponsoring organizations) schedules an "informational meeting with Tollgate residents."

Originally, representatives from CATS thought this meeting would be held during August. The actual date for such a presentation has yet to be announced.

The Tollgate Trail will start near the end of Wagonwheel, the "fire road" at the southeast corner of the sub-division, will run virtually straight south across the pump house section to the new high school campus.

Other "sponsoring organizations" listed in the Sisters Community Trails Draft Plan include: National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program, the City of Sisters, the Sisters School District, Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation, Deschutes County, U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Donors listed include the Sisters Rotary Club, Hoyt's Hardware and Building Supply, Ponderosa Forge and Iron Works, Earthwood Homes and Cycle Oregon.