Major trail expansion project is adding miles for users

The Peterson Ridge Trail is in the midst of a major expansion that will benefit Sisters residents and eventually attract visitors from all over the region.

The trail was originally created in 1989 by a coalition of local mountain bike groups in cooperation with the Forest Service. Local notables involved in that process include current mayor and Eurosports owner Brad Boyd, and Phil Meglasson, whose name graces the renowned Phil's Trail system in Bend.

The original trail system was a pair of "lollipop" loops sharing a common two-way stem, one for five miles around Eagle Rock and then a fifteen miler to the end of Peterson Ridge. Even in this limited form it has been a great recreational asset for the community.

All this is rapidly changing. What was once 10 miles will soon be 30. Approval of an expansion plan for the trail was given to Sisters Trails Committee in April, and two miles of trail were added next to town almost immediately. What was once a two-way out and back track near town is now a set of loops with several connectors and many options, and the new trail is attracting a lot of happy users.

The bike/horse user conflict that erupted during last spring's approval process has become a heartwarming model of cooperation, with cyclists and equestrians planning and building trails together. The Trails Committee's several new equestrian members and their friends have added miles of single-track trails for horses within in the trail system.

What is being built is a "stacked loop" system, so that users can walk, run, or ride loops of many possible lengths. Picture a ladder and its many rungs. One leg of the trail goes from town some eight or nine miles out to the end of Peterson Ridge, and another leg will return to town more or less parallel to it. Between the two long trails on either side will be snippets of trail connecting them, like rungs. Each connecting snippet allows the rider/runner to make a loop.

So, for example, instead of the original two-way trail next to town, there are now three little loops that give the user the option of traveling 0.7, 1.9, or 3.4 miles. There is yet another loop five miles long that goes by Eagle Rock out to the Plainview Canal and back, just completed.

A total of 14 loops are being created in a systematic manner proceeding out from town. New trail is being built parallel to the old, and periodically a connector is being built between the two. When the last connector at the head of the trail system is completed, the resulting biggest loop will be over 20 miles.

Good signage will be crucial to the enjoyment and exploration of the system, and will be installed as the build-out proceeds beginning this fall.

A number of overriding objectives have guided the design of this project. The trail will continue to be family friendly and accessible to enthusiastic beginner- and low-intermediate cyclists. Virtually anyone in moderately good condition should be able to ride to the end of the system and back, or any loop in between. At the same time alternate technical routes are being added as well, for those seeking a challenge. One such route is now in place with more to be added along the way.

A trail in effect is a passively guided tour. The land through which this trail will wander is full of big trees, stunning landforms, and spectacular vistas, and the attempt has been made to lace together and to reveal to the trail user these particular samples of the natural wonders that surround us, often unnoticed. At some prime vistas there will be picnic tables.

Hundreds of hours of volunteer labor coordinated by Sisters Trails and several days of hard work by Forest Service crews have resulted in the completion of the 4-5 miles of bike/hike trails and as many miles of equestrian trails since April. This is one quarter of the total being built.

Sisters Trails Committee and the Central Oregon Trails Alliance are hosting a free trail building seminar October 10-12 in Sisters at FivePine. This seminar will be put on by a team from the International Mountain Biking Association. On October 12 there will be a community workday as well, like the one in April that netted us two miles of new trail.

Sisters Trails Committee is putting $7,000 of matching funds toward hiring a professional trail crew this fall for two weeks, total cost $14,000. The objective is to finish the system by this time next year. Donations can be made at SOAR, Sisters Trails' parent organization (sistersrecreation.com).

The expanded multi-leg multi-connector system will become a trail-running and mountain biking destination.

Ongoing system expansion will make possible a bike festival with both road and mountain rides beginning and ending at the Village Green, marathons and ultra marathons, and bike races. These are events that are now either awkwardly executed here, or entirely impossible.

Learn more at sisterstrails.com. If you don't yet know what's there, go see for yourself. The most popular trailhead is at the south edge of town at Elm St. and Tyee Drive, just over Whychus Creek. Use it, enjoy it, and maybe get involved.

John Rahm is the President of the Sisters Trails Committee