News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Close to home: the Sisters Tie Trail

Sometimes a fisherman drives miles to find a remote fishing hole, but ignores the creek in his own backyard. The Sisters Tie Trail is kind of like that to the hiker. It's not an unusual ecosystem; it's not especially wild; and it's certainly not backcountry adventure.

What it is, though, is right here!

As we wait for the snow-covered high country to open up, this is a trail that is open pretty much all year. It's suitable for hiking, jogging, trail biking and horseback riding; and the best part is that you can just walk out of town and into the woods.

Yes, it's close enough to civilization to hear cars and occasionally see houses; but, if you want to get out and walk, bike or jog, isn't a jaunt in the trees better than one where speeding cars graze your elbow? This trail is flat as a pancake, suitable for children, and takes about one minute to reach.

The trailhead is located off North Pine Street just beyond where the pavement ends. From there, the trail takes off north and west for 6.6 miles to Indian Ford Campground on Highway 20 west of town. For our hike last week, we ferried one car to the campground and returned to Pine Street for a one-way hike.

Of course, you can do a round trip of 13 miles; or you can do a round trip of one mile or any other custom-tailored distance. Much of the trail parallels what used to be called Squaw Back Road; but, in the quest to divest ourselves of all things "squaw," the Pine Street name was simply extended beyond the city limits.

Heading north from town, the trail passes through National Forest lands of our familiar second growth ponderosa pine and juniper. One of the first "highlights" is a large open and fenced area that, many years ago, was our town dump and popular shooting range. When the dump closed decades ago, many local residents turned to using the garbage cans in the city park; but that's another story. Today a sign simply says that the area is under restoration.

This area borders Trapper Point and the Indian Ford Ranch subdivisions of Squaw Back Woods and Indian Ford Meadows. Because of the forest's proximity to homes, it is considered part of the "wildland interface." Accordingly, this portion of the route was subjected to prescribed understory burning just last month, and some of the ground is thoroughly charred. Much of the forest has also been thinned in recent years.

Especially in the first couple of miles, the trail crosses and follows many old dirt roads and tracks, so keep an eye out for the "Sisters Trails" markers. At about the halfway point, the trail turns west by an old gravel pit and becomes a little bit "wilder." It also becomes a little cooler and greener as the trail roughly parallels Indian Ford Creek.

This is the most scenic part of the hike. At one point, the forest opens up into a sea of head-high bitterbrush in full yellow bloom. We were surprised at the number of other wildflowers we also saw along the trail. Examples included penstemons, western blue flax, paintbrush, and several others.

Soon, the trail starts to follow what we used to call the High Ditch. The High Ditch carried irrigation water from the creek to portions of Indian Ford Ranch. My Father and I frequently rode this area on horseback in the 1960s and '70s. Back then, there were still remnants of old fallen-down homesteads throughout the area. The High Ditch is not in use now, but a fair amount of water is still leaking into it at the east end.

After skirting the southern edge of a large block of private land, the trail creeps ever closer to Indian Ford Creek, and willows and aspens appear on your right. A slight side trip will reveal the creek itself and lush wetlands full of life. During this hike, we encountered a very large contingent of Audubon Society birders from Corvallis.

At a pleasant pace, the hike took us about two and a half hours; but, if you're looking for a power walk, you can probably do it in less than two. If you have a car waiting at the campground, you can cover the same distance back to town in about ten minutes. This would be a great shakedown hike to get tuned up for the year's best hiking that is still to come.

 

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