Running commentary

One of the advantages of running is that you are typically going at a speed that allows you to regard things you would not notice when biking or driving.

There is a sign that I have driven past hundreds of times along Highway 20. It's just beyond the edge of town, on the north side, where cars pick up speed as they head out toward the Santiam Pass. There is a pull-out there, but nothing else to attract one's attention.

I stopped at this spot to stretch a number of years ago and read the sign. Even then, it was worn and rough with about half of the paint remaining. I have paid more attention to it since then and begun to wonder how many of the local residents have ever read it.

The sign reads: "Oregon History-Sisters: In this vicinity early Indian trails converged, one coming in from Tumalo Creek to the southeast, one from Sparks Lakes and Green Lakes to the Southwest, one from Scott Trail (as later known) from the west and one from The Dalles to the north." (U.S. Department of Agriculture/Forest Service.)

These historic markers are all over Oregon, but it appears that ours has been neglected for quite some time, so I contacted a group based in Salem, comprised of volunteers, who have made it their mission to look after this type of marker in hope that they may be able to provide assistance to fixing up this sign. I haven't heard back, but I would like to be part of helping this effort.

I like these Oregon History signs because they give us pause to think about days gone by. In reading this sign, I imagined the native people such as the Northern Paiute, who traversed through this area from all directions. Imagine the wildlife, the acres upon acres of old-growth ponderosa forests, the unaltered streams and rivers. Picture the arrival of non-native explorers, settlers, and military groups.

As a runner, I also think of the trails themselves. Sisters Country still prides itself for its area trails. The trail described on the sign regarding Green Lakes makes me think that the present day trailhead at Park Meadow from near Three Creek Lake to the Cascade Lakes Highway, which I have run, may have started as an "Indian" trail. Portions of the Pacific Crest Trail most certainly derive from historic pathways.

I remember running a portion of the Scott Trail, which was instrumental in the early travel and commerce of the pioneer settlers, about 10 years ago on a very windy and rainy morning. As my wife, Deirdre, and I pulled up to the trailhead, a bobcat leaped away from us into the grey morning. As we slogged up the trail, the wind whipped eerily through the beetle-killed pine trees and I remembered imagining what it must have been like for those on foot, with miles to go before any sort of settlement. Soaked to the skin after an hour, I felt quite pleased to have the shelter of a warm car to get me home.

Some of the old trails mentioned on the sign probably parallel current-day dirt roads and highways. Our community is still the hub of trail "spokes" that go in every direction that are now used for biking, hiking, running and hunting. Perhaps next time you are out on the Indian Ford, Whychus or Peterson Ridge trails you might imagine being in the same spot in 1825, about the time Peter Skene Ogden is reported to have camped in the area, when Sisters Country was largely a wilderness, and revel in the beauty we still have here.