Sisters, Oregon

     We left the chilly beach today (47 F. when we woke up) and went over two passes to get to Sisters, Oregon.  Our drive was over the Cascade mountains on the Santiam Wagon Road.  This road follows a pass through the mountains, but was not created by pioneers moving west.  It was built from west to east to move livestock to central Oregon's grass lands and to provide access to markets in eastern Oregon.  The Santiam Wagon Road was a maintained toll road that included bridges, road houses, and toll gates. In 1905, the first automobiles to cross the North American continent passed over the Santiam Wagon Road in a transcontinental auto race from New York City to the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland.

     Tombstone pass was not so high compared to some that we have encountered in the Rockies, but it was a very long, steep climb to the 4200' summit. We found ourselves on this two lane road with minimum shoulders before we realized that we were on our way over this pass. However, there are many pull-offs which allow slower vehicles (us) to move out of the way for cars that are moving faster. We stopped at a pull-off which was also an historical marker for the first car "Old Scout" which made it over this pass on the way from New York. It was a nice shady spot so we stopped for lunch. The temperature had risen to 90. As we continued to climb our transmission was getting hot so we pulled over again for a bit and then finished the climb. After some rolling hills going down, we started climbing again to the Santiam Pass.  At this point we were on an Oregon scenic by-way. It certainly was very scenic.

     Shortly after the second pass, as we started to head into Sisters, we drove through an area of lava fields and then past snow-capped Mount Washington and Mount Jefferson – two of the peaks in the Cascades. Finally, as we drove along the beautiful blue-green Suttle Lake, we saw the town’s namesake: the nearby Three Sisters peaks, Faith, Hope, and Charity. It was a really beautiful, but challenging drive.

     Our campground is just outside Sisters with a great view of the Sisters peaks. We are at the edge of the campground, away from the road and near a little lake – just perfect spot. We combined a relaxing swim in the campground pool with doing 4 loads of laundry. By the time the sun was setting the temperature had dropped from 94 to 74 which makes for a lovely evening.