Oregon Cascades Resources

Back Country Horsemen of Oregon www.bcho.org Deschutes National Forest www.fs.fed.us/r6/deschutes Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail (Oregon) www.fs.fed.us/pct/oregon_segment.html Pacific Crest Trail Association (Oregon) (916) 349-2109; www.pcta.org/about_trail/overview/oregon.asp Sun Publishing (Riding Central Oregon Horse Trails, by Kim McCarrel) www.sun-pub.com Three Sisters Wilderness/Willamette National Forest Wilderness/Willamette National Forest Todd Creek Horse Camp and Trailhead/Deschutes National Forest Todd Creek Horse Camp and Trailhead/Deschutes National Forest

Clad in emerald robes and capped with ermine stoles, Oregon’s Central Cascades rise to greet horse and rider. Like many natural regions, this area feeds one’s soul with its incredible beauty and offers tantalizing visions of trail-riding adventures into a vast expanse of wilderness. The Cascades have an additional attraction — numerous horse camps!

With eager help from our equine partners, 11-year-old Scout and 9-year-old Buddy, both Missouri Fox Trotter geldings, we decided to check out this area, including the Three Sisters Wilderness (in the Willamette National Forest), Todd Creek Horse Camp (in the Deschutes National Forest), and the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

Enjoy this bonus photo album from our trip! (For more on Oregon’s Central Cascades, see “Emerald Embrace,” Postcard From … Oregon, The Trail Rider, September/October ’09.)

Kent Krone’s gelding, Buddy, smiles and enjoys the corrals at Todd Creek Horse Camp.

Women from the Back Country Horsemen of Oregon ride out of Todd Creek Horse Camp.

Kent Krone and Buddy, on Trail #34, pause at a pond below the dormant volcano Broken Top (elevation, 9,175 feet).

Kent Krone and Buddy pause at one of many waterfalls on Fall Creek, en route to Green Lakes.

Charlene Krone and her gelding, Scout, at the smallest Green Lake; Broken Top rises behind it.

A pack group passes by the smallest Green Lake on the way to a pack trip into the Three Sisters Wilderness.

Kent Krone and Buddy at Green Lake. South Sister Mountain (elevation, 10,358 feet) looms above.

Charlene Krone and Scout pause at the upper end of the middle Green Lake.

Charlene Krone and Scout pause at the under-highway tunnel at the start of the Wickiup Plains ride.

Charlene Krone and Scout at Sisters Mirror Lake.

Charlene Krone and Scout view Wickiup Plains and South Sister Mountain (elevation, 10,358 feet).

Corrals at Sisters Cow Camp. This spacious camp has stock water available before you access the Scott Pass trailhead to the Pacific Crest Trail.

Charlene and Kent Krone relax at Sisters Cow Camp.

Buddy and Scout enjoy spacious corrals at Sisters Cow Camp.

Scout and Buddy at a hitching rail in the Oregon Cascades.

Charlene Krone and Scout on the Pacific Crest Trail, with views north across lava fields to dormant volcanoes: Mount Washington, Three Finger Jack, and Mount Jefferson.

Fire and ice on the Pacific Crest Trail. Charlene Krone and Scout, on snow, look north across formerly molten lava to dormant volcanoes: Mount Washington and Three Finger Jack.

Bronco Billy’s Grill and Saloon in Sisters, Oregon. Buddy went by the restaurant windows smiling at unsuspecting customers, while wearing his cowboy hat, scarf, and sheriff’s badge.