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Wednesday, March 1, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
An alternate route at North Benson Sno-Park
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Correspondent
If you are looking for a
nice cross-country ski out-
ing but don’t have all day,
here is an alternative route
into an area you may already
be familiar with. The North
Loop Trail of Ray Benson
Sno-Park is a popular Nordic
ski trail right at the summit
of Santiam Pass.
The last time I skied this
area, I took the conventional
North Loop Trail route from
the Ray Benson parking
area, just past the Hoodoo
Autobahn. For something
a little different this time,
however, we elected to
tackle just the northern por-
tion of this route.
Depending on snow con-
ditions, this route is actu-
ally a little easier than the
full loop, even though it is
roughly the same total dis-
tance – about four miles.
The route is quite flat, with
only a few gradual ups and
downs. There is one steeper
stretch just north of the
North Blowout Shelter, but
it is relatively short.
This alternate route pro-
vides a little extra adventure
(very little) because, ini-
tially, it is off-trail and may
require a little bit of thought
and some mild orienteering.
We began our outing from
a small parking area that is
hardly more than a wide spot
in the road. Perhaps the most
difficult part of the trip was
climbing up over the snow
berm at the side of the road.
Under blue skies and sun,
we headed southeast across
untracked snow, with the
idea of joining up with the
marked North Loop Trail.
It is pretty hard to get lost
in this area, since Highway
20 is less than a half mile to
the north, and the Hoodoo/
Big Lake Road provides a
boundary to the west. Still,
just passing through an
unmarked and untracked
area such as this provides a
real feeling of oneness with
the winter wilderness.
While soaking up the
placid grandeur of it all,
however, I had an unex-
pected wakeup call. Most
of this route is through a
portion of the 90,000-acre
B & B Burn of 2003; so, in
spite of the rapidly grow-
ing lodgepole pine saplings
popping up here and there,
the way seemed rather clear
most of the time. Imagine
my surprise when my right
ski suddenly plunged about
three feet down into what
turned out to be a hidden
tree well. The small tree,
itself, was buried in snow; so
I wasn’t expecting a hazard.
Fortunately, I remained
upright; and, after flail-
ing around a bit and firmly
planting my left foot, I was
able to do a one-legged
standup and extricate myself
from the hole. If nothing
else, it showed that mishaps
can happen even under the
most favorable conditions;
and I was certainly glad that
I wasn’t traveling alone.
In accordance with our
plan, sure enough, we soon
encountered the more trav-
eled track of the “official”
North Loop Trail, which
is traced by blue diamond
markers on the burned tree
trunks. Once on the main
trail, we encountered a few
other travelers on our way
to our eventual goal of North
Blowout Shelter.
Before too long, we spot-
ted the shelter up ahead;
reaching your goal always
provides a sense of accom-
plishment. The shelter was
originally built in the 1980s
by the Willamette Chapter
of the Oregon Nordic Club
but destroyed in the B & B
Fire. The rebuilt shelter sits
on a high point and looks
out across a scenic, if mostly
burned, panorama to the
east. Black Butte is also part
of the vista.
U n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y,
snowmobiles had not
touched the wide plain
below and to the east of the
shelter. It was the first time
I hadn’t seen the entire area
crisscrossed with the char-
acteristic track marks of
mechanization.
On this day, the two of us
were also part of the largest
crowd I’ve ever seen at the
site. There were nine of us!
The shelter’s inner walls
are lined with benches fac-
ing a wood-burning stove.
The little log cabin has a
heavy canvas door and two
large plexiglass windows.
There was an ample supply
of firewood. Since it was a
relatively pleasant day, we
saw no need to deplete the
firewood supply, but enjoyed
the dry bench seating while
munching on snacks that we
had packed in.
On the westbound return
PHOTO BY CRAIG F. EISENBEIS
Wit2 Mt. Was2ington in t2e background, a Nordic skier retraces 2is off-
trail route connecting to t2e nort2ern part of t2e Nort2 Loop Trail out of
Ray Benson Sno-Park.
portion of the trip, we
encountered only a hand-
ful of people, but I’ve never
known the area to be partic-
ularly crowded. We veered
off to the northwest a little
farther east than our inward-
bound route, so we covered
slightly different ground.
Our return route skittered
around behind the ODOT
sand and gravel piles at the
summit of Santiam Pass, and
soon we could see the traf-
fic heading into the Hoodoo
Ski Area for another of
the banner days they have
enjoyed this season. We cov-
ered the entire trip in less
than three hours.
The Ray Benson Sno-
Park is located at Santiam
Pass 20 miles west of
Sisters on Highway 20. The
south-leading access road
to Ray Benson and Hoodoo
is clearly marked. For this
abridged ski-in route, there
is a small, plowed pullout on
the left, shortly after turning
off Highway 20. Sno-Park
permits are required.
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