Wednesday, August 9, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
A visit to Roaring Spring
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Correspondent
When a friend recently
asked me what I knew about
Roaring Spring near Camp
Sherman, my answer was,
“Nothing” — so we decided
to do something to remedy
that. It took a fair amount of
Googling and map research to
locate even the general area.
As it turned out, that informa-
tion was only good enough
to get us close. But that was
fine; we are always up for a
little exploration.
Roaring Spring is about a
half mile northwest of Sheep
Springs Horse Camp, which
is three miles due west of
Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery
on the Metolius River. All
maps we found had the words
“Roaring Spring” on the north
side of the 200 Road, which
leads to Sheep Springs. The
first thing to understand,
however, is that — despite the
location of the words — the
spring itself is on the south
side of that road.
To begin narrowing down
the location, we parked at the
junction of the 200 Road and
Road 1230. Theoretically,
Roaring Creek crosses Road
1230 here, but the creek was
anything but roaring. Even
in this wet year, it was com-
pletely dry. We had read that
the spring was just off the
Metolius-Windigo Trail, so
we located the trail cross-
ing and followed the trail
southeast.
Eventually, we could
hear water in the creek; so
we dropped down off the
trail to investigate. We found
the creek just fine; but, as it
turned out, we missed spot-
ting Roaring Spring by about
100 feet. So, we continued
on down the trail until we
reached the junction that con-
nects the main trail to the
Sheep Springs Horse Camp.
We walked up to the horse
camp and saw that the camp
host was in, so we decided to
ask for directions rather than
continue to wander aimlessly.
This camp caters solely to
an equestrian clientele, and
the host proudly touted the
camp’s virtues. Sheep Springs
(the waters) are none too
impressive, however, consist-
ing of a swampy area filled
with alders and willows at the
edge of the campground.
The camp host seemed
mildly amused by our unsuc-
cessful quest to find Roaring
Spring but confirmed that it
was, indeed, worthy of dis-
covery. As we had already
concluded, we had passed the
spring along the Metolius-
Windigo Trail and would
have to retrace our steps. In
the end, we managed to log
a couple of miles in a search
that might have covered only
a few hundred yards.
Like many of the Cascade
springs in our area, Roaring
Spring suddenly emerges –
seemingly from nowhere. The
nature of our Cascade volca-
nic landscape is such that the
Cascade snowmelt is carried
underground, sometimes for
many miles through sub-sur-
face aquifers.
Unlike the Head of the
Metolius or the Head of Jack
Creek, where a full-fledged
stream bursts forth, Roaring
Spring is much less ostenta-
tious — and scarcely roars at
all. It just sort of leaks from
all over a hillside, coming
together in a burbling little
stream that instills some life
into the otherwise dry stream
bed of Roaring Creek.
Actually, there is so much
green moss and other vegeta-
tion where the water surfaces,
that the spring is easier to hear
than it is to see. Maybe that’s
why it is thought to roar. In
any event, braving a mos-
quito or two, we pulled out
our lunch snacks and sat on a
log where we could watch the
picturesque little spring gur-
gle its way down the slope.
If you would like to be
spared our wanderings and
find your way straight to the
spring, read on; otherwise,
skip to the last paragraph.
The secret to finding Roaring
Spring is simple. If you don’t
hear Roaring Creek flowing,
you are too far west on the
trail. If you’re traveling east
and the stream is sounding
fainter, you’ve gone too far
east. Our initial intuition had
proved correct; and, when we
emerged from finally finding
the spring, we were in exactly
the same spot where we had
first searched!
To discover Roaring
Spring for yourself, travel
west on Highway 20 from
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PHOTO BY CRAIG F. EISENBEIS
Roaring Spring emerges from a hillside north of Camp Sherman.
Sisters for nine miles and
turn right (north) onto the
Camp Sherman Road (Road
14). Follow the road about
4.5 miles into Camp Sherman
to the stop sign and continue
straight onto Road 1410 for
another 3.5 miles and turn
left on Road 12 to Road 1260.
From there, it’s about a mile
to the 200 Road where you
turn right and go another
mile, where you will arrive at
Sheep Springs. The Metolius-
Windigo Trail parallels the
200 Road on the left (south-
west) side. You can pick up
the trail there or at the junc-
tion of Road 1230, which is
less than a mile ahead. The
last few miles of road are
gravel.
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