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Wednesday, June 10, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
A visit to historic Glaze Meadow
By Craig F. Eisenbeis
Columnist
In keeping with our cur-
rent emphasis on shorter,
close-to-home hikes, my hik-
ing buddy suggested that we
visit the trails along the east-
ern edge of Glaze Meadow. I
checked my files to see when
I last wrote about this trail
and was surprised to discover
that I never have. So, here9s
an easy walk in the woods
that you may not be familiar
with.
Historic Glaze Meadow
and the adjacent, more
recently dubbed Glaze Forest,
have been the subjects of
various Forest Service land
swaps and rehabilitation proj-
ects in an area immediately
east of Black Butte Ranch.
The site is named for Tillman
H. Glaze, who established a
small ranch there in 1881.
Glaze himself is an inter-
esting story. He was born
in Missouri in 1843 and, as
a child, came West in 1852
to Oregon9s Polk County,
from which arose the volun-
teer soldier contingent that
established Camp Polk here
in 1865 4 although I can
find no record that he was a
participant. Regardless, one
way or another, he found his
way to Central Oregon by
1877, apparently after being
involved in some <trouble=
over in the valley.
According to historical
bits and pieces, he became a
saloon and dance hall owner
in Prineville, and founded a
popular local band not very
imaginatively called The
Prineville Band. Historic
photos show him playing a
fiddle. One source even sug-
gests that he did some sher-
iffing for a time.
In a somewhat compli-
cated and shady scenario,
he also apparently sheltered
4 at his meadow ranch
near Sisters 4 a vigilante
killer who figured in Crook
County9s wild west era of
the 1880s. His affinity for
courting trouble ended in
1894, when he was killed in
gunfight over a horse-racing
dispute in Burns; his widow
survived him by 45 years.
In another historical foot-
note, the access road to the
meadow takes off from near
the old railroad grade cross-
ing west of town. Most of
today9s local residents post-
date the removal of that rail-
road overpass, which pro-
vided logging access to the
lands on and around Black
Butte. For years, it provided
a convenient landmark for
eastbound travelers. <Just
turn left immediately after
the railroad overpass,= we
could tell visitors headed to
my parents9 place at the north
end of Indian Ford Road. So,
it was against a rather histori-
cal backdrop that we decided
to re-explore Glaze Meadow
area on a bright sunny day
last week.
There is some ecological
sensitivity in the important
riparian and forest lands that
surround this area. Among
the special plant species
found here is the rare Peck9s
penstemon, an unusual wild-
flower found almost nowhere
outside the Sisters Ranger
District. It is for this reason
that the Forest Service has
taken special measures over
the last couple of decades to
preserve and restore the area.
Much of the Glaze Forest
project area was clearcut
in the 1930s and contains
second growth ponderosa
pines that are being groomed
toward a pre-logging era
old growth forest outcome.
Toward that end, quite a bit
of the smaller new growth
timber has been removed,
which, combined with
other measures 4 includ-
ing mosaic thinning 4 has
reduced wildfire danger to
the area and to Black Butte
Ranch.
Mosaic thinning results
in a diverse habitat of fin-
ished forest which resembles
historic forests with gaps,
clumps, snags, atypical
<character trees,= and patches
of trees of different ages. The
end result is a forest of varied
appearance, rather than one
with a homogenous parklike
setting.
In conjunction with the
historically marshy meadow,
the principal riparian feature
of the area is an upper por-
tion of Indian Ford Creek,
where we began our explora-
tion of the area. The principal
PHOTO BY CRAIG F. EISENBEIS
The trail along the edge of historic Glaze Meadow follows the Metolius-
Windigo Trail across Indian Ford Creek through a dense aspen grove.
trail along Glaze Meadow
is part of the 100-mile
Metolius-Windigo Trail that
runs from the Mt. Jefferson
Wilderness to the Diamond
Peak Wilderness south of
Crescent Lake.
Our outing began on the
<Met-Win= Trail from the
end of the short road off
Highway 20 and, almost
immediately, crossed Indian
Ford Creek on an excellent
bridge in a beautiful, dense
aspen grove. The last time we
were here was in the fall, and
the aspens were decked out
in their golden autumn finery.
This whole area is abso-
lutely flat, with a network of
old trails and logging roads,
so there is plenty of room to
wander and explore 4 and
socially distance. We were
there on a weekend and saw
only two other people, and
they were at quite a distance.
It should be noted, however,
that this is also a popular
equestrian area, so horse traf-
fic is to be expected.
We took a couple of hours
wandering through the woods
and stopped for a short break
near a Forest Service restora-
tion project along the south-
east edge of the meadow. We
returned by roughly the same
route; but alternates abound,
making for unlimited options
of hiking distances. Since
the area is bounded by Black
Butte Ranch and the high-
way, it9s very difficult to get
lost here, unless you have
absolutely no sense of direc-
tion 4 in which case, a com-
pass is recommended.
To reach this interesting
local historic area, simply
travel west from the Sisters
roundabout on Highway 20
for about 5 miles. The gravel
and dirt road to the edge of
Glaze Meadow is on the
left, immediately opposite
the entrance to Indian Ford
Campground.
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