Three Creek Meadow Horse Camp near Sisters, Oregon, is the gateway to spectacular scenery via fun, horse-friendly trails.
And there's a bonus: the horse camp corrals have all been renovated with sturdy steel rails.
Background
Three Creek Meadow Horse Camp is adjacent to pretty Three Creek Meadow at the foot of Tam McArthur Rim, an imposing rock ridge that runs east from Broken Top. Nearby you’ll find Three Creek Lake, a popular fishing spot, and Little Three Creek Lake.
While many people refer to this area as “Three Creeks,” its actual name is “Three Creek.” We wondered for years what happened to One Creek and Two Creek. It turns out the “Three Creek” name comes from the fact that three tiny streams (outflows from Three Creek Lake, Little Three Creek Lake, and Snow Ditch) merge in Three Creek Meadow to form a single stream: Three Creek. There you have it.
The Riding
You’ll find a wide variety of scenic trails near Three Creek Meadow Horse Camp. You can ride a nice 4-mile loop that takes you to Three Creek Lake and Little Three Creek Lake. It features creeks, meadows, forests, and wildflowers in addition to the two lakes. There’s even a derelict cabin beside the trail.
You can ride to the top of Tam McArthur Rim for a panoramic view of Broken Top, the Three Sisters, and the two lakes far below you. This ride used to be less than 10 miles round trip, but the trail was very challenging. It featured some steep drop-offs and one bare-rock blind corner that was plenty difficult even if you didn’t meet an oncoming hiker just around the corner (which you usually did).
Several years ago, the Forest Service created a new trail for horses. This route is longer (16 miles round trip) but much more manageable (the elevation change is far more gradual, and the terrain is more horse-friendly). It’s a fun ride, and the views are spectacular.
Another ride goes to Park Meadow, one of the most beautiful spots in the Deschutes National Forest. The meadow is nestled between Broken Top and South Sister, and pretty Park Creek flows through it. Seasonal wildflowers abound in the meadow.
Interestingly, while the 2012 Pole Creek fire didn’t affect Park Meadow, it incinerated much of the forest between the horse camp and the meadow. The fire burned so hotly that it killed all the trees and sterilized the ground, so you’ll ride several miles through the silver and black skeletons of dead trees where vegetation is only now beginning to regenerate. The compensation for this rather bleak landscape is that you now have mountain views that were once entirely hidden by dense lodgepole forest.
Park Meadow is so spectacular that it’s well worth riding through the burned forest to get there.
Once you get to Park Meadow (a 12-mile round trip), you can continue another 1.7 miles (one way) through green forest to visit beautiful Golden Lake. This gem is located at the end of an unsigned but heavily used trail that’s easy to follow. The middle of the lake is blue, but the perimeter is a beautiful golden color. And with Broken Top towering over the lake on one side and South Sister on the other, the views are breathtaking.
The Camping
Three Creek Meadow Horse Camp offers nice overnight accommodations, including corrals, stock water, toilets, and manure bins.
Three Creek Meadow Horse Camp features horse-friendly trails, pretty lakes, seasonal wildflowers, spectacular views, and the opportunity to observe a forest beginning to regenerate after a devastating fire. Don’t miss it!
More Information
You’ll find more information about Three Creek Meadow Horse Camp and the nearby trails in Riding Central Oregon Horse Trails, by Kim McCarrel, available at www.NWHorseTrails.com.
