Among the many obstacles
faced by the Oregon Trail pi-oneers
as they trekked west
in their wagon trains were
the imposing Blue Mountains. Found
in the northeast corner of Oregon,
these mountain reach heights of more
than 9,000 feet.
Today, a new set of adventurers can
be found here. They use motorized
sleds to traverse trails in the heart of
the Blue Mountains range and they be-long
to the Tollgate Trailfinders Snow-mobile
Club, named after a mountain
road toll gate set up long ago by one of
the area’s earliest settlers.
Just elected to a second two-year
term, Brandon Christensen is the pres-ident
of the Tollgate Trailfinders. Chris-tensen
says because the Tollgate Trail-finders’
trail system is located largely
within a U.S. Forest Service area (the
Umatilla National Forest), club mem-bers
are able to enjoy a remarkable
snowmobiling experience that’s hard
to beat.
TRAIL TALES
“It’s beautiful country and there
are some spectacular views,” he said.
“There’s some great opportunities
for some off-trail riding as well. Once
they’re in the national forest, we actu-ally
encourage people to get off the trail
and explore a little bit. There are some
canyons to drop into and challenging
terrain, if you want to look for it.”
Tollgate Trailfinders currently has
125 family memberships and, accord-ing
to Christensen, is among the most
vibrant snowmobiling clubs in Oregon.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TOLLGATE TRAILFINDERS
snowopsmag.com | SnowOps 7
/snowopsmag.com
