Oregon transportation officials are asking bikers, skiers, snowmobilers and everyone else to stay off McKenzie Pass Highway 242 during the offseason, something that’s come as a shock to groups and people who’ve recreated on the alpine roadway for decades. The scenic highway typically closes to cars between late fall and June each year. But during those offseason months, it’s been used by generations to travel by foot, bike, ski or snowmobile into one of Oregon’s most beautiful places.
The allure of car-free cycling over McKenzie Pass brings tourists from around the globe, fueling the Sisters economy, while generations of snowmobilers and skiers travel the roadway’s deep powder past mountain views, snowy waterfalls and the “brick house” at Dee Wright Observatory.
But over the past few years, the Oregon Department of Transportation quietly decided that once the highway is closed to cars, it’s closed to everyone else as well. Officials cited safety concerns and said that anybody who went beyond the closure gates was doing so “at their own risk.” “We are asking people to make the right choice and the safe choice and not go into a closed area,” ODOT spokeswoman Mindy McCartt said. “The road is not plowed. There’s no cell service. There’s no resources and it’s extremely difficult for search and rescue to reach anybody that needs help. (In the spring), we have crews and heavy equipment up there reopening the road. It’s not a safe area when it’s closed.”
Brad Boyd, former Sisters mayor and owner of Eurosports bike shop, said the request came as a “complete shock.”
“What they’re asking for is about as clear as mud,” Boyd said. “They’re asking us not to go up there but also that it’s at our own risk? It’s one or the other. And you can’t just put the toothpaste back in the tube when people have been biking, skiing and snowmobiling up there for well over 35 years. And you certainly can’t do that without a public process or any communication whatsoever.”
Request to stay off McKenzie Pass a surprise
ODOT officials said the policy has been in place for at least five years. They pointed to language on the agency’s website and information in news releases announcing the road closure.
“When the highway is closed, it is closed to all users and is not maintained,” the most recent news release says. Because the closure is not enforced, no signs have been added and there’s been little communication, the request came as a shock to everyone interviewed for this story.
“I think somebody must be misinformed,” said Christian Summons, the grooming chairman for the Mt. Jefferson Snowmobile Club, which has long groomed an official trail on McKenzie Pass and conducts avalanche reduction during winter. “That would be a huge reversal of policy. ODOT has always allowed us to ride the highway once they closed the gate and there’s enough snow. It’s been on our map as groomed snowmobile route for almost 20 years.” Nordic clubs were also taken aback. “I’ve never heard of any such closure and never seen any signs or indications that travel beyond the snow gates on Highway 242 was prohibited,” said James Todd with the Willamette Chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club.
Even Willamette National Forest, which manages the land around the western half of the highway, appeared unaware ODOT didn’t want people on the highway, noting in an email “this is the usual ODOT closure. Non-motorized use has always occurred.”
‘This policy is going to get an extreme amount of pushback’
ODOT’s request was met was shock in Sisters, where car-free riding on McKenzie Pass has become big business. Bike shops, tour groups and shuttle services cater to people who travel from across the globe to ride McKenzie Pass without cars. Casey Meudt, owner and manager of Blazin’ Saddles bike shop in Sisters, said in the past ODOT had worked with the town to establish an annual date when bikes could ride the highway car-free. He said the idea that ODOT had made clear the road was closed to bikers in the offseason, for five years, was “not true” and that they’d never been informed of any long-term change. “Honestly, this policy is going to get an extreme amount of pushback,” he said.
What is ODOT saying about McKenzie Pass?
ODOT’s position is that the road is closed to everybody once the gates go down.
They compared it to a road that had been closed for flooding and wasn’t safe to travel.
In the past, ODOT said traveling the highway was at a person’s own risk. Now, however, the agency is saying the roadway is closed and are directly asking people not to go there.
Central Oregon ODOT spokeswoman Kacey Davey said they would not ask Oregon State Police to patrol or cite people for being on the highway “at this time,” she said. “It’s an ethical choice you make,” Davey said. “We don’t have an enforcement branch that is going to track people down. To us, this is about public safety, and there are risks involved anytime someone chooses to ignore a closure.”
Among the reasons ODOT cited included:
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Even after the snow has melted in the spring, ODOT said maintenance crews are plowing, paving, felling trees, and doing work with heavy equipment without flaggers. It can be difficult to hear equipment in different areas because of snow and trees. Preseason maintenance work can occur on any day of the week.
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Agency vehicles supporting winter operations (ODOT, USFS).
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There are no services or cell service.
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The weather changes quickly and can vary dramatically.
Boyd noted that the activity has always been at a person’s own risk, and is accepted by everyone that travels up there.
“Nobody is asking them to come rescue us,” he said. “That’s never been a part of this.”
Permitted activities still allowed on McKenzie Pass
Each year, the John Craig Memorial Ski Race and Tour takes place in March and uses McKenzie Pass Highway. The Mt. Jefferson Snowmobile Club grooms the route.
ODOT officials said the event will be allowed to continue because it’s permitted and event organizers have liability insurance. McCartt recommended that groups wanting to use the highway during the offseason call ODOT offices and look into getting similar types of permits.
What led to changes on McKenzie Pass? ‘It’s the liability’
In the mid 2010s, the car-free bike ride over McKenzie Pass was a story promoted all over the state by newspapers, television stations and Travel Oregon. Headlines such as “McKenzie Pass Open Exclusively to Cyclists” and photos of road bikers overlooking views of Cascade volcanoes made the ride a bucket-list experience, even for those who weren’t major cyclists. ODOT was on board at the time, detailing in stories how the agency plowed a single lane of the highway through the snow, opening up a way to bike without cars for a limited time while the snow melted.
“It was well-known that ODOT recognized the positive economic impact cycling while the gate was still closed had on our town,” Meudt said of Sisters. “ODOT made efforts to have a consistent date of opening so people could plan trips (for the car-free riding) around it.” In a Statesman Journal story, then-mayor Boyd touted the upside of the car-free riding and establishing a consistent opening date for cyclists that could be planned around. “When people know they can ride car-free in a specific time window, they’re more likely to come from farther away and make a weekend out of it,” Boyd said. “They end up buying lunch, dinner, gas, and staying overnight. It’s good for our economy.” It appears the influx of riders brought too much of a good thing. By 2018, then-ODOT spokesman Peter Murphy moderated his enthusiasm for car-free riding, telling the Nugget Newspaper the road wasn’t actually open to cyclists before it’s open to cars. “We don’t ‘open’ it for bicycles, and I no longer publicize or, if you will, promote that it’s open for bicycles,” he told the newspaper. “I had to learn that. Honestly, it’s the liability. It’s not maintained for bicycles.”
Near accidents, problems on McKenzie Pass
Part of the trouble appears to have been an increase in conflict, or near accidents, between bike riders and ODOT crews working to repave or reopen the highway in spring. “We have crews back there working in the spring, and as we’ve seen a big increase in cyclists, we’ve had so many close calls,” Davey said. Meudt said bike shops in Sisters have made an effort to make life easier on crews, telling bikers to only ride in the late afternoon and weekends when crews weren’t on the road. This past spring, when repaving was taking place on the east side of the highway, Meudt said his shop was “diligent in communicating that it was not an option to ride, even in the afternoon and weekends, like we promoted in the past.” Even so, he said that he could feel a shift from ODOT in recent years. “The communication has changed pretty drastically the past couple of years,” he said. “(ODOT) started to make comments about a lot of disrespectful riders going past gates that ‘made our efforts of snow clearing harder’ and ‘creating an unsafe situation,’” Meudt said. “I’m willing to bet a very small group of people did that and most have been very respectful. “Although they have not told us directly that they were closing it to everybody, I was starting to get that feeling.”
ODOT officials said they planned on working with groups like Travel Oregon, which has promoted the ride in the past, to make clear the highway is not open in the offseason.
Budget shortfall and fear of lawsuits
More recently, it’s also clear that ODOT’s budget shortfall could be having an impact. The agency faces a $354 million shortfall and warns ODOT could see large job cuts and significant increases in response times in some areas of the state if it doesn’t receive needed funding in 2025, KGW reported.
Some speculated that the shift in tone was driven by ODOT’s budget shortfall and the need to avoid liability that could lead to costly lawsuits.
“I can see an ODOT official policy based entirely on liability,” said Bob Young, president of the Willamette Chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club.
What impact will McKenzie Pass closure have on winter sports in 2024-25?
There are some signs this new policy, or stance, could have an impact on what has long been a popular winter recreation area.
The Mt. Jefferson Snowmobile Club has traditionally groomed an official trail known as the McKenzie Pass Tour Trail, noted on official U.S. Forest Service maps. They’ve also reduced avalanche danger and even rescued people stuck on the pass, said Summons, grooming chairman of the snowmobile club. “McKenzie Pass has been an integral part of our grooming operations for the past 18 plus years, allowing us to ensure safe access for all winter recreational users,” Summon said. “Our partnership with ODOT, OSSA, and the Forest Service has been a key part of ensuring these areas are maintained for public safety, especially in regions prone to hazards like avalanches.”
Forest Service snowmobile map by Zach Urness on Scribd
However, ODOT said in an email that it “does not have any agreements with groups or clubs that permit the use of this road when it is closed other than one permitted cross country ski event that happens in this area,” Davey said.
Officials with Deschutes National Forest, which manages the land on the east side of the highway, acknowledged the area is popular but said ODOT was in charge of managing the highway. Deschutes officials said it made changes to its maps and plans for the highway a year ago. “There were a couple of years recently where the Mt Jefferson Snowmobile Club was permitted to groom Highway 242, snow levels permitting,” Deschutes National Forest spokeswoman Jaimie Olle said. “This was not consistent with our leadership decisions and was corrected in 2023-2024. “Since then, and for this coming year, the Mt. Jefferson Snowmobile Club is permitted to groom the 242 only for the John Craig Memorial event (under their grooming permit, not a contract). We acknowledge and apologize for the confusion.”
Future on McKenzie Pass
It’s unclear what ODOT’s request will mean for this coming winter and spring. ODOT announced the west side of the highway was closing this past Friday — a bit earlier than normal — and the east side would close soon as well. In most ways, little has changed. ODOT can request people stay off the roadway, but whether anyone will listen remains to be seen.
However, both the snowmobile and bike groups hope ODOT reconsiders its position.
“We believe this is a great opportunity for collaboration,” Summons said. “We want to emphasize that our goal is to align fully with all guidelines and permit requirements. We will continue our efforts to promote a safe winter recreation experience while respecting the rules set forth by both the Forest Service and ODOT. We welcome any discussions with the Forest Service, ODOT, and the Oregon State Snowmobile Association to ensure our activities are beneficial for all parties.”
Boyd said he’d fight the change in stance.
“I’d call the governor’s office, tourism office, business office and board of ODOT to see who made this decision and why they made it without any public input or process,” he said. “You can’t have something we’ve been doing for longer than 35 years, that’s a huge economic driver, and then come and tell us to stop all of a sudden. We try to be a good neighbor but this needs a conversation.”
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 16 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: ODOT says McKenzie Pass closed in offseason to bikes, snowmobiles
