Sisters Loop Trail
A continuous walking and biking loop around town, linking every neighborhood to the schools, downtown, the parks, Whychus Creek, and the forest trails.
01
The problem
Sisters is a trail town surrounded by world-class trails, yet getting around town itself without a car is harder than it should be. Sidewalks and paths exist in fragments. Some neighborhoods connect beautifully. Others dead-end at a highway shoulder or an easement that never got built.
So trips a kid or an eighty-year-old could easily make on foot or by bike, to school, to the park, to a friend's house, end up happening by car instead. That adds traffic to a small downtown and leaves the town's best asset sitting unused for daily life.
02
Why it matters
A town loop is the kind of infrastructure that improves everything around it. Safer school routes, healthier residents, calmer downtown traffic, more money spent in town, and more chances to bump into your neighbors. Small towns that have built one rarely regret it.
03
The proposed outcome
A signed, continuous, all-ages loop around Sisters, roughly following the edge of town, with safe spurs into every neighborhood, both school campuses, downtown, the parks, and Whychus Creek, plus clean connections to Peterson Ridge and the National Forest trails.
Most of the alignment already exists as sidewalk, path, quiet street, or public easement. This is less about pouring new pavement and more about closing specific gaps, making the highway crossings safe, and putting up consistent signs so the whole thing is easy to follow.
04
What we know, and what we don't
What we know
- Much of a workable alignment already exists in fragments of path, sidewalk, and low-traffic street.
- Other trail towns report that connected loops shift short trips away from cars and support local business.
- The U.S. 20 corridor is the central barrier. Crossing quality will make or break an all-ages loop.
Still to learn
- The exact gap inventory: which segments are missing, who owns the land, and what each would cost.
- What winter maintenance would take, and what it would cost, for year-round use.
- Where residents actually want spurs and access points. Locals know the desire lines.
05
Community input
This proposal is a starting point, not a settled route. We haven't held formal listening sessions yet. When we do, this section will publish what residents tell us, including the objections and the better ideas. If you know a gap, a hazard, or a shortcut everyone already uses, we want it on the map.
Tell us what we’re missing →06
The prototype
A first prototype could be as simple as a signed candidate loop for one season. Temporary wayfinding markers on existing paths and streets, so residents can walk and ride the alignment, find its flaws, and improve it before anything permanent gets proposed.
07
How we'll measure it
0
new right-of-way assumed
The candidate alignment sticks to existing public land and easements until the community says otherwise.
2
school campuses to connect
Every alignment option gets judged first on safe school access.
08
Timeline
Concept framing
Spring 2026Define the loop idea, draft evaluation criteria, and look at how other towns built theirs.
Gap inventory
Summer 2026 · in progressWalk and map every candidate segment. Document ownership, condition, and barriers.
Community route review
Fall 2026Publish the candidate alignment and gather resident corrections and objections.
Seasonal signed prototype
2027Temporary wayfinding on the refined alignment. Measure use and collect feedback.
09
Next decision
Finish the gap inventory and publish the first candidate alignment map for public critique.