Sevenmile Horse Camp's claim to fame is access to the historic Santiam Wagon Road which runs from the Albany area to Sisters. This link shows all the different sections, and has info about the history:
Santiam Wagon Road
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| Lush greenery on the Santiam Wagon Road. |
To get there: From Sweet Home, travel 32 miles east on Hwy 20, just after mile marker 59 look for the sign for Sevenmile Camp on the right side of the highway. Then follow the dirt road half a mile to reach the camp. If coming from Central Oregon, make sure to slow down after passing mile marker 60. It will be hard to see the dirt road from this direction, since it runs the opposite way, and you will have to swing wide into the pullout on the left in order to turn around.
Sevenmile has 4 spots with log corrals, and what could be a 5th dispersed spot where the road ends in a loop downhill, south of the other sites. This camp is on a hill so the sites are tiered, two up higher, one in the middle beside the day use area, and a lower one. There is spring water from a spigot, close to the upper sites, but it is not potable, and also a spring fed water trough, just down the trail a few minutes. There is a bathroom and a manure bin and it is free to camp there if you have a NW Forest Pass. The two lower spots would be easier to get into with a bigger rig.
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| A write up about the Santiam Wagon Road at camp. |
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| The lowest of the spots at Sevenmile Horse Camp. |
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| The view from the extra dispersed camping spot. |
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| Lots of lilies. |
My plan had been to camp there for two nights and ride the wagon road west the first day, and then the following day I would go east. The wagon road does not run right through camp, but it is close by. There is a shortcut trail that leads from the lowest camping site down towards the wagon road, which saves a little mileage and time if you are heading west. Or you can just ride past the gate and out the main trailhead, which is the best way if you are wanting to go east.
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| The main way to get to the Santiam Wagon Road. |
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| Wagon Road markers at junctions. |
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| Madrone. |
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| Riding west on the Santiam Wagon Road. |
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| A small side trail led to a viewpoint. |
In some places the road is actually still as wide as a road, in other places it is just a trail. As I rode west it became narrow for awhile, with a few cliff sections. I had only gone about 3 miles when I started to come across some very large downed trees. My vertically challenged horse managed to get us over the first few of them, but then finally we could go no further, and so we turned around. The trail had already been cleared by OET this season, so all these trees are freshly fallen.
This ruined my original plan a little bit, so I decided to head east/uphill instead and continue riding. Eventually I came out at the parking area at Tombstone Pass. Before you get to the pass, there is one section of the trail that is very close to the highway, so cars are roaring by just above your head. There were three large trees blocking the way down to the parking lot, but I was ready to turn around anyway, doing about 16 miles that day.
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| The junction back to camp at the connector trail. |
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| A dedication plaque by the junction. |
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| A creek crossing on the way to Tombstone Pass. |
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| Good time of the year to see the Rhododendrons in bloom. |
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| Heading east on the Santiam Wagon Road. |
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| The Wenonah Spring is on the connector trail back to camp. |
Once back at camp I realized I had no reason to actually spend the night anymore, and since it is a relatively short drive home, I decided not to stay, officially aborting my trip. But not to be thwarted, I left the truck and trailer packed up, so I could regroup and leave for another destination a couple of days later! Update: In 2022 I went back and spent a couple of nights at Sevenmile and was able to ride the wagon road to the west this time. Here is the link to the blog:
Sevenmile Part 2
Happy Trails!
GPS COORDINATES TO SEVENMILE
