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For more than four decades, all kinds of folks have made a point of stopping at Sisters Bakery on Cascade Avenue for a cup of coffee for the road, and some of the finest baked treats to be found in the West. Spencer Hamiga is the steward of that four-decade tradition, and he and his team, including general manager Macon Luhning, are taking it to new heights. With a background in food service, Hamiga took a front-of-house-position at Sisters Bakery while moving toward a new career in teaching. “I was between jobs; between careers really,” he recalled. “I just fell in love with the place.” He worked up to general manager, and in 2022, when the opportunity presented itself to purchase the business, he and his wife Gloria took the plunge. He’s still in love with the place — and so are the bakery’s loyal customers. Favorites change over time. For years, Sisters Bakery was famous for its donuts. Now, the most popular items are scones. Whatever your taste in baked goods — from bear claws to pies — you’ll find it here. And it’s all made in-house. Those perfectly-rolled croissants? They’re rolled out by hand.  “It’s a huge spread,” Luhning said. The bakery built a reputation for exceptional bread — especially its sourdough. “Macon came in and really tightened up that sourdough recipe,” Hamiga said.  It’s so popular that Sisters Bakery opened an off-site bakery to support wholesale business. “We’re mostly in grocery stores with our bread,” Luhning said. “A few restaurants around Central Oregon.” Many of the region’s coffee shops feature their pastries. The delectable baked goods are only one part of the experience at Sisters Bakery. Hamiga and Luhning emphasize personal engagement with customers. They see a genuine connection between staff and customers as vital to the customer experience and the long-term success of Sisters Bakery. “It makes it memorable,” Hamiga said. “It makes it a place you want to come back to.” They invest in their employees by providing sector-leading pay and benefits.  A thoughtful, people-centered approach to a business they genuinely love allows Hamiga and Luhning to confidently expect that their customers will walk out, and hit the road to whatever adventure awaits, fully satisfied. As Hamiga puts it: “You’ll have one of the best customer service experiences you can have — and you’ll get the best scones on the market.”

Easy riding From cruising on your ‘hog’ or popping a wheelie on your KTM, riding in Sisters is about as good as it gets. Cross-country, enduro, Supermoto, MX… yeah, it’s all good in Sisters. Bring it on. Hard to say what’s better – the riding or the meeting up in town. Where to ride: • The McKenzie-Santiam Pass Loop  at around 80 miles is the big daddy. Jaw-dropping views are the payout. Winding roads, sharp bends, and steady climbs are the easy-to-pay toll. Midway is like landing on the moon where lava fields are geologic wonders best viewed from the Dee Wright Observatory. • The Cloverdale Loop . A little bit of everything on this ride – bucolic hay fields, alpaca ranches, a winery, longhorn cattle, multi-million-dollar horse farms, a wildlife preserve, abandoned mine, western art gallery, meandering streams….  • Getting dirty. Sisters, surrounded on three sides by national forest, will thrill you with hundreds of miles of unpaved roads, with two-lane “avenues” leading to pristine creeks and lakes. Sisters has some of nature’s most stunning landscapes, many snowcapped year round. That’s just a sample. Not too far away are the Oregon Badlands  and the spectacular Cascade Loops . What to expect? It all starts with the big welcome mat. Sisters folk share your sense of adventure — helpful professionals like the team down at Sisters Moto. The terrain is as vast as your imagination. We have ridiculously cool camping options. And a slew of trails and roads into nature’s wonderland that starts – or ends – right downtown. Park and hike. Park and fish. Park and camp. Hardtails Bar & Grill welcomes riders, in keeping with its theme. Insiders say: “It is a lovely backroad experience. Santiam Pass has views of Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack, as well as the Three Sisters. Along the McKenzie Pass, the Three Sisters are close at hand. It gives great access to hiking trails into the wilderness with lots of alpine lakes nearby as well as waterfalls.” –  All Trails “Our local community of riders is impressive and not only in numbers! We come from all walks of life. We take care of each other on the trail, and we act as good land stewards and ambassadors to the visiting outdoor enthusiasts we encounter.” — Rick Leiberson, local rider “Kinda hard to find a better basecamp than Sisters for days and miles of getting your riding fix. We rode about 250 miles in all directions over two days and didn’t see the same thing twice.”– Outback Riders

As more families move to Sisters Country, more opportunities arise to meet the need for high quality education. Local Public Schools Sisters School District (SSD) provides unique opportunities in music, outdoor learning, sports, and science—often in partnership with an enthusiastic local community. Songwriting is taught via the Americana program, initiated by Sisters Folk Festival; luthier classes allow students to build their own ukuleles and guitars. Outdoor education is available for some students via the rigorous interdisciplinary IEE program (Integrated Environmental Expedition) at Sisters High School. There’s even an aviation program. Sisters Elementary School will soon relocate to its new building on the west end of town. Black Butte School (BBS) is a small K–8 school based in Camp Sherman, the only school in its district. Outdoor learning is frequent, including field studies on the nearby Metolius River and learning on the slopes at Hoodoo Ski Bowl. A strong community and performing arts showcases round out the experience. Students living in either district may apply for transfer to the other; busing is usually provided. Charter Schools  Regional public charter schools bring a wider range of education options. A welcome choice for advanced/TAG youth is Redmond Proficiency Academy (grades 6–12), with a ride on the local CET bus. For global focus and Spanish language, there’s Bend International School (K–8). Some learners thrive at Westside Village Magnet School in Bend (K–12), celebrating equity and inclusivity.  Camps & Programs Music, arts, sports, science, and outdoor programs blossom in the area, from the sliding-scale creativity camps of SFF Presents (formerly Sisters Folk Festival) in downtown Sisters, to the nature, theater, and imagination offerings of Starshine on the shores of Suttle Lake. Local nonprofit Seed to Table provides food and farm education on-site and in partnership with school districts. Sisters Parks and Recreation District (SPRD) hosts sports, outdoor, and daycare options including survival and fishing camps. Underserved kids find meaningful mentorship and activities through Circle of Friends. Preschools Pine Siskin is a Waldorf-based program (pre–1st grade); Mountain Montessori teaches children aged 2–6. Wellspring Church hosts Wellspring Preschool, and SPRD offers part-time and full-time for ages 3–6 with some public funding. Waitlists are common and may be eased soon by a potential new preschool. Religious Education Local churches offer an Episcopal Sunday School and a Christian nondenominational Youth Ministry, among others. Jewish families typically drive to Bend for community and instruction. More Options Online and homeschooling have been big in Sisters Country since long before the pandemic. Kids can still participate in SSD sports and arts offerings. Baker Web Academy, popular locally, is a public charter with many years’ experience teaching online. Homeschool families gather for socializing and support via groups like Central Oregon Open Learners (COOL) and Central Oregon Homeschoolers of Redmond (COHR). Families supplement with programs such as the Bible-focused Commonplace Homeschool Cooperative in Sisters or Wildheart Nature School classes, which take place on mountains, rivers, and farms around Bend and Tumalo.

A review of a local street map is like walking through the pages of Sisters history, with names like Edgington, Fryrear, Barclay, and Camp Polk, enshrining people and places that played a role in the establishment and growth of Sisters. Throughout Deschutes County are“market roads,” named after the family who lived on the road. The roads made it possible for ranchers, farmers, fishermen, and lumber companies to get their goods to markets. Driving north of town on North Locust Street, by the Sisters Eagle Airport, it becomes Camp Polk Road, named after the early Camp Polk army post that was established in 1865, five miles northeast of present day Sisters, only to be abandoned the next year.  Samuel Hindman settled near the post in 1870 and established the first post office in the area. Today, Camp Polk Meadow is a 151-acre preserve of the Deschutes Land Trust. On the hill above the meadow is the Camp Polk Cemetery, where lie the remains of many early Sisters families, some of whom have roads named after them. One of those families is the Fryrears for whom a road southeast of Sisters, running between Highways 20 and 126, is named. John B. and Elizabeth Fryrear came from the Willamette Valley and filed a claim in 1883 on 160 acres of land on Squaw (now Whychus) Creek east of Camp Polk where their family lived for many years.  The Fryrears both contributed to their community, Elizabeth as a midwife helping deliver many Sisters area babies. They had three sons and one daughter. John B. died in 1919 and was buried in the Camp Polk Cemetery. Elizabeth lived her later years in Sisters, where she was cared for by Kate Rockwell, better known as Klondike Kate. When Elizabeth died in 1926 she was laid to rest next to her husband in Camp Polk Cemetery. The John Wilt family arrived in Sisters on October 15, 1885, having left Kansas in May of that year. They originally intended to go all the way to Coos Bay, but when they reached Squaw (Whychus) Creek, the McKenzie and Santiam roads were already closed by heavy snow, so they settled on land that is now part of Pole Creek Ranch off Highway 242. Ranchers in those days raised oats, wheat, and barley for hay which was cut with a scythe; nobody owned mowing machines. The grain was threshed by a horse-powered threshing machine owned by J. B. Fryrear. It took eight men to operate and could thresh about 1,500 bushels in 10 hours. John Wilt delivered hay, grain, and groceries to the crew grading the railroad being built by Col. T. E. Hogg northwest of Sisters. It was never completed, but the grade can be seen above Highway 20 at Hogg Rock. Wilt Road takes off of Camp Polk Road north of Sisters and runs up the hill and out onto the grasslands where it joins Squaw Flats Road near the abandoned towns of Grandview and Geneva on the way to Lake Billy Chinook. Many other Sisters roads and streets bear the names of earlier residents, including Harrington Loop, George Cyrus Road, and Gist Road. The main street through Sisters (Highway 20) is Cascade Avenue named for the mountain range, with streets north and south of Cascade bearing the names of mountain peaks in the Cascades. The cross streets are all named after trees — from Locust to Pine.

Riding a horse in Sisters is serious business. Serious fun that is. Every discpline and style is represented, from English to Western, and a Sisters steed might be a $100,000 Arabian or a $500 backyard pony. Sisters is an equestrian playground like no other. What’s your pleasure? It’s all right here in a setting straight out of the movies. Where to ride: • Metolius-Windigo Trail . The premier trail in all of Oregon. 150 miles, 27 horse camps, and dispersed campsites. Crosses a river, climbs the Cascades, rounds buttes, and much more. And it comes within five miles of Sisters. • Green Ridge , just 8 miles west. This out-and-back trail runs along the spine of Green Ridge, a fault-block ridge that defines the eastern edge of the Metolius Basin. Huge ponderosa pines will shade your route, and you’ll have spectacular views of the Cascades and the Metolius Basin below. • Peterson Ridge . The 20+ miles of horse trails are the result of a remarkable collaboration between local equestrians and mountain bike riders. The horse trails are completely separate from the bike trails, and you’ll enjoy splendid views of the Cascades from various vantage points as you travel through mature ponderosa forest. And all this is less than five miles from Sisters. • So many more. Broken Top Loop, Black Crater, Park Meadow . All within 15 miles of town. Heck, you can even ride your horse in town. It’s Sisters. We do that. What to expect: About 300,000 acres for starters. Plenty of shade. Lots of access. Easy unloading. Good supply of water. Flat, even terrain if that’s your thing, or picturesque climbs with views you can only dream of. Insiders say: “Central Oregon horse trails offer spectacular riding and camps. Not only does it boast 300 days a year of sunshine, Central Oregon has incredibly varied scenery. You can ride trails to soaring mountain peaks, past alpine lakes and meadows, through pristine forests, or through the sagebrush of the high desert.” – Kim McCarrell, author of four best-selling horse guides. “In Central Oregon, near the town of Sisters, natural resources and avid equestrians have created rich riding opportunities. Sisters – an 1880s Western-themed town – lies in the heart of what’s known as Sisters Country, a slice of trail-riding heaven nestled on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains.” “This area offers a guest ranch with an amazing stable, U.S. Forest Service equestrian camps with corrals, and miles of riding trails over varied terrain. The quaint town of Sisters bubbles with art galleries, boutiques, and dining opportunities.” – Horse & Rider Magazine

When you lay your head down to sleep in Sisters, the options are kind of amazing. You’re covered for just about any budget – luxury, moderate, economy. And style? Well you name it and Sisters pretty much has it. Upscale cabins to up-mountain yurts. You can even bunk in a forest fire watch tower. Sisters has over 200 traditional motel-style rooms in four properties, all within walking distance of town. They range from straight-forward rooms to suites. Amenities range from spas, to free breakfast, to pools, to hot tubs, to exercise and business centers. Or if you are seeking more privacy, there are three choices with classic and stylish cabins nestled among treed settings. All within the city limits. Want an Old West boarding house style? You can find that too, right downtown.  If you’re looking for more rustic lodging then head on out to nearby Camp Sherman. Vintage cabins or connected rooms, some streamside, all heavenly, await solo or family solace seekers.  Airbnb, FlipKey, Vacasa, and Vrbo are all chock full of listings for Sisters Country.  Rather live it up resort-style? Then take your pick – 15 minutes west or 15 minutes east for 5-star golf, tennis, gourmet dining, and accommodations with glorious mountain views. Bring your own bed and camp in one of several dozen bucolic sites, deep in the woods, high on a ridge, or alongside a lake or stream. The options are endless. If you’re towing your bed or it’s behind the driver’s seat, then Sisters is a must-stop oasis for RVers. Roll into a choice of well-run parks including the City-run Creekside Campground facility beside Whychus Creek, two blocks from downtown. There’s only one problem with lodging in Sisters. No matter if you spend $100 a night or $800 — both are possible — the key is to book early. Let’s just say when it’s this special, those who wait, wait. Click here for a directory of lodging options in Sisters.

Is Sisters pet-friendly? Does the sun come up in the east? Dogs (and other furry friends) are a vibrant part of Sisters Country. And our love for animals goes well beyond our pets: Working dogs herd on our ranches, and peacocks are common alarm systems in town and for rural folk. Many of us wake up to the nearby sound of chickens. Most every house in town has bird feeders. Lodging: A quick check at bringfido.com lists at least 100 places where your critter can bunk for the night, including several right in town. Both Airbnb and Vrbo, the vacation home rental giants, are full of pet-friendly options in Sisters Country. Dog park: Sisters might just have the biggest in Oregon. We don’t need a fenced-off area near traffic when the 300,000+acre Deschutes National Forest, Sisters District, is at your doorstep, the vast majority of which allows your pooch to roam free-of-leash. Dining: Well-behaved dogs are welcome on patios and decks of some of Sisters’ best-known eateries. If it weren’t for the County Health Department, they’d be allowed inside — but they’re not. Store after store in town has watering bowls at their doors. And there are about a dozen places selling dog food. Shopping: Like most places, some shops have merchandise too fragile for wagging tails. But signs will let you know, and the sidewalks are full of benches where shoppers can alternate browsing while companions chill out with Fido. Grooming and boarding: Sisters has grooming shops to keep your pal looking great. If you want to leave Fido for daycare or overnight, Central Woof & Groom has you covered—but reserve early. Pet supplies: Sisters Feed & Supply on Main Avenue has you covered with most anything your pet needs. Healthy pets: Three highly respected veterinary clinics have cared for Sisters Country pets for decades.

Singular among the jewels in the crown of Sisters Country are our trails, which lead a hiker into the wonders and glories of the Cascades backcountry.  Those wonders are on the map internationally and in danger of being “loved to death.” So the U.S. Forest Service has implemented a permit system. Central Cascades Wilderness Permits are required for all overnight-use within the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, and Three Sisters wilderness areas June 15 through October 15. Overnight permits are available through a rolling seven-day window on Recreation.gov . Overnight trips can be up to 13 nights (14 days maximum) with groups no larger than 12 individuals. The processing fee for an overnight permit remains at $6. Permit availability is based on the starting trailhead and start date. All reservations for Central Cascades Wilderness Permits need to be made through Recreation.gov either online, via the Recreation.gov app on Google Android and Apple iOS devices, or by calling their call center at 1-877-444-6777 or TDD 877-833-6777. Search for “Central Cascades Wilderness.” Overnight permits are NOT available at local Forest Service offices or outside of the reservation system. Day-use permits are required on 19 of 79 trails within those same three wilderness areas during the permit season. However, day-use permits do not have advance reservations ahead of the season. Day-use permits will be opened for reservation in a 10-day and two-day rolling window beginning on June 5. The system was implemented in 2021, prompted by increasingly heavy use of certain forest trails. Certain trails had seen 15-20% increases in use each year, and the impacts — from simple wear-and-tear to garbage and waste left behind — have begun to materially affect the health of the forest and the quality of the wilderness experience. The permit system is designed not only to reduce wear-and-tear, but to improve the backcountry experience for users.

Sisters and all of Central Oregon are a major destination for vacationers and adventurers seeking to enjoy the region’s natural beauty, recreational opportunities, and cultural events. It’s also a destination for people who want to live among all of those attractions. That means growth and traffic, and Sisters is adapting to meet changes and challenges. As the Sisters Oregon Guide hits the streets, the Oregon Department of Transportation will be opening a roundabout on the east end of town at the intersection of Highway 20 and Locust Street.  ODOT provided $5 million in state transportation improvement funds, combined with $1.425 million from the City of Sisters and $1 million from Deschutes County, to fund the project. The roundabout, which is expected to be fully completed in September 2024, is designed for Highway 20 to make a gentle curve into the roundabout, intended to slow traffic coming into town from the east. Through traffic from the east will have the option of turning north on Locust Street to take an alternative route around downtown through the Sisters Industrial Park. Those who are stopping in Sisters can proceed right up the highway into downtown on Cascade Avenue. The roundabout pairs with another constructed years ago at the west end of town. Over the next year, Sisters will debate whether and how to expand its urban growth boundary to accommodate more housing. Like most mountain towns across the West, Sisters is facing a crisis of affordability. How to manage the pressures of being a desirable place to be while maintaining the small town charm that is a big part of that desirability is a major work in progress for Sisters.

Rural chic. Best of the West. Sisters goes by many descriptions. The town has grown from Pop. 679 in 1990 to 959 in 2000 to 2,038 just 10 years later. Now sitting officially at 3,286 as of 2023, Sisters has not lost its small-town charm — but it has endured some growing pains. There are still no electric traffic lights, and you can get from one corner of town to the other in under five minutes, three on a good day. Sisters acts bigger with its outsize festivals, upscale shops and services, eclectic cuisine from Himalayan to Nashville-style fried chicken, and a vibrant arts community not often found in cities four or five times its size. Culturally it runs the gamut. There’s the Sisters Rodeo now in its 83rd year that is the official start to summer. About as Wild West as it gets, with an accompanying parade. Summer ends with the Sisters Folk Festival hosting a dozen-plus acts from the top tier of bluegrass, Americana, Nashville, Tejano, blues and Cajun. The infrastructure of Sisters is rock solid, with abundant artesian water, plenty of electric, and a grid of bike trails and unobstructed walking paths. The lights are low, intentionally. This is a Dark Sky community. And a Tree City USA town. Sisters regularly shows up on Best Places to Live or Visit lists. At only 1.88 square miles, not much big bigger than New York’s Central Park, Sisters will probably top out at 4,000 as few buildable lots remain. There is no appetite among inhabitants to expand the urban growth boundary. Sisters is a model for live-work situations, which have attracted a range of entrepreneurs who live upstairs over their restaurant, studio, gallery, or shop. As the housing frenzy has cooled a bit, Sisters is in the midst of a commercial renaissance, with over 125,000 square feet of rentable space completing or breaking ground in 2023. Our schools are one of the biggest drivers of younger, tech-savvy workers looking to get out of hectic city living. Sisters High School is ranked No. 1 in Deschutes County by US News & World Report. The school district boasts CTE programs in flight science, guitar building, CAD, software coding, and construction. There are roughly 1,600 housing units, with another 350 under construction or planned. Eighty-four percent are single unit; 77 percent are owner occupied. Sisters is home to approximately 520 seasonal residents. The city is served by a seven-member Planning Commission and a full-time Community Development Department.

Sisters is the perfect place to celebrate the role of women in history. We live in the shadow of mountains named after three women, and Native American women were known to camp along our creek, calling it “Whychus.” It’s a challenge to find the stories of women who played a part in building our community. Most walk silently through the pages of history. If they are mentioned, it’s often under their husbands’ names, and although they worked together as a team, they were unrecognized. But some women stand out and we still speak their names long after they took their last breath.  The pioneers were the first European women to settle here, providing homes and comfort to their families and early travelers. Martha Cobb Hindman helped her husband open the Cobb Roadhouse in 1883, providing a welcome stop for people on the long journey from the Willamette Valley to Prineville. Married at the age of 13, she took care of a family of five while welcoming visitors to their station, built from the profits and trade of smoked deer meat and cured hides. Her light sourdough biscuits were famous. She was a tough survivor who outlived three husbands, becoming the mistress of the large ranch and dairy at historic Camp Polk. If you visit the Deschutes Land Trust Preserve there today you can see photos along the interpretive path and visit the spring-fed, stone-lined hole where she kept her milk and butter cool.  The Graham sisters, Leda and Lora, helped their pioneer parents tend another stop along the Santiam Wagon Road in the late 1800s, now called Graham Corral. Sheepherders from Shaniko came by with large bands of sheep on their way to high mountain pastures and traded for meals with mutton, huckleberries, and staples. In 1906, Leda married early Forest Service Ranger Perry South. In those days wives were considered convenient free labor and no doubt Leda supported her husband as he began to manage public lands, but we know nothing of her life except a few photos. Her first child Jesse was born and died along the Metolius and is poignantly buried with an elaborate tombstone at Camp Polk Cemetery. Lora married a Fire Guard and her life at Allingham Station from 1918-1924 is recorded in the classic history “That was Yesterday.” When her husband was away, she answered calls on the primitive phone, issued permits, and was required to feed any Forest Service staff that stopped by for 45 cents. She could barely keep up with the vegetable garden, baking bread and pies, butter churning, and other duties while raising three children. If you are lucky, you may see the narcissus bloom where her house stood at Allingham Meadow.  Librarians were a quiet but powerful force. Grace Cyrus Aitken began her career as a clever business woman around 1912. A young single woman she became postmistress and owned her own store, Sisters’ first gift shop with ladies’ clothing. She later married, helping her husband manage his drug store and ran a small library there. In 1923, she famously saved the mail, paychecks, and the store’s goods, when half of town burned in a terrible fire, by recruiting men to empty shelves into baskets and onto a lawn across the street. Her original store became the bottom floor of The Palace, which still stands in Sisters today. She later served as librarian for 16 years, quietly doing what needed to be done. Maida Bailey was an expert on libraries, serving Stanford, Reed College, and the State of Oregon. A University Dean, she became a sheep rancher in Sisters while lending her brains and books across the state, helping expand our first tiny library for more access to books for everyone. Maida became an integral part of Sisters’ ranching, logging, and library culture and in later years cruised town in her green and white Chevy coupe, waving to her many friends.  Teachers worked hard to educate children of the early settlers and Native Americans. The first school was built in 1885, serving 30 children. Elva Smith homesteaded in a remote cabin on the lower Metolius River and was reported to cross the swift icy water on her horse to teach children on the Warm Springs Reservation. She disappeared in the pages of history, her cabin burned in a wildfire, and the site is now only marked by old apple trees.  The lady lookouts broke the glass ceiling of employment in the man’s world of the Forest Service in 1921 when Gertrude Merrill accepted a primitive posting on top of Black Butte. Men were scarce during World War I and II and women proved adept at fire detection. In 1923 Hazel McKinney, her two daughters, and their collie Snip, served from the new cupola with a living quarters inside the lookout. She delighted visitors with stories of mountain-top life. Hazel was an ace at reporting fire locations and had a mirror flash system to guide her firefighter husband on the ground far below. If you are feeling frisky you can climb to visit the restored cupola and imagine her lookout life. To learn more about the history of Sisters visit the Three Sisters Historical Society in the historic Maida Bailey Library building.