Santiam Lodge: An Historical Photographic Journey

A look back and a look forward at the place I grew up

I don’t know even where to begin with this one. But a good place as any, I suppose, is that from the age of six, it’s where I grew up. Here’s a bit of history of Santiam Lodge, according to the USDA:

Nestled in the High Cascades of Western Oregon, the Santiam Pass Ski Lodge was constructed in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to open winter recreational opportunities on public lands. Located in Linn County, just 70 miles northeast of Eugene and 45 miles northwest of Bend, the lodge was originally designed and operated to serve skiers and others accessing the Three Fingered Jack Sports Area development, which includes today’s Hoodoo Ski Bowl.

Our family moved there in January of 1962 when there was plenty of snow on the ground. To my young eyes, I was sure it was twenty feet in depth, and I even held that memory as truth for years until I asked my dad a few years before he passed how deep the snow was when we moved.

“Oh, maybe five feet or so,” he responded.

Damn, I was so disappointed! But the snow depth at Santiam Lodge reached nearly twenty feet at least a few times. Santiam Lodge is where I spent summer days wandering the Willamette National Forest and winter days becoming a lifelong ski bum at Hoodoo Ski Bowl, just a mile away.

Some images of Santiam Lodge in the 60s

Our family – me, my three brothers, and my mom and dad – lived in an A-frame home that was a couple of hundred feet down the hill from the actual lodge. My older brother was eight; my younger brothers were four and one. My parents’ friends, down in Oakville, Oregon, thought they were crazy for moving the family to the top of Santiam Pass, elevation 4817, and committing to five years there.

My dad had been a pastor at Oakville Community Church for five years and was offered the opportunity to manage Santiam Lodge under a new lease from the Presbyterian Church organization. Mom and Dad discussed it and decided it might be a good opportunity, so they committed to staying for five years. It was another 25 or so before they left. In the meantime, my brothers and I grew up, went to school, left home, went to college, and started our adult lives.

Lots of snow, the US weather station, inside the lodge

One of the things, besides a lot of hiking, bike riding, and skiing, was that I started to become a photographer. My dad had always been a hobbyist photographer, and I learned about how to develop black and white negatives and make prints in a darkroom, which he cobbled together in the downstairs laundry room of the A-frame.

I was off and running. Perhaps I’ll dig deeper into Santiam Lodge’s history in a future post, but here’s a short version of what happened after my parents left in the mid-80s. First, they went on a hike. Not just any hike: they hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada over the course of two summers. Then, they moved down the mountain towards the Willamette Valley and retired in Gates, Oregon. Mom’s still there!

Taken in 2013 and 2014, Santiam Lodge was in bad shape.

The lodge, though, was boarded up and fell into disrepair. I mean, it was in bad shape. Trespassers, in the form of people that broke in and rodents that seemed to take over the wall interiors and have free run of the place, meant that its condition kept worsening. I occasionally drove over Santiam Pass from Salem to Central Oregon. I always stopped in to see how the lodge was doing and, of course, to reminisce about where I grew up. And every time I’d stop, I’d lament the state of the building and wish that somehow, someone would figure out how to rebuild and rehabilitate it.

Six or seven years ago, the impossible started to happen. Dwight and Susan Sheets a couple from Salem, contacted us to say they’d acquired a permit from the Forest Service to spend the next five years rehabbing the place. It was unbelievable. Again, I’m keeping this short because the story of their work on the building over the past six or seven years is long and has been nothing short of phenomenal, but the lodge is looking better than it has in decades.

Since the restoration/rehabilitation has started, I’ve been there at least once a year to see the progress. Here are several photos of what the lodge looked like in August of this year (and more progress has been made since then!):

Taken in August of this year, showing the progress that's been made so far!

And finally, since I’m now an FAA-certified drone pilot, of course, I had to take some images from the air:

Santiam Lodge as seen from the air

And here’s a circle video:

Some good stories on the restoration:

• Only In Your State

• Here Is Oregon

• Restore Oregon

It’s an awesome place with a rich history, and my childhood was idyllic, much of that coming from growing up in such a place in the middle of a national forest. Over the years since my parents moved out, it has been challenging to see the lodge fall into such disrepair and to see it restored now is like seeing the dead come back to life. Santiam Lodge will be an event location for parties, weddings, and other gatherings, but it won’t be used for long-term camps or overnight stays like last century. Kudos to Dwight and Susan for the years and countless hours they’ve put into it.

Dwight and Susan Sheets, spearheading the restoration.