The story of Three Creek

News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Several years back, I spent a lovely weekend camping at Three Creek Meadows, first hiking up and along Tam McArthur Rim, looking down at the lay of the land. Next day I hiked up Little Three Creek Trail, around Little Three Creek Lake, and back around Three Creek Lake down to the campground. I fished a bit, bird-watched, swam, photographed copious wildflowers, and reveled in the spectacular views. As I walked around the campground meadow each evening though, I got curious about where the eponymous three creeks actually were, and where Three Creek and its water went.

Apparently Three Creek gets its name in one of two different ways: either is it named for the three tiny creeks that flow into the larger lake, or it takes its name from the three smaller creek branches that converge around the big meadow a mile or so below the two lakes. Three Creek Meadow is where the Horse Campground is today, and Three Creek, coming together there as one stream, flows out of there to the northeast via a culvert under Forest Road 16.

It's easy to see the small, old earthen dams at the northern ends of both Three Creek and Little Three Creek Lakes, and not hard to imagine the thinking behind building them many years ago: raise the water level to retain more water for summer use. When they were built, someone obviously claimed water rights, likely having it in mind to sell the water to farmers in the flat lands three thousand feet below. Over time, the dams began to degrade, and the larger one at Three Creek Lake was partially breached to lower the water level in the name of safety. This is partly why the lake today has those lovely wide white sandy beaches near the campgrounds. The dam at Little Three Creek Lake is slowly eroding, but so far is still retaining much of the impounded water. Interestingly, you can still see the remnants of the drowned trees in Little Three Creek Lake, and when looking down on it from above one can easily make out the original, deeper central part of the lake, surrounded now by shallows which are slowly giving way to advancing meadows and groves of willow.

I had heard from several people in town over the years that Three Creek was a tributary to Whychus Creek, thus eventually the Deschutes River. Since I've hiked and followed virtually all of Whychus Creek, from its headwaters springing out of several alpine meadows and tarns east of South Sister, to its confluence with the Deschutes River below Alder Springs, this didn't make sense. This took several years, via many different hikes, walking both trails and cross country rambles, plus exploring several back roads, to get the gist of Whychus Creek.

From all of these explorations, it became clear that there basically weren't any tributaries coming into Whychus Creek from the east. There were a few remnants of old irrigation ditches running to the east from Whychus, however, but no surface streams coming into it from the east. I did find, however, several old water diversions noted here and there on maps, the southernmost being Snow Creek Ditch, which joins Three Creek down in the meadow. Snow Creek is the eastern most tributary to Whychus Creek, and I've seen where the old ditch takes off near the Pole Creek Meadows trail. But the ditch itself, dropping a few hundred feet as it runs eastward, thereby crossing around the dividing ridge, is long dry.

Anyway, the idea that Three Creek joined Whychus Creek just didn't make sense to me. It's true that Elm Street/Road 16 does follow a southerly route above the east side of Whychus Creek, but it's pretty clear that just after the pavement ends, and gravel starts, the road crosses over a small ridge and drops into a different watershed, that of Three Creek, right at the meadows. Hmm...so where does Three Creek actually go? Since I hadn't ever noticed Three Creek on the lowlands below Three Creek Meadows, I decided to track it - which turns out to be far easier said than done.

My first try was to follow Three Creek out of the campground in the meadow as it crosses under the road and flows off to the northeast. I packed my tenkara fly gear, a map, and a big lunch, and dog and I set off downstream. After several difficult, hot, and very scratchy hours, although not very many miles, crashing through thick brush, wading through swampy bit and pools, and climbing over rocks and logs, dog and I sensibly gave up. Forest Road 1628 runs above the north side of Three Creek, a few hundred feet above the course of the stream, so eventually we bushwhacked up to it and walked the long way around back to the truck.

Apparently we had bailed out a little too early, as the same forest road later crosses Three Creek further downstream, just above a diversion near Three Creek Butte, here named as a continuation of the Snow Creek Ditch from higher up. This got me thinking and I decided to investigate further, sending me into a very deep, convoluted, and confusing rabbit hole that exemplifies the craziness of Oregon irrigation and water rights. But that's another story.