ZigZag Facilities & Local Area

Mt. Hood National Forest is an urban forest, located just east of Portland Oregon and encompasses a little over a million acres stretching from the Columbia River in the north to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness in the south, surrounds the 11,235’ Mt. Hood and connects with state, private, and other Federal land including the Williamette National Forest and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. There are over 1 million people within an hour’s drive of the ZigZag Ranger Station. There is a wide range of recreation opportunities offered from dispersed and developed recreation to Timberline Lodge, which is the third most visited site in Oregon. There are several wildernesses and wild and scenic rivers on the Mt. Hood National Forest and a myriad of timber types from high elevation spruce/fir to Douglas-fir to ponderosa and lodgepole pine to oak savannas.

ZigZag Ranger Station is located on U.S. Highway 26 approximately half-way between the towns of Sandy to the west and Government Camp to the east and is very historic. The original compound was first surveyed in 1907 and there are a couple of buildings still in use from that era. The building that houses the ZigZag Interagency Hotshot Crew is located in the “Historic Roads Warehouse”, built in 1931.

Recreation opportunities include skiing, snowboarding, hiking, boating, camping, sports of all kinds (including professional sports teams), movies, theatre, ballet, opera, symphony, eating out and so on. Shopping opportunities abound with several large malls and many neighborhood shops including a large array of ethnic stores, shops, and eateries. Cultural and religious opportunities are available for all groups and heritages. Weather at the ZigZag Ranger Station is rainy in the winter with a few snow and ice days and warm, dry summers. It’s a temperate climate and a gardeners’ paradise. In this area, everything (fields and lawns) stay green nearly year round.