The small town of Oakridge, Oregon, in the Willamette National Forest, has been cut off by snow for three days now. It could be a week before residents get power again.
State Route 58 through Oakridge is closed for about 40 miles from Lowell to Highway 97, southwest of La Pine.
It’s not known when it might reopen.
Sally Harmon runs Tired Dog Ranch near Oakridge. She said the snow is almost two feet deep and very wet.
“In my driveway alone there were seven trees that crossed over, making it impossible for my guests in the yurt to depart until the chainsaw got filled with oil and gas and sharpened, just to get those out of the way," said Harmon.
"That was fun.”
She said there were another 34 trees down over the next two and a half miles. She’s burning wood in the stove to stay warm and melting snow on top for water. She thinks it’ll be a couple of weeks before she can open again.
That is unless someone wants to treat it as a dude ranch, she joked.
“I’ll give them a great deal if they can bring gas and chainsaws. I’ll bring the beer and they can do the rest.”
The Amtrak train with 183 passengers that got stuck in Oakridge on Sunday started moving again Tuesday morning.
Sally Harmon
/Lukas and Benjamin Ruocco are learning to live without electricity at the Tired Dog Ranch in Westfir.
Copyright 2019 Oregon Public Broadcasting
