McKenzie Pass: Belknap Springs to Sisters
37 miles of Oregon Route 242 between Belknap Springs and Sisters, crossing McKenzie Pass through a 65-square-mile lava flow. Narrow and winding, with the Dee Wright Observatory at the summit and one of the longest seasonal closures of any road in this catalog.
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Closed every year from November through mid-June due to snow — one of the longest closures of any road in this catalog, not a short winter gap. Check current status before a spring or fall trip specifically. Check current access · Reviewed 2026-09-23
Planning the drive
McKenzie Pass is the most technical Oregon road in this catalog by the numbers: 128 counted bends and 24 switchbacks over 36.5 miles, a density of 3.5 per mile that outpaces every other Cascades crossing mapped here. Our own measured summit came back at 5,330 ft against the pass's documented 5,325 ft — essentially exact. The road crosses a 65-square-mile lava flow, with the Dee Wright Observatory built right into the rock at the summit. Wikipedia: Oregon Route 242
This closes every year from November through mid-June — not a short winter gap but roughly seven months, among the longest closures of any road mapped here. The narrow, twisting lava-field sections have essentially no shoulder in places, so plan around the closure rather than assuming a spring or fall trip will find it open. TripCheck: McKenzie Pass–Santiam Pass Scenic Byway
Roads to connect
- Santiam Pass · US 20The two byways combine into the McKenzie Pass–Santiam Pass Scenic Byway loop.
Driving notes updated .
Road shape
- Length
- 36.5 mi
- Bends
- 128
- Switchbacks
- 24
- Bends per mile
- 3.5
- Turning per mile
- 375°
- Curviest rank
- 86of 165
Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.
Elevation
- Total climb
- 6,164ft
- Climb per mile
- 169ft
- Highest point
- 5,330ft
- Steepest grade
- 6.1%
Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.
Speed limits
Varies
Unverified
Check posted signs along the road.
No reliable posted limit was found for this selected section. Follow current signs.
Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.
Sources
Difficulty 2/3 (Winding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Technical” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:
- Wikipedia: Oregon Route 242
- Travel Oregon: McKenzie Pass–Santiam Pass Scenic Byway
- OpenStreetMap road data (7 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-23. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.
Roads nearby
Distances are approximate straight lines between road centers, not driving distances or direct connections.