By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Mount Hood corridor had its own rhythm. Weekends weren’t quiet. They were loud, crowded, and alive with music. And more often than not, that music came from the Bo Cody Band.
Bill Lenz spent his life in the forests of Oregon, working with his hands and leaving behind buildings that still stand today. From the Zig Zag Inn to the Barlow Trail Inn, Bill helped shape the Mount Hood area at a time when everything was built the hard way — by hand, with simple tools, and a lot of determination.
The history of Zigzag Oregon is not the story of a town that failed to grow, although it never did. It is the story of a place that has always been defined by movement – by rivers, trails, roads, and the people who passed through them. Long before there was a town of Zigzag, settlers, businesses or the highway that travels past, this area was already an important place on the south side of Mount Hood.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking with old-timers and the family members of folks who’ve lived up here in the Mountain Community for years. In one or two conversations, I’d heard tell of a woman who gained local notoriety for killing a bear that invaded her space with a garden hoe.
As you drive along the east end of Barlow Trail Road near the confluence of the Sandy and Zigzag Rivers, you may notice an old moss-covered rock wall. Weathered by time and nature, this beautifully crafted basalt and stone wall stands as a silent sentinel to the past. Yet, few—if any—know its origins.
