WESTON — Even though the cabins, homes and businesses on Tollgate have a Weston address, the collection of buildings up on the mountain is seemingly its own community.

Trevor Abell, owner of the Tamarack Lodge and now Tollgate Crossing Store, is bringing food staples to about 700 cabins between the rural communities of Weston and Elgin.

Abell moved from Prineville in Central Oregon to the Tollgate area after his father died. Abell said his father’s side of the family grew up in La Grande, and spent their days exploring the Blue Mountains.

“I’ve always spent a lot of time over in Eastern Oregon,” Abell said. “My dad passed away in 2019 and was buried in Summerville.”

Abell said one of the times he was driving over Tollgate with his family he realized

that he wanted to have a place his father had frequently visited.

Fast forward to 2021, and Abell purchased the Tamarack Lodge across the road from the then-Alpine Outpost, now Tollgate Crossing Store.

“We were not really looking to purchase the store, but you know, God works in mysterious ways,” Abell said. “It’s been a very full circle and surreal experience getting to experience what my father did in Eastern Oregon.”

Tollgate Crossing Store opened earlier this year. Abell has renovated the interior to accommodate a full general store and a bar and grill complete with outdoor seating and firepit. He also added nonethanol gasoline and diesel pumps.

“Living up on Tollgate, before we owned the store, it never seemed to have what we needed, so we would drive an hour to get things like milk, eggs or bread,” he said. “There are a lot of people who live on the mountain and need those necessities.”

A trip to the Milton-Freewater Safeway from Tollgate Crossing is a half-hour drive each way. The store is the midway point between Weston and Elgin, the only other town within 20 miles that is home to a small grocery store, a Dollar General and a gas station.

One of the challenges Abell has faced in opening a general store in the middle of the mountains has been finding a regional food distributor who would make the trek to drop off stock. Abell said he receives a weekly delivery, but if something does run out before it can be restocked by the distributor, he’s looking at a long drive.

“The winters are going to create their own set of problems,” Abell said. “We are going to make it work, though.”

With an average precipitation of 4.8 inches in December and 3.9 inches in January, snow is often seen blanketing the landscape for months at a time. Abell said he is working with others who live near Tollgate to offer snow removal services for parking lots and driveways.

“Last year, we had 20-foot berms on either side of the road,” he said. “It was so hard to keep up with to make sure that homes and businesses were accessible.”

Beyond offering basic food staples, the general store has ice cream, homemade pies, a coffee bar and camping essentials such as bags of ice and firewood. The store even offers Walla Walla Valley wines from Watermill Winery and Saviah Cellars.

Abell now owns both sides of the road between the general store and the lodge. Recently he announced that he would be adding to the collection by opening the 5052 Mountain Eatery, which serves beef from Abell’s other company, Yellowstone River Beef.

The eatery inside the Tollgate Crossing Store has a menu that includes Wagyu beef burgers, brats and appetizers such as deep-fried mushrooms or fried pickle chips.

Abell said after the eatery’s soft opening, breakfast and dinner items such as Yellowstone River Beef steaks will be available on the menu.

The bar has several beers on tap, one of which is from Prodigal Son Brewery & Pub, based in Pendleton.

When Abell purchased the store, he also inherited a bit of local history and lore. For many years historical bigfoot casts taken in the 1980s and ‘90s in the Tollgate area were on display. Abell redid the display, and it is proudly hanging inside the general store.

He said it is important to maintain the local atmosphere, and he never thought of changing the space so much that it would be unrecognizable — just better.

Abell said he plans for Tollgate Crossing to become a destination and have everything that an outpost typically would have. Through the Tollgate Crossing brand, rentals such as small vacation cabins, snowmobiles, timber sleds, side-by-sides and horseback trail riding would all be available.

“Access to the outdoors is pretty exclusive in the area because if you don’t already have a snowmobile or a side-by-side then there isn’t a whole lot to do,” he said. “The vision is to make this more accessible to people who might not own that equipment, but now they can rent it.”

Abell said interacting with the community near Tollgate and also people who happen to step through the doors at the store are what he is most excited about.

“Tollgate Crossing is the gateway to adventure,” Abell said. “We are getting to the point that we are going to offer people a pretty great package of things to do in the mountains.”

Tollgate Crossing Store, 62393 Highway 204 outside of Weston, is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.