Hiking Reports

Travel using primarily feet only. Hands might be used with hiking poles for balance or uphill travel.

Oregon’s Blue Mountains, June 2016

June 16, 2016 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

Oregon’s Blue Mountains are uplift mountains located in Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington. This mountain range consists of several subranges and is a part of the larger Columbia River Plateau. A friend of mine and I had scheduled an attempt of Matterhorn Peak in the Jarbidge Mountains of Northeast Nevada for early June.

Since my travel route passed through Oregon’s Blue Mountains I decided to visit several prominence peaks there on my way out and back to Northeast Nevada. Due to the snow and high water conditions in the Jarbidge Mountains visiting prominence peaks in the Blue Mountains proved to be the highlight of my trip.

Big Lookout Mountain

[Read more…]

Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon, May 2016

May 22, 2016 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

I had spend the fall, winter, and early spring of 2016 hiking Arizona prominence peaks. Upon our return to Oregon in the late spring I was ready to focus on hiking Oregon prominence peaks. A large number of such peaks lie in Southwest Oregon in the Siskiyou Mountains, Southern Oregon Coast Range, and Western Cascade Mountains.

I decided to make my first peak bagging trip to the Siskiyou Mountains. I assembled a list of peaks, gathered maps, trip reports, and key GPS waypoints to help me access these peaks.

Olson Mountain

On May 17 I drove to and hiked Olson Mountain in the Western Cascades northeast of Medford. This peak has 1860 feet of prominence, the 94th most prominent peak in Oregon.

The first challenge was to navigate the forest roads to drive to near the summit. I had viewed satellite images of the forest roads to help sketch out a possible route. I marked this route with waypoints on my topo maps of the area. This research proved to be very helpful and I was able to find my intended “trailhead”.

From my parking spot I hiked up a short jeep trail. I wandered about the brushy and indistinct terrain of the summit to identify the highest point on the mountain. I finally satisfied myself that I had found it and retraced my route back to my Jeep.

[Read more…]

Aztec Peak, Arizona, April 2016

April 17, 2016 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On April 14 I drove from Tucson north through Globe and into the Sierra Ancha to hike Aztec Peak, the high point of the range. Aztec Peak has 7748 feet of elevation and 2468 feet of prominence, the 41st most prominent peak in Arizona. Arizona has three physiographic regions: the Colorado Plateau in the northeast, the Basin and Range in the south and west, and the Arizona Transition Zone between those two. This peak was the only peak I climbed this winter season that lies within the Transition Zone. The others I climbed lie in the Basin and Range region.

The Sierra Ancha and Aztec Peak from AZ 188 north of Globe

North of Globe I pulled off AZ Hwy 188 to photograph the Sierra Ancha and Aztec Peak. Aztec Peak is the flat summit near the center of the above photo.

[Read more…]

Table Top Mountain, Arizona, December 2015

December 23, 2015 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

Sunday, December 13, I hiked Table Top Mountain, the highest point of the Table Top Mountains west of Casa Grande, Arizona. Table Top Mountain has 2339 feet of prominence, making it the 48th most prominent peak in Arizona.

Table Top Trail is a maintained trail leading to the SW (false) summit of Table Top Mountain. From there, an unmaintained trail leads to the true summit to the northeast. I enjoyed hiking the trails and viewing the surrounding mountains and valleys in clear skies and pleasant temperatures.

For many visitors, the challenge of visiting Table Top Mountain is the drive. The drive starts with 11.2 miles of dirt/gravel Vekol Valley Road. Then it concludes with 4.5 miles of dirt/rock access road to the Table Top Trailhead.

There were several ruts where washes crossed the roads which required high clearance. The last few miles to the trailhead was on a rocky road with narrow passages through spiny vegetation and over an occasional cholla stem. I had no issues driving these roads with my Jeep with its excellence clearance and 10-ply tires. However, I did add “Arizona pin stripes” to the sides of my Jeep.

[Read more…]

« Previous Page