GlassMountains Trip Reports

Weaver Peak, Arizona, November 2018

December 6, 2018 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

On Thursday, November 29, I joined four peakbaggers I had previously climbed with and climbed Weaver Peak, the highpoint of the Weaver Mountains near Yarnell, Arizona. This climb was part of an ambitious peakbagging trip organized by Laura, Greg, and Keith who were visiting Arizona from southern California. Rich from Las Vegas and I joined the others Wednesday evening and the Thursday climb. Laura had obtained advanced permission to hike on the Sorrells Ranch from its very friendly and helpful owners.

Weaver Peak from our hiking starting point at the end of the Jeep road.

We drove our vehicles to a pond up a rough Jeep road, saving us a few miles of extra hiking.

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El Capitan Mountain, Arizona, November 2018

November 18, 2018 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Sunday, November 4, I joined Matthias Stender and Scott Peavy on a climb of El Capitan Mountain. El Capitan Mountain has 6568 feet of elevation and is the highpoint of the Mescal Mountains southeast of Globe, Arizona. It also has 1808 feet of topographic prominence, making it the 92nd most prominent peak in Arizona. None of us had visited El Capitan Mountain before. We had heard that the mountain was very brushy; we expected a challenge.

El Capitan Mountain from the primitive road. The summit is hidden behind the distant high point.

Scott had scouted out a potential route we hoped would reduce the brush we would need to deal with. The three of us parked along Arizona Highway 77 and crossed the highway. From there we mostly followed a primitive road as it crossed a gully beneath the WSW Ridge.

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Oregon Isolation Peaks, August 2018

October 5, 2018 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

Oregon has 27 peaks with at least 25 miles of topographic isolation. Each of these peaks are at least 25 miles from any other peak having higher elevation. Topographic isolation is another way, beyond highest elevation and most topographic prominence, to identify potentially interesting peaks to visit.

In August I visited two Oregon Isolation Peaks. I enjoyed exploring parts of Oregon I had never before seen, though the visibility was poor due to wildfire smoke.

Juniper Mountain

On Tuesday August 21 I visited Juniper Mountain east of US Highway 395 between Lakeview and Burns in southeast Oregon. Juniper Mountain lies in the Bureau of Land Management’s Lakeview District and is bisected by the Lake and Harney County Lines. It is accessible by driving rangeland roads east of US 395. Good tires are reassuring on these sometimes rocky roads.

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USA State Highpoints, July 2018

September 3, 2018 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

This past July I took a long road trip to visit 22 USA State Highpoints, the highest natural point of each of those states. This was part of my long-term project to visit the highpoint of every USA State.

Pamola Peak from Baxter Peak, Mount Katahdin

I began visiting USA State Highpoints in 1977 with my first climb of Mount Hood, the highpoint of Oregon. In 1979 I climbed Granite Peak in Montana, and in 1980 I climbed Mount Rainier in Washington. Perhaps I accepted the challenge of visiting all the Western USA State Highpoints in 1986 when I climbed Gannett Peak in Utah, Boundary Peak in Nevada, and Mount Whitney in California. The states east of Colorado did not have any interest to me then, and the western state highpoints provided me plenty of challenge.

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