Oregon Archives – Page 3 of 12 – GlassMountains Trip Reports

Ruby Peak, Oregon, August 2023

September 3, 2023 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, August 16, I climbed Ruby Peak in the Wallowa Mountains of northeast Oregon. Ruby Peak has 644 feet of topographic prominence, but with 8884 feet of elevation it is the 41st highest peak in Oregon. It lies in the Wallowa Mountains of northeast Oregon, where 37 of the 100 highest Oregon peaks reside.

The previous afternoon, I left the Baker Valley and drove to the city of Enterprise, then south into the Wallowa Mountains. On the way my Jeep temperature gauge momentarily registered 107 degrees F. I looked forward to getting into the mountains. I drove past the city of Enterprise, then up the 4WD Lime Quarry Road to an abandoned quarry. Here I camped for the night beside Murray Creek.

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Tidbits Mountain Lookout, Oregon, October 2022

October 12, 2022 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On October 6, Bob F. and I visited the Tidbits Mountain Lookout site in the Willamette National Forest of Oregon. This was the first time either of us had visited the lookout site, perched atop a rock pinnacle. I was hopeful we might also visit the higher Lookout Mountain summit atop another rock pinnacle to the east of the lookout site.

The Titbits Mountain Lookout site is on the top of the rock tower ahead

We followed forest roads from near Tombstone Pass and parked at the Gold Hill Trailhead. The Gold Hill Trail led us west through old growth forest to the Tidbits Mountain Trail. From there we continued west trail through more forest and across talus below the summit rock pinnacle. Finally we climbed up steep western slopes to reach the exposed and tiny lookout site.

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Jefferson Park, Oregon, October 2022

October 5, 2022 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On October 2, Bob F. and I drove to the Woodpecker Trailhead in the Willamette National Forest. From there we hiked the Woodpecker Ridge and Pacific Crest Trails to Jefferson Park, below the north face of Mount Jefferson. This was my first visit to Jefferson Park in 18 years. I wanted to visit it again and to see how the Lionshead Fire of 2020 had impacted the trails and the park, itself.

Mount Jefferson from the Woodpecker Trail and PCT junction

The Woodpecker Trailhead was still officially closed. But it was a quirk of the regulations that one could park a few hundred feet below the trailhead and hike around it to reach the trails. So we did that. Bob had a Central Cascades Wilderness Permit for the Pamelia Lake Trailhead. So we were legal and prepared for any forest rangers we might encounter.

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Krag Peak, Oregon, September 2022

September 12, 2022 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

Saturday morning, September 3, Larry Luehring and I were camped just above Crater Lake in the Wallowa Mountains of Northeast Oregon. We had packed in from the Summit Point Trailhead two days earlier. Our plan this day was to climb Krag Peak after climbing nearby Red Mountain the day before.

Krag Peak from the summit of Red Mountain

Early that morning after a warmer night than previous ones, I listened to the wind blowing through the trees around us from within my tent. I peeked out and saw heavy overcast with darker clouds approaching from the southwest. This was unexpected – I had checked the weather forecast from the summit of Red Mountain the previous day and it was forecast to be sunny this day.

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