Oregon Archives – Page 6 of 12 – GlassMountains Trip Reports

Cougar Pond Southeast Peak, Oregon, August 2019

August 31, 2019 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Friday, August 23, Linda and I drove up Pine Creek Road on the east side of the Elkhorn Mountains of Northeast Oregon. My intent was to hike Cougar Pond Southeast Peak, an unofficially named peak in the nearby Elkhorn Mountains. Linda’s intent was to ride her mountain bike back to our campsite in the Baker Valley, then ride her road bike on a loop out of camp. It had been four years since I last drove this steep, rocky, and narrow road. I was glad to have my high-clearance, 4WD Jeep.

Linda prepares to descend the steep, rocky, and narrow road on her bike

Linda wondered why I had suggested she ride down on such a treacherous road. The previous day I had thought she would enjoy exploring this nearby part of the Elkhorn Mountains but this morning I wondered whether I had made a such a good suggestion.

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Broken Top South Peak, Oregon, August 2019

August 11, 2019 by Paul McClellan Leave a Comment

On Sunday, August 4, I hiked and scrambled up Broken Top South Peak in Central Oregon’s Cascade Range. This is the obvious, but not officially named peak 0.34 mile south of the actual summit of Broken Top. It has 454 feet of clean prominence and 9094 feet of elevation. It is most easily accessible from the Broken Top Trailhead which requires a high clearance vehicle to reach.

Broken Top from the southeast. The Broken Top summit lies beyond the Crook Glacier.

The Broken Top Trailhead is very popular since it provides access to the scenic “No Name Lake” below the east face of Broken Top. The parking spaces at the trailhead were full when I arrived, but I found parking beside the road nearby.

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Big Craggies, Oregon, June 2019

July 16, 2019 by Paul McClellan 1 Comment

On Saturday afternoon, June 23, I rendezvoused with three peakbagging friends, Caleb Morris, Michael Berry, and Michael Wanberg above the confluence of the Illinois and Rogue Rivers. We then drove to our campsite deep in the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. We had come to climb Big Craggies. Big Craggies has only 4619 feet of elevation, but 2099 feet of topographic prominence making it the 63rd most prominent peak in Oregon.

Looking east along the ridge towards Green Craggie, our first summit of the day

Sunday morning we got an early start and drove to the end of a minor forest road. That put us on a west ridge that led east over Green Craggie and Peak 4150 towards Big Craggies.

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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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