In 2015, I came across a small book (The 7 Summits of the Siskiyou Trail) by Aria Zoner – an Ashland-based ultra hiker~backpacker~peakbagger – that described a 448-mile long hiking loop through seven wilderness areas in Northern California (NorCal), with scramble climbs (Class 3 or less) of the high points in each wilderness. While 448 miles seemed a bit much, these seven hikes/scrambles looked like fun, so we added them to our never-diminishing list of hikes to do just in case the couch started to look too inviting (assuming, of course, the cat ever lets us sit on it…).
Not counting Mount Shasta (which I’d already climbed in 1997 and again in 2003), it took us two years to reach the other six. Mount Shasta, mainly because of its height and snow, was the most challenging. Thompson Peak and Preston Peak were next in difficulty due the length of their respective approaches and the complexity of the scrambling (but never over Class 3) involved. Boulder Peak has no scrambling, but it’s a long walk with a lot of elevation gain. Red Butte, Russian Peak, and “Harry Watkins” were relatively easy due to nearby trailheads and short approaches; but each still involved some cross-country travel and route finding. In the end, seven unique adventures in parts of wilderness areas we might not have gotten around to visiting otherwise.
RED BUTTES WILDERNESS
CASTLE CRAGS WILDERNESS
SISKIYOU WILDERNESS
RUSSIAN WILDERNESS
MARBLE MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS
TRINITY ALPS WILDERNESS
MOUNT SHASTA WILDERNESS
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
Thanks! And best wishes for you reaching your 8×2 wilderness goal.
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I wholeheartedly agree… Some mornings I can get up and go for a hike at a moment’s notice, but often without a list of things to see I might feel hampered at having to make a spontaneous choice. Last year, my list/goal was to hike three days a week. This year its to visit the eight wilderness areas of the upper Gunnison River basin twice – once as a day hike and once as an overnight. We’ll see… happy hiking!
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Some folks are critical of lists/goals; as insufficiently spontaneous or something. But we’ve found that lists/goals, as long as they’re not seen as ends in themselves, are a great impetus for getting out back of beyond. Once we get going, there’s usually plenty of spontaneity to go around!
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Fascinating goal to set, and certainly a great diversity of terrain to explore. Something to add to the never-diminishing list of hikes to do, or rather the ever-expanding list of hikes to do!
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