John Day Oregon – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Lookout Mountain (Eastern Oregon) 05-Jul-2012

There are eight peaks named “Lookout Mountain” in Oregon. In 2010, Terry Richard wrote an Oregonian article about the one in Grant County, seemingly only because it’s one of Oregon’s 8,000 foot summits (8,082 feet). This Lookout Mountain is directly west of Strawberry Mountain (the high point in Grant County) and since we’d hiked Strawberry Mountain a couple of years ago, we thought it would be interesting to see Strawberry Mountain from Lookout Mountain. In retrospect, it’s not clear why we thought this, but there you are…

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Strawberry Mountain (Eastern Oregon) 07-Aug-2010

2010-08-072022-01-28Posted in Eastern Oregon, Hiking, Oregon Wilderness AreasTagged Day Hiking, Eastern Oregon, Hiking, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, John Day Oregon, Oregon, Prairie City Oregon, Strawberry Mountain Wilderness

It was wildfire season in the West again and haze and smoke had been plaguing Portland and the Columbia River Gorge for several days. Heading east seemed like a plausible way to find some fresh air and clear (or clearer) skies. So we drove out to John Day, Oregon, with a plan to hike up Strawberry Mountain (9,038 feet), the high point in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness (so named for the wild strawberries that ripen to juicy redness in July). The smoke and haze stuck with us almost all the way to John Day and we feared that our hoped for views from atop Strawberry would be seriously compromised. By the next morning, however, the weather system that had brought clouds to the Portland area had also pushed the haze elsewhere. It was clear and sunny for the entire hike, with maximum temperatures in the high 70ºFs. It’s always great when a plan comes together (particularly one of ours).

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