AG7GP's blog

Another one I have wanted to get over to do before the snow comes. The area is magical this time of the year with the aspen turning around the basin. The hike was pretty difficult. Combination of bushwacking in tall brush, lava flow, and down trees. I parked SW of the peak, near where there once was road 3519-700, still on some maps. I was trying to beat an incoming storm and it got very windy but my big dilemma was I got to boulder climbing to the peak, just past the AZ and my dog would not go further.

Lilly has been on my list for a while as Matt, KC7OOY, mentioned it was a beautiful mountain. I am so glad I finally made it. As with many summits in the area, what you see on a map isn't always the truth when it comes to roads so I didn't go the way I had planned but it was a beautiful hike with great window views of Scraggy Mountain, White Mountain and others around the Red Buttes Wilderness through the timber. Along the trek are some very fascinating rocks. Lots of quartz that looks like lumps of snow from a distance and shiney silver mica like stone.

I have already written a long blog on Wagner but thought I would do a separate update as I finally took the trail for most of the trip. Keep in mind that what all us locals know as the trailhead is not on most maps, they have it down the road. There is a large parking area opposite the TH that is not on many maps 42.11449, -122.80047 is where you want to be. From here it will be about 9 miles RT with about 2600' gain, according to my trackers. I took a few paths off trail so there is a little estimation. The trail is nice.

Mckinley Mountain was my 3rd summit up on the Scott Bar ridge for the day. I was coming from the west and there is some very rough and narrow sections of road with steep banks, no shoulder, worst was driving around Deadwood Baldy Peak (not a SOTA). If you come up from Deadwood Creek Rd this may be avoidable, I'm not sure. Either way, this country is not meant for passenger cars and make sure you have good tires and a spare. The hike is about .8mi up a inpassable road from RD 45N28, with about 650' gain.

Indian Creek Baldy, I found out after reaching the top and reading the notepad in a jar, is the highest point of the Scott Bar Mountains. It is an amazing 360 view of the Northern California area, including Shasta, Scott Valley, Marble Mountains and more. It is a short but difficult climb up.

This was my first of three in one day in N. CA just west of Yreka in the  Scott Bar Mountains. It was a pleasant area to activate, forested knoll with some large open spaces to set up in and look down to Scott Valley to the SE. It was still early and we were in the clouds a bit so couldn't see the distant mountains such as the Marble Mountains and Shasta too well but probably you can on a clear day, and depending which side of the summit you are on.

For my 2 year SOTA-versary and birthday this week I wanted to do something special,a couple days early because the wx looked perfect, I decided to try Grayback Mountain (W7O/SC-001) the HP for Josephine Co and South Coast that had never been activated. This was also my 50th First Activation.

Update: as of 7/2024 add about 1 mile to ascent due to large tree fall.

Little Grayback has been another summit I have been eyeing for a while as I am slowly getting familiar with this area around Applegate Lake. I always looked at approaching it from the westside, near the lake but looking closer and after doing neighboring Baldy Peak and having no snow issues, I noticed that the eastside, Upper Little Grayback TH, looked much shorter and approachable. This is FS trail #921. KJ7GFN, Joell, and I did our planning for this pretty much the day before, both leaving from our off grid locations Sunday morning.

Another no-name summit with a pretty good view. Takes a decent drive to get up there. Short hike up an old logging road. Some of the area is thick with Oregon grape and brush but there is a clearing that made set up easy. There may be other options further down the road to access too but I didn't explore.