In middle of the last week of July I spent three days hiking prominence peaks in the Western Oregon Cascades. I visited Carpenter Mountain above the McKenzie River, Chucksney Mountain (north and south summits) above the Aufderheide Forest Drive, and Olallie Butte north of Mount Jefferson. The weather was quite warm with clear skies.

I began by driving to the Carpenter Mountain Trailhead, then hiking the trail to the Carpenter Mountain Lookout. This hike is only one mile long with 900 feet of gain to the lookout. The last few feet to the lookout building climbed up some rock slabs. The attendant was friendly and we chatted while I viewed and photographed the scenery from the balcony. In the above photo you can see Wolf Rock on the left, Iron, Cone, and Echo Mountains are in the center skyline, and Mount Jefferson is to the right of them in the distance.

[Read more…] about Oregon Cascades Prominence Peaks, July 2015