Fleeing from the rainy forecast, Deb and I found ourselves out in the John Day area. Today we tagged the summit of Canyon Mountain. From the trailhead we took the trail for about 5 miles (top of the Dean Creek drainage) where we then headed straight up towards the summit. Following the path of least resistance, we ended up on the ridge, about a quarter mile north of the true summit…the area we called “the yellow line”. After navigating the gnarly ridge for a bit we got to the summit. The summit register is a jar with a rusty lid, cram packed with bits of papers with entries dating back to the early 60’s…crazy. Our planned descent looked a little crazy in real life, but we decided to go for it anyways. We headed directly west along the summit ridge, staying on the ridge where possible, dropping a little when not possible…eventually making it to the northwest ridge…which we followed all the way down to where it crossed the trail…taking the trail back to the trailhead. The ridges we traveled today were very craggy, making this a fun adventure hike with lots of scrambling and off trail navigating.
Strawberry Mountain tomorrow…
At the trailhead…
Prairie City far down in the John Day valley…
Off trail now, climbing over boulders…
Looking at some of the ridge we plan to scramble…
Navigating around obstacles towards the summit…
Happy at the summit of Canyon Mountain…7999′
Old summit register…
On the ridge looking back at the ridge we came from…
Looking down the at the ridge we are heading for…
Old wood…bizarre shapes and colors…
I saw a sea monster in this one…
Cross country down the burned section of the ridge…
Topo lines…
Looking back from where we came from…
Today’s route…
