Battle Peak and Buffalo Peak Loop 12-6-24

Buffalo Peak – Battle Peak – Point 3558

A three-peak trip. Mainly wanted to explore Buffalo Peak, as we spotted it from the ridge on the other side of the canyon several days before.
We parked at this spot mainly to make the end of the trip a little easier. About 90% of todays route was cross-country. We started out by scrambling up the forested slope to a road that ended at the top of Battle Peak, then out to a rocky bluff for some nice views out over the North Fork Middle Fork Willamette canyon.

After a short break to enjoy the cliffs and views, we continued by dropping towards Buffalo Peak, through some nice forest with big old trees, to an old road, which we walked a short distance before entering the forest again to scramble up to the north face of Buffalo Peak. Wow, what a cool peak. The north face is at least 200’ of vertical rock. We continued east, then around to the south side. We scrambled up the south side slope as far as we felt comfortable, and took a long break there. The south side is a crescent shaped slope, ranging between 40-50 degrees. We’ll come back in the summer when the rock is dry and the days are long.
After our long break, we scrambled back to the road, then entered the forest for the 900’ huff to Point 3558. This slope had some of the nicest forest I’ve seen in this district. Once hitting this peak, we had a short scramble and road walk back to the truck.

Fun day out with my lovely wife, Deb.

Standing near the summit of Battle Peak, looking out from a cliffy bluff. That’s Buffalo Peak below…and the North Fork Middle Fork Willamette Canyon.