East Peak Shoulder (Wallowas)

Pete's Point and Eagle Cap rise over Aneroid Lake

4 miles round trip, 1200 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Moderate; hike largely unsigned
Access: Paved road to tram station, Wallowa Lake Tramway to trailhead

The Wallowas are a remote mountain range in Northeast Oregon, isolated from both the Cascades and the Rockies, that house many of Oregon's highest peaks. The range is deep and wild, with much of its alpine scenery only accessible to backpackers and strong day hikers, but there's one exception: the Wallowa Lake Tramway will zip anyone willing to shell out thirty-some dollars to the top of Mount Howard, allowing access to vistas at the very edge of the range. Hikers looking for a high elevation outing without expending too much energy should consider this hike exploring the ridge heading south from the tramway station. Although I did not complete the full hike to the summit of East Peak, I climbed up to a high shoulder on East Peak that gave splendid views of the Wallowas and Hells Canyon and enjoyed the hike a lot. The trail for this hike is unmarked and is quite steep at time but is easy to follow with a map and directions.

I took the Wallowa Lake Tramway and hiked to the shoulder of East Peak during a September road trip to the Wallowas. The Wallowas are a long way from any city; Enterprise and Joseph are the only two towns in the region to offer visitor services. After you've driven the hours to get to Enterprise from Boise, Spokane, Portland, or Seattle, take Highway 82 south from Enterprise to Joseph; Highway 82 becomes Main Street, which I followed through town until it curved to the east and became 8th St. This road then exited the town and rose over a grass-covered terminal moraine to reach the shores of Wallowa Lake; I stopped in the park with the boat launch to admire the sun rising over the lake. The tramway was a little further down: I drove the length of the lake and then took the left fork once I was past the lake, entering a spread-out resort town area. A sign pointed me into the parking lot on the east (left) side of the road for the Wallowa Lake Tramway.

Sunrise at Wallowa Lake

The Wallowa Lake Tramway lifts tourists 3700 feet from the valley bottom to a station just short of the summit of Mount Howard. The tramway operates with small four-person cabins; while most tramways and gondolas have a glossy, commercial feel to them, the Wallowa Lake Tramway feels much more like a local operation. From the upper tramway station, there are a little over a mile of trails maintained by the Wallowa Lake Tramway that allow for exploration around the summit of Mount Howard; the trail to East Peak is connected to that trail system but is unmarked. I arrived early, a half hour before tram operation started, to ensure that I could get an early start before the top got crowded. The tramway ride was scenic, offering beautiful views of Wallowa Lake at first and then improving views of the dramatic alpine peaks deeper within the range.

Wallowa Lake viewed from the tramway

Once at the summit, I decided to quickly explore the Tramway-operated loop trail around Mount Howard before departing for East Peak. Pick up a map and guide when you board the tramway to navigate the trails. I did the loop counterclockwise, first dropping by Royal Purple Overlook. Views here were already quite good, encompassing both granite Eagle Cap and limestone Matterhorn, two of the most famous peaks in the Wallowas.

Eagle Cap and Matterhorn viewed from atop Mount Howard

The loop trail then climbed slightly to reach the summit of Mount Howard from which there was a view to the south of East Peak and the ridge that I was about to hike along. There were nice views eastward towards Hells Canyon as well.

North ridge of East Peak

The next intersection was a four-way junction: the trail ahead continued the loop, the left turn abbreviated it, and the social path to the right was the trail towards East Peak. I chose to initially complete the loop before heading out towards East Peak, so I descended slighlty on the north side of the peak and took a spur trail to a large talus slope with a view out over Wallowa Lake and Wallowa Valley. Chief Joseph Mountain towered over the valley.

Chief Joseph Mountain and the Wallowas rising above Wallowa Lake and Joseph

A brief aside before the East Peak hike description: Wallowa Valley witnessed one of the tragic stories of the Indian Wars during the European American settlement of the West and was once the home of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce. The Nez Perce inhabited the Wallowa Valley for some generations before the arrival of Europeans and initially were friendly with white settlers arriving in the Northwest. An initial reservation set aside for the Nez Perce covered millions of acres in Oregon and Idaho, but as white settlement expanded, the US government forced a new treaty upon the Nez Perce restricting them to a small reservation in Idaho and evicting them from their ancestral lands in Wallowa Valley. In order to respect his ancestors' graves and his tribe's long-standing claim to the Wallowa Valley, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce refused to sign the treaty, instead firmly turning away settlers from the valley without violence to avoid war with the United States.

General Oliver Otis Howard- of Howard University fame and the namesake of the mountain upon which the Tramway is built- met with Chief Joseph in 1877 and issued an ultimatum demanding the withdrawl of the Nez Perce from Wallowa Valley. Faced with the prospect of war, Joseph reluctantly agreed to leave Wallowa Valley; but on the eve of his tribe's withdrawal, a few young warriors from his tribe killed a number of settlers in retribution. As the Army moved to retaliate, Chief Joseph had no choice but to flee with his people. Chased across the Rockies, they first sought refuge with the Crow; when turned away, they decided to retreat towards Canada. Along the way, his tribe of a couple hundred consistently fought off the US Army led by Howard and General Nelson Miles, until finally they were cornered in the Bear Paw Mountains in Montana, just 40 miles from the Canadian border. After surrendering, Chief Joseph spent the rest of his life lobbying the US government through any channel he could find to return the Wallowa Valley to his people, stating "we only ask an even chance to live as other men live" and arguing for the rights of the Nez Perce based on the founding principles of the US. The Nez Perce never returned to Wallowa Valley and Chief Joseph later died on the Colville Reservation in Washington State.

As I gazed down into Wallowa Valley from the top of Mount Howard, I felt a tinge of sadness for the Nez Perce that once lived on the valley's fertile plains.

I also admired the remarkably well-preserved terminal moraine of Wallowa Lake. Although almost no glaciers remain in the Wallowas today, in ice ages past, the range was substantially glaciated; in recent periods of glaciation, a large glacier originating near Eagle Cap filled the entire mountain valley of the Wallowa River and flowed slightly out into the plains of Wallowa Valley, depositing a continuous terminal moraine just south of Joseph that today clearly defines the shape of Wallowa Lake.

After finishing the loop and returning to the tramway station, I started the actual East Peak hike by following the wide trail forming the middle connection of the figure 8 that headed east from the tramway station. This trail quickly intersected the other side of the loop; once there, I took the unmarked trail on the opposite side of the intersection, which began to descend steeply. After a quick 200-foot elevation drop, the trail swung to the south and leveled out. The trail followed the contours of Mount Howard until coming to a 8100-foot saddle between Mount Howard and East Peak; from here, the trail began climbing steeply on the lightly forested ridge, where there still some late season wildflowers blooming.

Flowers, valley

The trail wrapped around the west side of the first bump in the ridge before climbing up to the ridge itself and then began ascending a second, treeless knoll; part way through this ascent, the trail once again cut away to the east side of the mountain and began to circle around the knoll. The barren slopes near the top of the ridge provided stunning views over to the canyon of the Imnaha River and a little farther east the rim of Hells Canyon and the Seven Devil Mountains in Idaho.

Looking out to Hells Canyon and the Seven Devils

After rounding the second knoll, the trail continued following the east slopes of the ridge, passing just below a low saddle on the ridge. Here, while the main trail continued to contour along the slopes, an unmarked path veered off to the right, quickly climbing up to the ridge itself. I took this side trail, leaving the more defined principal trail. You don't miss much by skipping the rest of the defined trail, as that path peters out a half mile further. The ridge path, on the other hand, quickly delivered astonishing views over the East Fork Wallowa River Valley. It was extremely steep at parts and switchbacked a couple times to push through some rocky terrain and reach the top of the next false summit at about 1.5 miles after leaving the Tramway trails. Climbing atop this shoulder of East Peak at 8940 feet opened up views to the south: the true summit of East Peak was finally visible ahead of me while Aneroid Lake lay in a forested valley at the foot of Pete's Point in the distance.

East Peak

Many high peaks of the Eagle Cap Wilderness, which forms the heart of the Wallowas, were visible, including Eagle Cap itself, Matterhorn, and Sacajawea Peak. Sacajawea Peak is not the most remarkable looking mountain but it is the highest summit of the Wallowas and the highest point in Oregon outside the Cascade volcanoes. A sliver of Ice Lake was visible at the foot of Matterhorn.

Matterhorn and Sacajawea Peak from the shoulder of East Peak

The views to the east were expansive: the Imnaha and Snake Rivers had cut a maze of canyons into the Columbia River flood basalts. Seven Devils Mountains rose directly above the depths of Hells Canyon; the summit of He Devil Peak is almost 8000 feet above the Snake River at one point, making Hells Canyon the deepest canyon in North America (only Kings Canyon in the Sierra Nevada can dispute this title).

Seven Devils rising above Hells Canyon

The path continues along the ridge towards the summit of East Peak, but I chose to call it at this 8940-foot shoulder. The views were great and I needed to return down the mountain to drive out to Hat Point that evening, so I retraced my steps back to the tramway station. I did not see a single other hiker until returning to the tramway trail system.

Anthony Lakes Loop

Lower Hoffer Lake with Lees Peak and the Lakes Lookout

9.5 miles, 2100 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Moderate
Access: Paved road to trailhead, Anthony Lakes resort fee required

The Elkhorn Mountains are an Oregon secret and hiking the Anthony Lakes Loop is the easiest and most accessible way to see this landscape of granite and lakes. Located in far eastern Oregon, this range is a five hour drive from Portland and three hours from Boise, making it a much quieter destination than any of the Cascade volcanoes or even the nearby Wallowas. But the scenery along the Anthony Lakes Loop is excellent- craggy granite peaks, numerous mirror-like lakes, and peaceful meadows- making this a worthwhile stop for hikers visiting the area. The fact that all this scenery can be accessed from an easy drive on a paved road makes it all the more shocking that you're likely to enjoy this landscape in reasonable solitude.

The hike makes a loop around a cluster of granite peaks at the northern end of the Elkhorn Range, visiting numerous lakes along the way. A short but steep detour adds on the summit of the Lakes Lookout, a spectacular summit viewpoint over the Elkhorns and eastern Oregon; skipping this side trip makes the hike even easier but misses out on a key hike highlight.

I hiked the Anthony Lakes Loop at the tail end of a September trip to the Wallowas and Hells Canyon. I had little knowledge of the Elkhorn Mountains before my trip began: I had apparently missed the 9000-foot peaks to the right during my previous drive down I-84 on way to Boise and Yellowstone. I had not even planned on visiting this range when I left Seattle, but I spotted the Elkhorns from atop Eagle Cap when I was in the Wallowas and thought that its peaks looked impressive, so I decided to spend a day of my trip hiking here instead of going to Ice Lake in the Wallowas. As this hike is a long way from any city, I'll give directions coming from La Grande, Oregon. I took I-84 south from La Grande, crossing a pass over the Blue Mountains and descending into Powder Valley. I took exit 285 for North Powder, turning left onto River Lane to head west after coming off the ramp. I followed River Lane west through farmland as it became Ellis Road heading south, and then I made a right when Ellis Road ended by intersecting the Anthony Lakes Highway. I took the Anthony Lakes Highway west as it ascended into the Elkhorns, with views out to Baker Valley and the Wallowas. I continued along this road until making the left turn into the Anthony Lake Campground; when the roads to the day use area and campground diverged, I took the right fork for the day use area, then drove counterclockwise around the lake until coming to the trailhead parking lot on the southwest corner of Anthony Lake.

Gunsight Mountain, Lees Peak, and the Lakes Lookout rise above Anthony Lake

From the parking area, I headed out on the lakeside trail, which was essentially a continuation of the road. After crossing Parker Creek, the lakeside trail quickly arrived at a junction with the trail to Hoffer Lakes. I continued straight on Trail 1600, which continued wrapping counterclockwise around Anthony Lake with occasional views of its marshy and forested shores.

After about a quarter mile, the dirt trail began approaching the Anthony Lakes Campground. There's no day use parking here, so I would only advise starting your hike here if you're camping; this was also one of the few crowded areas on the hike as I walked by a few trucks parked on the trail as families picnicked by the lake. Arriving at a proper road in the campground, I turned right and quickly picked up the Black Lake Trail, which led back into the forest and peace and quiet.

Anthony Lake

A short, hundred-yard flat walk through the forest brought me to Lilypad Lake, the second lake of the hike. Lilypad Lake was more or less a marsh-fringed pond dotted with its namesake plant, but it was a pretty scene with Gunsight Mountain and the Lakes Lookout rising behind it.

Lilypad Lake

After leaving Lilypad Lake, the trail began a very gentle ascent into the forest, intersecting with the Elkhorn Crest Trail after a quarter mile. I turned right at the intersection to head south along this trail. The Elkhorn Crest Trail is a 23-mile trail that threads through the tallest peaks of the Elkhorns, starting from the Anthony Lakes area in the north. The most spectacular stretch of the hike is supposedly its southern end, where it approaches Twin Lakes and Rock Creek Butte, the highest peak of the range, but poorly maintained gravel roads make that end of the range substantially less accessible than the tamer but still pretty Anthony Lakes area.

The Elkhorn Crest Trail immediately came to a junction with the trail to Black Lake. I took this short detour, which had a short initial ascent before flattening out and following Black Lake's outlet stream through marshes and meadows to the lake itself. Gunsight Mountain rose imposingly over the lake.

Black Lake

From the lake, I backtracked to the Elkhorn Crest Trail and continued to follow it south. From here, the trail began one of the two major ascents of the hike. The uphill grade was gentle as the trail climbed out of the basin holding Black Lake and crossed a low saddle to enter the Antone Creek watershed. The uphill was slow but steady as the trail cut across the slopes on the west side of the valley in a landscape with interspersed areas of forest cover and open granite, with occasional views to the granite spires of Angell Peak ahead and across to the bulky mass of Van Patton Peak.

The ascent to 8200-foot Angell Pass from the Black Lake Trail Junction at 7300 feet was spread out over 2 miles; the final approach to Angell Pass was quite scenic, with lots of exposed granite and many great views as the trail climbed to tree-thinning elevations.

Elkhorn Crest Trail to Angell Pass

The views from the trail here encompassed stately Van Patton Butte across the valley, which rose above an unnamed lake and pretty meadow below; in the distance, the ridges of the Blue Mountains and the Wallowas rose above Baker and Grande Ronde Valleys.

Van Patton Peak view near Angell Pass

At Angell Pass, the trail entered the North Fork John Day Wilderness, marking the transition from the Powder River watershed (which drains into the Snake near Hells Canyon) and the John Day River watershed (which drains into the Columbia just upstream of the Columbia River Gorge). From the pass, there was a partial view through a saddle of the Wallowa Mountains across Baker Valley.

A peek of the Wallowas from Angell Pass

For hikers skipping the Lakes Lookout, Angell Pass is the high point of the hike and the end of the hike's only substantial uphill. The pass opened up views to the south and west and as the trail contoured around the west side of the peak bounding the pass from the east. An unnamed lake and meadow were visible below at the headwaters of the Crawfish Creek basin and an impressive granite wall formed by Angell Peak, Lees Peak, and the Lakes Lookout lay to the west.

View south of the Elkhorn Mountains from Angell Pass

A half mile of wandering south on the Elkhorn Crest Trail brought me to Dutch Flat Saddle, a four-way trail junction. The Elkhorn Crest Trail continued south for its distant rendevous with the highest Elkhorn peaks; the Dutch Flat Creek and the Crawfish Basin trails descended to the east and west (left and right), respectively, leading down into the valleys bellow the saddle. While the loop continues clockwise by the Crawfish Basin Trail, I took a short detour of about fifty steps down the Dutch Flat Creek Trail, which gave me a pretty view of Dutch Flat Lake below.

Dutch Flat Lake from Dutch Flat Saddle

Backtracking to Dutch Flat Saddle, this time I headed off on the Crawfish Basin Trail. The upper parts of this trail provided views of granite peaks along with large Crawfish Meadow in the distance.

Lees Peak from the Crawfish Basin Trail at Dutch Flat Saddle

Unfortuately, after descending about 400 feet via switchbacks, the Crawfish Basin Trail became one of the more boring parts of the hike, as the trail stayed in the forest while circling around Angell Peak, Lees Peak, and the Lakes Lookout. The trail stayed relatively level at the bottom of the descent, remaining a couple hundred feet above Crawfish Meadow at the bottom of the valley. At points, there were partial views of the both the peaks to the north and the meadows to the south, but there were no wide open views.

Views did open up a bit to the west as the trail made a sharp turn to wrap around to the west side of the Angell-Lees-Lakes Lookout massif. The trail made an ascent of about 200 feet here as it climbed back up to the north ridge of the Lakes Lookout. The Crawfish Basin Trail ended at a dirt road, 2.5 miles from Dutch Flat Saddle and about 6 miles into the hike; I continued along this dirt road another hundred yards to a small circle in the road. From here, the Lakes Lookout Trail led south towards the top of the ridge; if you're looking for an easier hike, you can skip this detour, otherwise this spur trail is well worth it for the hike's best views.

I followed the Lakes Lookout Trail uphill for two-thirds of a mile to the summit. This was the steepest climb of the hike, ascending to the 8522-foot peak of one of the key summits in the Anthony Lakes area. Views improved progressively through the climb, especially to the west and south; at the end of the climb, some short switchbacks and a bit of rock scrambling put me atop the eastern summit of the mountain's two high points.

The views from the summit were excellent: I could see many of the lakes visited on the hike, including Anthony, Lilypad, and Hoffer Lakes, as well as Gunsight Mountain, Angell Peak, and Lees Peak, which along with the Lakes Lookout made up the granite block that I had been circling. Van Patton Peak rose just beond. The forested Blue Mountains stretched on to the north, forming one side of Baker and Grande Ronde Valleys, which were bound on the other side by the distant Wallowas.

Anthony, Lilypad, and Hoffer Lakes with Gunsight and Van Patton from the Lakes Lookout

The crest of the Elkhorn Mountains crowded the southeast horizon. Crawfish Meadow lay to the south, with Crawfish Lake visible a little further to the west. The low, forested peaks of the Blue Mountains stretched to the horizon.

View south along the Elkhorn Crest

Crawfish Meadow from the Lakes Lookout

View west from the Lakes Lookout

I ran into the first other hiker that day since Angell Pass at the summit of the Lakes Lookout. A local from Baker City, he gave me an odd look when I told him that I had come from Seattle.

After soaking in the views, I descended back to the forest service road. I followed it north along a ridge, which opened up nice views of Van Patton, Gunsight, and Angell Peaks. Hoffer Lakes and Anthony Lake were still vislbe, along with some pretty meadows in the lakes basin.

Gunsight Mountain from the descent to Hoffer Lakes

After a third of a mile, the road reached a four-way junction at a saddle in the ridge. I took the right fork, which descended towards the lakes basin. While the road cut very long switchbacks down the slope, I took a shortcut trail to shave a hundred yards or so off the hike. This was actually a ski trail: the other side of the ridge is the Anthony Lakes Ski Resort, the largest ski resort in northeast Oregon and the primary reason there's such easy paved access to the trailhead for this hike. At the end of the second switchback, the Hoffer Lakes Trail broke off to the right and headed south into the forest. This trail was very pretty, tracing the edge of a meadow and providing nice views of Lees Peak and the Lakes Lookout. In a half mile, it led to placid Lower Hoffer Lake, following the lakeshore to provide reflections first of Gunsight Mountain and then of Lees Peak and the Lakes Lookout. The relatively open granite on the lower slopes of Lees Peak were especially scenic.

Lower Hoffer Lake with Lees Peak and the Lakes Lookout

At the intersection with the trail to Upper Hoffer Lake, I turned right and followed the short spur to the larger upper lake. This calm lake was nestled at the foot of Lees Peak, with the granite slabs of its north ridge reaching down to the lakeshore. The two Hoffer Lakes were my favorite lakes of the hike and they're clearly the favorites of many locals as well: after a quiet hike for much of the day, I ran into multiple groups here.

Upper Hoffer Lake at the foot of Lees Peak

Returning to Lower Hoffer Lake, I followed the Hoffer Lakes Trail downhill back towards Anthony Lake. The final half mile descended alongside Parker Creek to return to lakeside trail along Anthony Lake; turning left at this final junction, I returned to the trailhead shortly afterwards. On my way back to I-84, I stopped at the picnic area on the north side of Anthony Lake to enjoy the rays of the late day sun on Gunsight and Lees Peak reflected in the lake.

Sunset at Anthony Lake

I came on a weekend but ran into just a few other hikers all day: two groups on the way to Angell Pass who were hiking the Elkhorn Crest Trail, another solitary hiker atop the Lakes Lookout, and then a couple more groups of hikers on the very last stretch of the hike at Hoffer Lakes, which is itself a more popular short hike. While not as dramatic as the nearby Wallowas, the scenery along the hike was nonetheless beautiful and enjoyable. Few hikes can offer pretty mountain lakes and views on a reasonably easy hike accessed from a paved, easy-driving road without being overrun.

Bald Mountain (SF Bay Area)

Mount Diablo and Mission Peak rise above San Jose

1.5 miles round trip, 50 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Easy
Access: Paved road to trailhead, no parking fee

The hike to Bald Mountain is a short and easy way to access open meadows with beautiful views just outside San Jose in California's San Francisco Bay Area. Protected in the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, Bald Mountain can be reached via a flat trail from the road to Mount Umunhum and is an excellent place to see wildflowers in spring. The ease of the hike and the beauty of its landscape makes this a popular destination in the Bay Area; expect the trailhead to fill on nice weekends. The trail and the preserve are operated by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, a special district that has acquired tracts of lands throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and operates a string of open space preserves up and down the peninsula.

I hiked this trail on a sunny spring weekday after driving to the summit of Mount Umunhum. The trailhead has limited parking and it is difficult to find parking if the lot is full, so come with a backup plan. To reach the trailhead from San Jose, follow California 85 south to exit 6 for the Almaden Expressway; follow signs after leaving the ramp to take the Almaden Expressway south, then follow it for 4.5 miles and turn right onto Almaden Road. Follow Almaden Road past the town of New Almaden and the Almaden Reservoir, turning right onto Hicks Road at the far end of the reservoir; follow Hicks Road uphill to a saddle and turn left onto the Mount Umunhum Road. The trailhead parking lot is off to the left just under two miles up the Mount Umunhum Road.

Bald Mountain was visible from the parking lot: its meadow-crowned top was visible to the east, barely rising above the horizon. It was clear that it'd be an easy hike.

Bald Mountain from the trailhead

The hike followed a wide former road along the contours on the south side of the ridge leading out to Bald Mountain. The high point of this ridge is actually above the summit of Bald Mountain, but this forested point on the ridge is unnamed as it presumably doesn't have any views. There were nice views from the trail across the Herbert Creek watershed below to the two tallest peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains: Loma Prieta and Mount Umunhum.

Mount Umunhum was a particularly notable peak due to the cube-like structure at its summit. The mountain once housed the Almaden Air Force Station and a large radar dish was once mounted atop the concrete cube that remains today. Built during the Cold War, the military used this peak as part of their radar early warning system to detect potential incoming Soviet bombers and provide advance notice in case of a nuclear strike on California. The advent of ICBMs made the radar stations obsolete; after the station's closure in 1980, parts of the Sierra Azul (the southern stretch of the Santa Cruz Mountains) were acquired by the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the summit of Mount Umunhum was restored and opened to the public in 2017. The peak is a sacred site for local Ohlone peoples, who named this peak after the hummingbird.

Mount Umunhum and the Umunhum radar tower

After a short walk, the trail arrived at the meadows of Bald Mountain, making an unnecessary switchback as it curved gently to the summit. The meadows were dotted with spring wildflowers: poppies and lupine were blooming among the grass. I had also spotted morning glory and monkeyflower blooming along the trail before reaching the meadow.

Lupine and poppy wildflower show

Poppies and the Henry Coe peaks

Forested Loma Prieta, the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, rose to the south, crowned with a set of communications towers. Located on the San Andreas Fault, Loma Prieta was the epicenter of one of the more recent major earthquakes in the Bay Area, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck in 1989. Notably, the earthquake struck when San Francisco and Oakland were both in the World Series and about to play in Candlestick Park, a lucky coincidence that had led many commuters to avoid roads during rush hour that day. Freeway bridge collapses throughout the Bay Area were responsible for a large portion of the resulting casualties.

Loma Prieta and the poppies of Bald Mountain

The end of the trail made a little loop around the summit proper, with a spur descending to a fenced viewpoint. These meadows provided sweeping views over Santa Clara Valley: San Jose was spread out beneath me, with distant Mission Peak and Mount Diablo rising above the downtown skyline. The Bay itself was just barely visible to the north, although Bay landmarks like Mount Tamalpais and the San Francisco skyline could be made out on the horizon.

View of Mount Tam, the Bay, and Silicon Valley from Bald Mountain

The Diablo Range ran across the valley, peaking at Mount Hamilton, whose summit is dotted with the white domes of the Lick Observatory. Operated by the University of California since its completion in 1887, the Lick Observatory was the world's first permanently occupied summit observatory. In the late nineteenth century, Santa Clara Valley was sparsely populated and dark at night, making Mount Hamilton a prime spot for astronomical observations; multiple moons of Jupiter were discovered here, including Amalthea, the first non-Galilean moon spotted.

The water of the Almaden Reservoir below contrasted with the green slopes of Mine Hill in Almaden Quicksilver Park. The town of New Almaden, nestled at the foot of these hills, was once site of the most productive mercury mine in the United States. The Ohlone and Spanish were both familiar with the cinnabar in the area, leading the Spanish to name the area after the mercury mining city of Almaden in Castile-La Mancha. The mine has been defunct for nearly a century now and the landscape is being reclaimed by nature.

Mount Hamilton and the Almaden Reservoir

Many hikes in the Bay Area may offer similar views, but Bald Mountain is an easy way to see some pretty meadows while exploring and better understanding this South Bay landscape.

Mount Kineo

Moosehead Lake from Kineo

3.5 miles loop, 800 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Moderate (some rock scrambling on the Indian Trail)
Access: Boat shuttle to trailhead ($12/person), Mount Kineo State Park entrance fee required ($5/person)

Vast Moosehead Lake is the largest body of freshwater in lake-dotted Maine and there's no better place to admire this great lake set in the wild Maine Woods than from Mount Kineo, a small but dramatic peak on an island in the heart of the lake. The fire lookout and the cliffs along the mountain's south face both provide jaw-dropping of the lake's blue waters and the forested mountain landscape around the northernmost stretch of the Appalachian Trail. This hike has some additional bells and whistles over your standard hike in the Appalachians, with rock scrambling en route to the summit and a boat ride across Moosehead Lake to reach the island trailhead. This may be the most popular hike at remote Moosehead Lake but it's popular for a reason, so don't miss these views if you're visiting interior Maine.

I hiked Mount Kineo during a late summer trip to Maine, sandwiching a day at Moosehead Lake between my days at Tumbledown Mountain and Katahdin. Arriving after Labor Day, I avoided the summer crowds, but I arrived a couple weeks too early for fall colors. To reach the trailhead, I had to take the Mount Kineo Golf Course Shuttle from Rockwood; the only public access to the island if you don't have a boat is to take the shuttle, which runs on the hour from Rockwood during summer and fall and is open to both golfers and hikers for a fee. Since Rockwood is pretty close to the middle of nowhere, it won't be useful for me to provide detailed directions; you'll need to take Maine 15 to get to Rockwood; whether you're coming from the north or the south, turn into the village on Village Rd (or follow the signs for the Rockwood Town Landing) and drive until you reach the Rockwood Town Landing, a dock right across from the post office. There's a large parking lot here. I caught the 9 AM shuttle- the earliest boat on the day of my visit- to head across the lake to the Mount Kineo Golf Course.

Mount Kineo from the Rockwood ferry

The boat dropped me off at the dock for the golf course. Before starting the hike, I headed over to the club house at the golf course, which had restrooms, hiking info, and sold food to hikers.

Returning to the boat dock, I took the broad Carriage Trail that headed in a clockwise direction along the shoreline. The trail immediately left the manicured greens of the golf course for the quiet, rocky, forested shore. I soon came to a small pay booth at the entrance to the Mount Kineo State Park. Views were initially just okay, but improved dramatically after I reached the base of Kineo's rocky cliffs in a third of a mile of hiking. As the trail followed the base of these massive rhyolite walls, I had pretty views out onto the lake, which stretched to the bases of Baker and Big Moose Mountains on the horizon.

Moosehead Lake

At a half mile, the trail rounded the western edge of the mountain's steep south face and came to a junction: while the lakeshore trail continued ahead, the Indian Trail broke off to the right to follow the ridge towards the fire lookout. I took this right fork to begin the Indian Trail, which was the most spectacular stretch of this hike.

The Indian Trail began climbing immediately, crossing a number of areas of angled exposed rock that required some scrambling on all fours. However, the payoff was as immediate as the scramble: with the trail sticking close to the cliffs of the south face, I soon had views out over the azure waters of Moosehead Lake to the forested islands dotting its surface.

Moosehead Lake

The Indian Trail was only a half mile long but encompassed most of the hike's uphill, challenge, and views. The trail oscillated between the edge of the woods and the edge of the cliffs, providing frequent and improving views of the surroundings. Each higher viewpoint provided a deeper realization of Moosehead Lake's immense size: in New England, only Lake Champlain is larger.

Moosehead Lake with Big Moose Mountain

Some viewpoints looked out to Mount Kineo's immense cliffs in addition to overlooking the lake and distant peaks. These massive blocks of rhyolite were once used by Native Americans for arrowheads that were distributed as far away as Penobscot Bay (near modern-day Portland).

In mid-September, the foliage below had just the slightest tinges of yellow, suggesting that the colors of fall were not far off.

Kineo cliffs above Moosehead Lake

Moosehead Lake was dotted with islands: the two largest were Sugar Island and Deer Island, both visible to the south. The higher viewpoints provided an excellent vantage point over the nearby golf course as well. Established in 1893, the Mount Kineo Golf Course is the second oldest in New England; and while golf isn't really my thing, I appreciated that the golf course maintains a shuttle to the island to allow hikers to access Mount Kineo.

Kineo Golf Course and Moosehead Lake

The views finally ended when the Indian Trail joined up with the Bridle Trail, the other main trail ascending Kineo's slopes. I took a right at the junction to continue northeast along the ridge. The hiking was mostly flat as I followed the top of the ridge through the woods for the next half mile until I arrived at the base of the fire lookout.

The summit is entirely forested, but climbing the fire lookout tower brought me above the trees. The tower is quite tall and the metal staircase leading up was a bit rickety, making it a bit of harrowing ascent; once at the top, I enjoyed the wraparound views from the lookout deck. As the lookout is a bit farther removed from the water compared to the cliffs on the Indian Trails, the lake views were not as dramatic, but the breadth of views made up for it. The summit provided the first views to the north of the rest of Moosehead Lake, as well as of the Maine Woods to the east. Big and Little Spencer Mountains were the most prominent peaks to the east and blocked views of more faraway Katahdin, while the ridge of Little Kineo also rose above the surrounding forest. Farm Island was a forested, flat island just to the north. The low mountains to the north lay near the Canadian border; I was close enough to the border that I had picked up Quebec radio stations on my drive to Rockwood that morning.

Little Kineo and the Spencers

Farm Island

The view to the south encompassed much of what I had seen on the Indian Trail: Deer Island, Sugar Island, Big Moose Mountain, and Baker Mountain. Baker Mountain lies just north of the Appalachian Trail, which runs through the Hundred Mile Wilderness- the trail's most remote stretch- between here and Katahdin. Part of this wild area was preserved as the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in 2016 after Roxanne Quimby, who helped found Burt's Bees, bought up larget tracts of land here and donated it to the federal government. However, the monument's designation was controversial locally due to the perception that it would severely restrict land use; in fact, local opposition probably helped sink Quimby's initial plan to have a national park established here.

Moosehead Lake

To the west, I spotted an inlet on the lake that marked the hamlet of Rockwood, where I had parked. Brassua Lake lay just beyond Rockwood.

Rockwood and Brassua Lake

On my descent, I chose to take the Bridle Trail; this route was substantially less scenic than the Indian Trail but was fairly direct. The steep trail dropped me back to the lakeside in about a half mile, where I met up with the Carriage Trail again; here, I turned left and followed the Carriage Trail back to the docks, passing the junction with the Indian Trail along the way.

As I waited to board the next shuttle back to Rockwood, I ran into a couple from Portland whom I had chatted with atop the fire lookout and they invited me aboard their boat to tour the lake for a bit. I took them up on their kind offer and they took me on a quick ride around the island to see the eastern side of Mount Kineo. Unseen by most visitors, this is perhaps the mountain's most dramatic facade: the sheer seven hundred plunge from the summit to the lake seemed more like a scene from the Norweigan fjords.

Kineo's East Face

The Portland couple had a summer house in Rockwood; they commented on how the lake, once a more remote getaway, had been steadily gaining popularity in recent years as hikes like Kineo had made their way into Instagram posts. Nevertheless, the interior of Maine was still quiet compared to its tourist-overrun coast and remained the most remarkable and intact wilderness on the East Coast.

After spending some time boating around the bay on the backside of Kineo, my newfound friends returned me to Rockwood; I continued on to Big Moose Mountain for more Moosehead Lake explorations before driving onward to Millinocket that evening to prepare for my Katahdin hike the next day.

This is a beautiful and fun hike- the rock scramble and boat ride spice up an already scenic hike with stunning lake views. This is the hike to do at Moosehead Lake and anyone who lives nearby or who plans to visit Maine should not miss this watery gem in the Maine Woods.