Ascent of Rock Creek Butte on 2017-08-05| Others in Party: | Emanuela Schmidt
| | Date: | Saturday, August 5, 2017 | | Ascent Type: | Successful Summit Attained | | Motorized Transport to Trailhead: | Hi-Clearance Vehicle | | Peak: | Rock Creek Butte | | Location: | USA-Oregon | | Elevation: | 9106 ft / 2775 m |
Ascent Trip ReportWe began at Marble Point in the morning after spending the night at the trailhead. The GPS coordinates posted for the Marble Point Trailhead are perfect, but the road from Sumpter up to the trailhead (about 9 miles on gravel) will require a high clearance vehicle. We did it at midnight, so that made it seem worse. On to the climb. You start off at an elevation of 7500 feet at Marble Point so the 5 mile walk into the mountain is very easy and great views once you get around a couple corners. We intended to do Elkhorn Peak first but were "billy'd". It is our new term for a goat blocking the obvious ascent route. One was stubbornly holding his ground at Elkhorn, so we proceeded to Rock Creek Butte first. At the first ridge, we kept on the main hiking trail for another 1/3 of a mile to the ridge that runs up the west side. It is low angle and easy. You begin at around 8350 feet. There are some areas that have footprints, and some that don't. We stuck near the southern edge of the ridge mostly within 50 feet of the drop off the whole way up and it was easy. On the decent we went over the south face. It looks steep, but it is not too bad and gets easier the more you go down. It leads to the trail without the extra 1/3 of a mile walk to the west ridge.
There is a nice summit register. |
| Summary Total Data | | Total Elevation Gain: | 1606 ft / 489 m | | Round-Trip Distance: | 11 mi / 17.7 km | | Route Conditions: | Maintained Trail, Unmaintained Trail | | Weather: | Hot, Calm, Clear
Hot | | Ascent Statistics | | Gain on way in: | 1606 ft / 489 m | | Distance: | 5.5 mi / 8.9 km | | Start Trailhead: | 7500 ft / 2286 m | | Descent Statistics | | Distance: | 5.5 mi / 8.9 km |
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