Oregon Hiking Trails

Agency:	Bureau of Land Management
Location:	Just of I-5 south of Ashland, Oregon, near the Siskiyou Summit.
Difficulty:	Moderate
Elevation Change:	2,020 feet
High Point:	5,910 feet
Visited:	Aug 1997
Season:	Spring, summer and fall
2D/3D Trail Map

Description

While climbing Pilot Rock is not particularly strenuous, it requires some nerve. The last part is an old-school scramble up to a very exposed point. Careless people have died here. From the parking lot the route is obvious -- just go uphill. Wear shoes with decent traction as the middle part of the trail is steep, eroded, and gravelly. Continue until you reach a spot right beneath the rock where you will have to cantilever yourself up about 6 feet. It will require some agility to do this. If you can touch your toes, you'll probably be okay. After you get past that point, the work is done. Continue to the rounded top of the rock for views of the Siskiyous, Cascades, and the southern Rogue River valley.

Access

The trailhead is several miles south of Ashland, near I-5. Coming from the north, take exit 5 (just north of the OR/CA border). Head towards Mount Ashland, but rather than continuing up the Mount Ashland Road, go under the freeway and continue south on Frontage Road. The trailhead is along Frontage Road, but why hike the trail through cow pastures and private land. Instead, turn left (east) up a gravel road about 1 mile from the I-5 overpass. It is clearly marked with a sign "Pilot Rock Road". Bear right at every cross road and you will reach the base of Pilot Rock in about 2 miles.

Those coming from the California side can take the last exit prior to the border, which I believe is Old Highway 99, and follow their noses to the same gravel road.

Geology

Visible from much of the Shasta Valley in northern California, and parts of Oregon’s Rogue Valley, Pilot Rock provides viewers with a look at the inside of a volcano. Over time, the exterior volcano eroded away, leaving behind the now cooled magma of the ancient volcano’s central vent. Fossil sites in the vicinity of Pilot Rock contain leaf impressions and conifer cones that became embedded in volcanic ash beds 25-35 million years ago.

Find books about trails in the Southwest Interior region of Oregon.