- Oregon County HP: #26
- Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️ (on a scale of 5)
- Summit Elevation: 4,285 feet
- Mountain Range: South Columbia Plateau
- Ancestral Lands: Tenino; Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla
PLANNING DETAILS
Location: The unnamed Gilliam County high point is located on a private cattle ranch approximately 70 miles southeast of The Dalles. The closest town with amenities is Condon, Oregon.
When to Visit: Year-round. However, the trek between the two prospective high points will require 7.5 miles of cross-country travel on foot.
Fees/Permits Required: Gilliam County has two possible high points located about 1.4 miles apart on the southern edge of the county line. They can be accessed from Lost Valley Ranch Road and Lonerock Road, depending on which permissions you acquire in advance. Both high points sit on a private ranch owned by Harrison Ranch, LLC.
(Note: Harrison Ranch is located on Lonerock Road, just north of the county line. This road is on the east side of the high points. Numerous GPS routes have been publicly posted over the years showing access to the Gilliam County high points from the west side via Lost Valley Road. Hardie Ranches own this parcel of land abutting Harrison Ranch. Thus, visitors wanting to begin their hike on Lost Valley should acquire permission from Hardie Ranches to cross through their land AND from Harrison Ranch to access the actual high points.)
Getting There: Both Gilliam CoHPs are most easily accessed from Lonerock Road. The private landowners usually ask visitors to park at a dirt road near Boone Canyon, which has a large haystack nearby. This haystack is located approximately 2 miles northeast of the eastern CoHP.
Directions from The Dalles
- Drive east on I-84 to Exit 97 (Celilo Park/Deschutes State Park).
- Follow OR-206 east as it parallels I-84 for the next 4.5 miles. After passing Deschutes State Park, OR-206 makes a sharp right turn and heads southeast toward Fulton Canyon and Wasco.
- Remain on OR-206 for 51 miles until you reach the town of Condon, where you will turn right onto South Main Street/US-19.
- Drive south through Condon for three blocks until you reach the Y-intersection where the road splits between US-206 (toward Lone Rock) and US-19 (toward Fossil).
- Stay to the left at the Y to remain on US-206, and drive east 4.8 miles until you reach the junction with Lonerock Road.
- Veer right onto Lonerock Road and follow the paved road southeast for 6 miles to Lost Valley Road. Here, you have a decision to make:
- OPTION 1: If you only have permission from Harrison Ranch, continue driving southeast on Lonerock Road for another 9.1 miles until you reach the ranch’s haystack and a small dirt road leading west toward Boone Canyon. (This is the shortest route to the eastern CoHP).
- OPTION 2: If you have permission from Harrison Ranch and Hardie Ranches, you can turn right onto Lost Valley Road and drive south for 7.8 miles until you reach a distinct gravel road on your left. The entrance to this road will likely be marked with multiple warning signs from Hardie Ranches announcing that there is no public access, hunting, or trespassing. (This junction is where many visitors have historically begun their hike to both CoHPs, but it is not the shortest nor easiest route.)
Directions from Prineville:
- Drive east on US-26 for 46 miles until you reach the western outskirts of Mitchell, Oregon.
- Make a hard left turn onto OR-207, and drive north for 62 miles until you reach the town of Condon.
- When you reach the north end of Condon High School and its football field, make a sharp right (almost U-turn) onto US-206 and drive east for 4.8 miles until the junction with Lonerock Road.
- Veer right onto Lonerock Road and follow it southeast for 6 miles to Lost Valley Road. Here, you have a decision to make:
- OPTION 1: If you only have permission from Harrison Ranch, continue driving southeast on Lonerock Road for another 9.1 miles until you reach the ranch’s haystack and a small dirt road leading west toward Boone Canyon. (This is the shortest route to the eastern CoHP)
- OPTION 2: If you have permission from Harrison Ranch and Hardie Ranches, you can turn right onto Lost Valley Road and drive south for 7.8 miles until you reach a distinct gravel road on your left. The entrance to this road will likely be marked with multiple warning signs from Hardie Ranches, announcing that there is no public access, hunting, or trespassing. (This junction is where many visitors have historically begun their hike to both CoHPs, but it is not the shortest nor easiest route.)
Parking: There is no dedicated parking or trailhead for this high point. Visitors will need to coordinate with the landowner(s) directly. The closest services (toilets, potable water, or trash cans) are in the town of Condon.
Pets Allowed: This county high point is on private land and an active cattle ranch operated by Harrison Ranch, LLC. If you wish to bring a dog, you must coordinate this with the ranch owner(s) directly.
Kid Friendly: This hike is best suited for children over the age of 11. The hike between the two prospective CoHPs requires 7.5 miles of cross-country travel and passing through several barbed wire fences (without gates).
Hiking Distance: ~7.5 miles (round-trip) to visit both high points.
The Summit(s): Gilliam County has two spots on Harrison Ranch vying for the title of county high point.
The “eastern” high point is located about 10 yards north of the county line and just west of an old dirt road that may (or may not) be visible on your map. There is a small rock cairn at this high point, and the summit register is located inside a red metal can next to the rock cairn.
This “western” high point is annotated on some paper and GPS maps as the Gilliam County High Point. This is likely why many visitors have historically attempted their route from the west side via Lost Valley Road. The western high point is located in the vicinity of the county line, but no marker or rock cairn marks the exact spot. Numerous visitors have noted their elevation reading over at the “eastern” high point was 5 to 20 feet higher than the area around this “western” one.
TRIP SUMMARY
Date Visited: October 19, 2025
Hiking Route Used: Dirt roads and cross-country travel – 7.6 miles (round-trip)
I’ve been putting off visiting the high points in Sherman County and Gilliam County for two years now. Both counties have unnamed points located in the middle of rural Oregon, and I was in no hurry to track down the landowners for permission.
Despite this procrastination, fate intervened during the 2025 Highpointers Convention in Bishop, California. While I was there, Dave Covill casually mentioned that he and Patrick Thornley had upcoming plans to visit both of these remote high points during their autumn trip to Oregon.
With Dave doing the legwork to acquire permission from the local landowners in Sherman and Gilliam counties, I’d be a fool not to piggyback off his efforts. So I agreed to join him and Patrick when they came through central Oregon in mid-October.
After driving out to Sherman County’s unnamed high point on Saturday, October 18th, and staying the night in Bend, we set our sights on the Gilliam County high points for the following day.
We dropped my car off at a hotel in Prineville, and then piled into Dave’s 4Runner and set off toward what felt like the middle of nowhere. We drove past Mitchell, alongside the John Day Fossil Beds Painted Hills, over the John Day River, through the Clarno Highlands, and across a vast terrain of the Umatilla Plateau.
In hindsight, this high point would have been much easier to reach if I’d been coming from the north and the Columbia Gorge. Approaching Gilliam County from the south meant a ton of driving on curvy back roads that would make even the most seasoned passenger car sick.
By the time we reached the town of Condon (the county seat), we were all itching just to get there. Dave and Patrick had hoped to make this day a county highpointing two-fer with Lookout Mountain (the Crook CoHP). But the very long drive to Gilliam County was almost assuredly going to kill that plan. It was just too much.
When we reached Condon High School, we made a hard right onto US-206 and began the final approach toward the Harrison Ranch. Dave had talked to Eric Harrison a few days earlier and gotten permission to hike to the two prospective county high points on his cattle ranch. But Dave’s “chicken scratch” notes left something to be desired from my position as the navigator.
Dave, Patrick, and I knew we needed to follow US-206 east for 4.8 miles until the junction with Lonerock Road. And then we needed to follow Lonerock Road to a haystack (seriously, “look for haystack” was the extent of Dave’s directions).
About 6 miles down Lonerock Road, we reached an unmarked junction with another paved road, which our maps called Lost Valley Road. Was the haystack on this road? Or were we supposed to continue driving on Lonerock Road? The two high points appeared to be situated between these two rural farm roads. But Dave lacked an exact address for the mysterious haystack’s location, and none of us had a cell signal to call Eric Harrison for clarification.
We pulled over to the side of the road to review our various downloaded maps and GPS tracks that prior highpointers left on Peakbagger.com. Almost all these old tracks seemed to begin/end on Lost Valley Road. After some back and forth, we voted to head down Lost Valley Road, too.
Unfortunately, this was the incorrect way. Hardie Ranches owns the land on Lost Valley Road, while Harrison Ranch was on Lonerock Road.
After some backtracking and finding a good parking spot, we left a note on the dashboard informing passersby that we were hiking the Gilliam County high point and had obtained permission from Eric Harrison. Hopefully, this would keep the local ranchers from calling the county sheriff on us when they saw a stranger vehicle with Colorado plates.
Our route to the two high points was a navigational hodgepodge. We used some old dirt tracks (when they were available) and we hiked completely cross-country for 1.4 miles between the two potential high points, using the Gilliam County line as our general azimuth between our objectives.
The day was cold and super windy. But the biggest obstacles to this highpointing adventure were the barbed wire fences that lay between the two “summits.” Twice, we had to drop our packs and shimmy our way under a barbed wire fence to follow our chosen path between the eastern CoHP and the western CoHP.
Our route isn’t one I’d recommend, and I won’t be sharing our GPS track here or elsewhere. Instead, I’d encourage others to drive to Eric Harrison’s haystack on Lonerock Road and take the easiest route to the “eastern” high point you can find using the dirt roads. Then follow a generally straight azimuth to the “western” high point before returning to your car via the most expeditious route possible.
When we eventually arrived at the “eastern” high point, Patrick found the red metal can containing the summit register. Nobody had signed it in years. So, we built a small rock cairn beside it so other high pointers could find it too.
When we got to the “western” high point, we couldn’t find a thing. It was just flat ground with small rises in the austere grass and chaparral-covered landscape. But this location was the one our maps marked as the official Gilliam County high point.
After returning to Dave’s 4Runner to make ourselves a late lunch from his sandwich supplies, the three of us came to an agreement about a few things:
- The biting wind on this open terrain during our visit was unreal.
- All of our GPS devices measured the “eastern” high point as the higher of the two possibilities.
- The “eastern” summit seemed more likely to be the real CoHP, given the summit register (and our newly built rock cairn to help other visitors find it).
- Both potential high points were lackluster, with no real prominence from the surrounding scrubby ranchland.
If I’m being 100% honest here, this adventure felt more like a boondoggle than it should have. The drive was long. We hiked cross-country for 7.6 miles, just to tag two relatively obscure spots in the middle of a cattle ranch. And the payoff was pretty low.
Yet that’s the thing about highpointing. Sometimes, it’s a glorious adventure, and you find yourself standing on top of a mountain with sweeping panoramic views. Other times, you just shake your head at the absolute absurdity of this hobby.
At least I got a road trip with two of my fellow highpointers out of it. And if you know anything about Dave Covill, he has lots of stories to share on a very long drive to nowhere.
BONUS MATERIAL
Camping Nearby:
- Lone Tree Campground is a state park campground located along the John Day River, approximately 40 miles north of the high point. This campground is part of Cottonwood Canyon State Park and offers 21 drive-in campsites (no hook-ups), 14 walk-in tent sites, 4 rustic cabins, picnic tables, fire rings, solar charging stations, and vault toilets. The campground is open year-round, and the primitive campsites can be reserved between April and October. Cabins must be reserved in advance. Cost: $13 for campsites; $59 for cabins.
- Wheeler County Fairgrounds RV Park is a public campground located in Fossil, approximately 20 miles south of the high point. This county campground offers 12 RV sites with full hook-ups, a tent area, restrooms, and showers. The campground is open year-round, but availability is limited in early August during the fair and rodeo. Cost: $15 for tents; $30-35 for RVs. Reservations available online or by calling (541) 763-4560
- Bear Hollow Park is a public campground located 6.8 miles south of Fossil, Oregon, offering 20 campsites along Butte Creek with picnic tables and fire pits, potable water, trash cans, and vault toilets (there are also flush toilets and showers near the cabins). This rustic campground is open year-round, and campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Cost: $20 per campsite.
Resources:
- Highpointing the Gilliam CoHP (Peakbagger)
- Trivia about Gilliam County (Blue Book)
- Cornelius Gilliam (Oregon Encyclopedia)
- Highpointers Club