- Oregon County HP: #18
- Difficulty: ⭐️⭐️ (on a scale of 5)
- Summit Elevation: 8,456 feet
- Mountain Range: Warner Mountains / Northwest Great Basin Ranges
- Ancestral Lands: Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla; Nüümü (Northern Paiute); Modoc
PLANNING DETAILS
Location: Crane Mountain in Fremont-Winema National Forest approximately 120 miles east of Klamath Falls, Oregon. The closest small town with services is Lakeview, Oregon, which has a gas station, a grocery store, hotels, and a handful of small restaurants.
When to Visit: Summer and fall. Located near Warner Canyon Ski Area in southern Oregon, Crane Mountain is list one of Oregon’s 80 peaks over 8,000 feet elevation. As a result, it is generally covered in snow until well into mid- to late-June.
Fees/Permits Required: None.
Getting There: Crane Mountain is most easily accessed from the north side near the Warner Canyon Ski Area and the Camas Sno-Park just outside of Lakeview, OR.
Directions from Klamath Falls:
- From downtown, drive east on US-97 (Klamath Highway) until you reach OR-140.
- Turn left onto OR-140 and drive east for 90 miles to Lakeview.
- When you reach the town of Lakeview, turn left onto US-395 and drive north for 5 miles.
- Turn right onto OR-140 and head east for 8 miles, driving past the Warner Canyon Ski Area.
- Just beyond mile marker 8, turn right onto NF-3615 near the sign for Willow Creek Campground.
- Stay on NF-3615 for 10 miles until you reach NF-4011. The first 3.5 miles of this forest road is paved, then it transitions to a well-graded gravel road. When in doubt, just follow the signs toward Willow Creek Campground.
- When you will reach the junction with NF-4011 (another gravel forest road), turn right and follow the signs pointing to Willow Creek Campground and Crane Mountain. You will pass the campground entrance after 1 mile.
- Continue past the campground for another 2.5 miles until the gravel road ends and an unmaintained dirt OHV road begins.
Directions from Bend:
- From downtown, drive south on US-97 for 32 miles.
- Shortly after passing through La Pine, turn left onto OR-31 and head east toward Silver Lake/Lakeview/Reno
- Drive south on OR-31 for 120 miles until you reach the junction with US-395.
- Turn right on US-395 and drive south for 17 miles toward Lakeview.
- Approximately 5 miles north of Lakeview, turn left onto OR-140 and head east toward Winnemucca, NV.
- Continue east on OR-140 for 8 miles. You will drive past the Warner Canyon Ski Area.
- Just beyond mile marker 8, turn right onto NF-3615 near the sign for Willow Creek Campground.
- Stay on NF-3615 for 10 miles until you reach NF-4011. The first 3.5 miles of this forest road is paved, then it transitions to a well-graded gravel road. When in doubt, just follow the signs toward Willow Creek Campground.
- When you will reach the junction with NF-4011 (another gravel forest road), turn right and follow the signs pointing to Willow Creek Campground and Crane Mountain. You will pass the campground entrance after 1 mile.
- Continue past the campground for another 2.5 miles until the gravel road ends and an unmaintained dirt OHV road begins.
Parking:
Approximately 1.7 miles past Willow Creek Campground, you will encounter a faded sign that reads Crane Mountain OHV Trail with an arrow pointing left. A small parking area is located 0.2 miles up this narrow road, and this lower parking area where most maps depict the Crane Mountain Trailhead. Parking here will add 3 miles to your trek, making it a 9.2-mile hike (roundtrip).
Alternatively, visitors can continue driving up NF-4011 for an additional 1.5 miles – where the gravel road ends and a more rugged dirt OHV road begins. There is no designated parking area or trail signs at this higher location, but there are several pullouts beside the edge of the gravel road that can easily accommodate 3-5 cars. This spot is where most visitors begin their ascent of Crane Mountain, making it a 6.1-mile hike (roundtrip).
Pets Allowed: Yes.
Kid Friendly: This trail is suitable for children age 10 or older. The majority of the hike is on a dirt OHV road or single track trail; however, reaching the summit will require approximately 350 yards of cross-country travel.
Hiking Distance: 6.2 miles (roundtrip) from the dirt OHV road at the end of NF-4011
The Summit: Crane Mountain’s rocky summit is easy to distinguish from its surroundings. It is visibly higher than any point to its north, east, or south. It also sits above a very steep drop off to the west, providing excellent panoramic views of Goose Lake – a large alkaline lake that spans across the Oregon-California border. A geodetic survey marker is embedded in one of the rocks near the summit.
TRIP SUMMARY
Date Visited: June 30, 2024
Route Used: Crane Mountain OHV Trail and Crane Mountain Trail #161 – 6.2 miles (round-trip)
After a successful ascent of Boundary Peak (Nevada’s high point at 13,147′), I was riding a bit of an emotional high. That state high point beat me during my attempt to climb it in August 2023 thanks to two bits of bad luck. First, my teenage son started experiencing mild AMS symptoms as we climbed above 11,000 feet. Then, a thunderstorm rolled in, forcing us to retreat back down to tree line instead of continuing up the exposed summit.
I returned to Nevada 10 months later and successfully made a solo ascent up my 49th state high point. And I was ecstatic. So, what better what to celebrate this achievement than by taking a short detour to another high point on my drive back home to Eugene, Oregon?
Many of the Oregon CoHPs in the southeast corner of the state were still on my bucket list. And my route back home from Nevada could taking me within striking distance of Lake County’s high point – Crane Mountain!
Of course, the downsides to trying to grab this CoHP just one day after summiting Nevada’s highest point were many.
- I’d need to hike 7-9 miles just one day after tackling a 13,147-foot scree-covered peak in the Nevada desert;
- I’d just driven 1,000+ miles over the past 72-hours
- My calves were still burning from the steep slopes of Boundary Peak; and
- I hadn’t got a single good night of sleep since I left home, courtesy of three mornings where I was up around 4 am.
Nonetheless, I couldn’t imaging letting this opportunity pass me by. If I summited Crane Mountain on my trip back home, it would be my 18th Oregon CoHP – taking me to the halfway point of summiting the highest point in all 36 counties in the state. That achievement alone tipped me toward making the detour.
When I got to Lakeview (the closest town to Crane Mountain), I made a late lunch stop for a giant burrito at a local taco truck before heading north on US-395 toward Burns. Five short miles later out of town, I was turning right onto OR-140 and following the signs toward the Warner Mountain Ski Area. The ski resort was long closed, and green-covered slopes sat below the empty chair lifts.
Less than 10 minutes later, I spotted a sign for Willow Creek Campground, and turned off the highway onto NF-2615, the forest road that would lead me deep into the Warner Mountains.
This paved road ended three short miles into my journey, and I was momentarily stumped at a 5-way junction of gravel roads. Luckily, a sign for Willow Creek Campground was posted to a wooden pole in front of me, confirming that was, indeed, the direction I needed to head.
Seven miles after the junction, I finally reached NF-4011 – the gravel road leading to the trailhead. Willow Creek Campground was just one short mile down this road. So once I passed it, I kept my eyes peeled for signs pointing to the Crane Mountain Trailhead.
Another 1.75 miles beyond the campground, I reached a faded, worn sign indicated the Crane Mountain OHV Trail was to my left. Or at least I was pretty sure that’s what it once said. Most of the letters were completely worn off, so I was left to decipher the words like I was playing the backcountry version of “Wheel of Fortune.”
This general area was what Google Maps had marked as the Crane Mountain Trailhead, and there was a small parking area just beyond the turn. But parking here would leave me with a pretty long hike to the summit. So, I decided to test my luck.
NF-4011 seemed to continue uphill straight ahead of me, and it was in very good condition. Maybe I could drive a little further up the gravel road and turn this 9+ mile (roundtrip) hike into something slightly shorter. At least that was the plan.
As I drove up the forest road, the brush growing on either side of it started to close in. I barely avoided scraping the paint on the sides of my RAV4 and began to wonder if this was a good idea. Yet, the road itself was in good condition. It was nicely graded gravel, and it had clearly seen some recent attention from whoever else maintained the road. So I was emboldened to continue on.
After a mile though, I was pretty sure I met my match. A large tree had fallen across my path. A prior visitor had tried to clear the massive deadfall over to the side of the gravel road, but their efforts weren’t perfect. The tree pieces formed a slalom now, with some small gaps that left me quite dubious about whether that my car would make it through unscathed.
The vehicle tracks in the gravel gave me hope. I didn’t know whether the tracks were from another car or an OHV, but it might be possible to get past. And since there wasn’t anywhere good to turn around on this side of the tree, I didn’t have a lot of options. I was going to SLOWLY try to work my way through this one obstacle.
I managed to avoid gouging my car with wayward branches and squeezed through the gap. But, I decided this was far enough. Once I got to the next wide spot where I could pull aside and park on the gravel road, I was going to walk the remainder of the way uphill.
It turns out my worries were for naught. After parking, I walked the remaining 0.7 miles up to the end of the gravel road without encountering anything else that would have impeded my travels if I’d continued the drive to where the road ended. Oh well. Better safe than sorry!
Once I reached the transition with the dirt OHV-road at roughly 7,000 feet elevation, my journey up Crane Mountain was on. It was only 3.1 miles to the summit. All I had to do was get there!
Initially, the hike was fairly easy with orange diamonds affixed to the some trees marking the route here and there. This was about as good of a route as I could have hoped for and I was making good time up the trail.
The insects were definitely out on this pleasantly warm afternoon though, and it didn’t take long before I needed to stop and apply a generous layer of bug spray to my body. It wasn’t as bad as the mosquito-infested Cascades this time time of year, and I remained in pretty good spirits as I slowly gained elevation without needing a bug net over my face and head.
My next hurdle came barely 10 minutes up the OHV road, when I came upon a half dozen downed trees resting across the road, one after another. There was no way to safely make it over them. Besides, climbing over them would have been frustrating at best (and dangerous at worst). I’d have to detour into the forest instead.
Once back on track again, I continued to climb up the OHV road at a steady clip, dodging the occasional downed tree. But none of it was quite as bad as that first series of trees blocking my route.
Just before I hit the one mile mark, the trail leveled off, and I reached the junction for Willow Point – a small peak to my right. The ground was turned up a bit there as if had seen recent motorized visitors, but I was definitely the only person out here today as I veered left toward the series of long switchbacks on the east side of Crane Mountain.
At mile 1.8, I came across an actual trail sign nailed to a tree on my right. A single-track trail stretched into the forest to my north, and I checked my GPS to verify this wasn’t my turn. Nope. It was simply my first junction with the Crane Mountain Trail – a 40-mile National Recreation Trail that runs through the Warner Mountains through southern Oregon down across the California border.
The Crane Mountain Trail briefly joined the OHV road I was following for the next half mile, which was now above 8,000 feet elevation.
Traces of snow sat melting on the dirt road and in the shade under the tall trees. It wasn’t enough snow to impeded me in any way, but more of a mental marker about where the snow line seemed to be in southern Oregon. If I wanted to visit Steens Mountain (9,738′ elev.) or Mt. McLoughlin (9,495′ elev.) this summer, I’d definitely need to bide my time for a few more weeks’ time for the snow to dissipate.
I reached my actual turn onto the Crane Mountain Trail near the 2.4-mile point of my ascent. A small cairn marked the left turn off the OHV road, but there was no metal signs like the prior junction. Still, the silver diamonds that marked the single track trail’s route south.
I knew from my fellow highpointer’s trip reports that the Crane Mountain Trail did not actually go the summit of its namesake. Instead, it wound along the upper reaches of the mountain right past it – sticking to 8,200′ or 8,300′ elevation. Thus, I would need to locate a good spot to get off trail and head uphill toward the summit on my own route.
My initial plan for this cross-country travel was to follow the actual trail until I was due east of Crane Mountain’s summit, and then bushwhack across the narrowest point between the trail and the high point. It would were a mere 350 yards of off-trail hiking, but that was now big deal.
But then nature threw me one final curveball. It turns out there was still quite a bit of a snow obscuring the trail 8,300 feet. It was no longer the patchy stuff I’d seen on the OHV trail. And it was getting deeper each time I moved forward.
Time to change plans! I wasn’t wasting my time or energy trying to follow the buried trail for the remaining half mile before turning toward the summit. That made no sense. Instead, I’d just go cross-country early and try to follow the snow up to the highest part of the peak. If nothing else, at least I wouldn’t get lost!
Lucky for me, Crane Mountain’s summit is pretty rocky, so there wasn’t much snow once I got beyond the brief class 3 rock scramble on my makeshift route. In fact, the actual summit was bone dry. It was just that short stretch between 8,200 feet and 8,400 feet elevation that gave me trouble.
My efforts were rewarded in the end. The summit had fantastic views of Goose Lake off to the west. There wasn’t any sort of signs marking the summit, but I did find the geodetic survey marker embedded in the rocks.
More importantly, it was the perfect day up on the top of this southern Oregon peak. The sun was out. It was 73 degrees. And I’d reached my 18th Oregon County high point. What a perfect celebration for reaching the halfway mark on my Oregon CoHP quest!!
BONUS MATERIAL
Alternate Routes:
- Crane Mountain Trail #161. Hikers who want to enjoy a longer journey through the Warner Mountains can follow the Crane Mountain Trail – a 40-mile National Recreation Trail) through southern Oregon and into Northern California. Day hikers briefly use this trail toward the end of their ascent on Crane Mountain, and this route offers a longer backcountry adventure through Oregon’s high desert and mountains. The trail is closed to motorized travel, and open to hikers, mountain bikes, and equestrians between June 30 and October 31.
Camping Nearby:
- Willow Creek Campground is a small USFS campground in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, approximately 10 miles from Crane Mountain’s summit. This secluded campground offers 8 first come, first serve camp sites, two vault toilets, picnic tables, and fire pits. There is NO potable water, but a stream runs nearby for campers who wish to filter water. Cost: Free.
- Goose Lake State Recreation Area has a seasonal campground on the banks of Goose Lake near Lakeview, OR. The campground is open from May 1 to October 31 and has 42 full hook-up campsites and 6 tent sites, picnic tables, fire rings, flush toilets, showers, and a dog park. All campsites are available on a first come, first serve basis. Cost: $34/night for full hook-up sites. Cost: $34/night for full hook-up sites.
Resources:
- Highpointing Crane Mountain (Peakbagger)
- Crane Mountain Trailhead status (USFS)
- Crane Mountain Trail #161 (USFS)
- Crane Mountain (SummitPost)