Hike to Stevenson Benchmark

Photos

Trip Report

Zach and I did our normal back and forth trying to select a peak to climb on a weekend. When we kind of gave up on Idaho, due to a bad forecast and more snow on the ground than we were ready for, we looked south. Zach mentioned a peak in southeastern Oregon. We kind of agreed on it, until he pointed out there was a nearby county highpoint we could probably get to. That was enough to get me intrigued, so I was in!

We decided on Malheur County highpoint in Oregon. Malheur County is the 19th largest county in the United States (there are 3,143 total counties). The highpoint of the county is Stevenson Benchmark. In addition to being the county highpoint, Stevenson Benchmark also has over 1600' of prominence, giving it great views in all directions.

We left Boise promptly at 6am. There were several horror stories on accessing the highpoint, but we were relying on a route description from Edward Earl from cohp.org. It got us there without anything to risky. We were on our feet and hiking at 9:30am, could have been even less had we not stopped off for gas and other things in McDermitt, NV.

The route was fairly simple, hike 5 miles each way and gain 2500' on class 2 terrain. The weather was mild for November, mostly cloudy, and wind-free.

We really only encountered snow when we got to the summit plateau at 8000'. Here there were a few inches. It was also here that the wind picked up a bit... but still not too bad.

After we read through the very thick summit log and snapped some photos, we headed back down. We enjoyed the dry late fall weather we were having and had a leisurely hike out, debating, but mostly agreeing on all topics college football related.

Getting There

From US-95 in McDermitt, NV, just N of the Say When Casino, turn W on Cordero Rd, which is paved. Call this point mile 0.0. At 4.3 miles turn R through a fence and cattle guard onto a gravel road, then immediately go L at a fork.The road is high-speed gravel until mile 11.7, where you will turn R at an unsigned fork. At mile 12.0, ford a creek. At 14.0 miles you will pass Pinky Reservoir on your right. At 14.2 miles turn right onto the road that leads to Little Pink Reservoir. Park at the reservoir.

Hiking Directions

Basically just head north from Little Pinky Reservoir. We found the road where the ridge flattened around 7300'. Follow the road through the juniper grove and up onto the summit plateau at 8000'. Hike along the summit plateau to the summit.