Trip Report
It was January and we were looking for some close hiking. I found an area in Oregon near Snively Hot Springs that looked geographically interesting with access on a paved road. Given the road, interesting area, hot springs and only 1 hour and 15 minutes from Boise... we had a great find!
We parked right across the road from the hot springs. Even at 10am, the hot springs was packed with 20 or more people. WOW!
We weren't there to soak, so off we headed towards Deer Butte. The south and southeast faces of the peak looked pretty challenging, so after a brief hike west up the canyon, we turned north and followed a subsidiary ridge that appeared to connect with Deer Butte above the cliffy terrain. Sure enough it did, but it also took us through some really cool cliffs, rock formations, and drainages.
The last 400 feet were pretty flat and boring. The clouds were foggy, so we didn't have much for views. After locating a cairn and pole on the highest point, we descended off the west face and made our way south towards Pinnacle Point.
We made great time on the flat basin in route to Pinnacle Point. Once at the base, we had about 400 feet of gain on steep, but open terrain to the top of Pinnacle Point.
We then descended nearly directly toward Snively Hot Springs. We followed a cow trail the last mile and a half that gave us good footing and saved us route finding.
Despite a gray day, this was a really interesting area and Carrie found some very neat rocks (including petrified wood).
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