Owyhee County High Point Trip Report

Date: July 2000
Author: Andy Martin

The big mystery was how far in the Honda would go. Turns out that War Eagle mountain is composed of a granite that weathers out to a nice sand, and the road around the east side (through Fairview site) was not much of a problem. Continuing to peak 7965 we found the road getting rockier, and had to park the car east of this peak at the ~7620' saddle. A determined driver with slightly better clearance might make this grade, and get to the saddle east of Turntable Mountain. From here most traffic heads up Hayden Peak, and 4wd may not be needed, though high clearance (a pickup) would be nice to have on this last mile.

In any case, I hiked about 4 miles round trip, with about 1,200' total gain, on this one. Views from the top were hazy - there were some pretty big forest fires in ID and UT at the time. BM Silver 1915 is easily spotted, as is the witness BM to the west. A couple radio masts (~40' high) are nearby, with block buildings. I constructed a nifty cairn and register out of leftover blocks and plastic pipes - should last until the first crowd of teenagers drives up and pitches the whole mess down the nearby cliff.

We saw a snow patch under 8,000', and the road to Silver City is not plowed (Nov. to April ?), so snow will block road access to this peak for some of the year. Silver City is a well preserved Ghost Town with many buildings still standing - definitely worth the extra 2 miles of driving to see - after visiting Hayden Peak, of course. We bush camped at the Ruby City site. On the plus side there were trash cans and a pit toilet there. On the minus there was dust, ants, mosquitoes, and a lot of cow dung. You should be able to do better off the War Eagle mountain road.