Grant County High Point Trip Report
Strawberry Mountain (9,040+ ft)
Date: August 11, 2003
Author: Adam Helman
A correction to one previous report - from FR16 it is 9.8 miles along the final approach road, FR1640,
to the trailhead at a hairpin turn, i.e. not the 4.7 miles previously reported.
FR16 and, indeed, the entire approach from John Day until FR1640 is paved. FR1640 is good gravel,
one can make 25-30 MPH along its length.
Although the net elevation gain is some 1,300 feet, the total elevation gain is some 1,450 feet
owing to some downhill portions as one hikes north from the first trail junction three-quarter miles
west of the trailhead.
Views are wonderful - Strawberry has good prominence of some 4,200 feet (E Earl, personal communication).
I took some photographs
of both the mountain and of the devastation wrought by the recent blaze,
one that thwarted my efforts the previous summer, with Barney Metz,
to secure a Canada-Mexico link.
Along with some real food on top, I enjoyed some strawberry jelly out of a squeezable tube.
Time up for the round-trip six mile hike was about 1 hour 10 minutes; time down was about one hour.