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"Are we going to climb that?" asked George
with awe and a trace of panic in his voice.
But Union Peak will do that for the
initiates. Union Peak is kind of the younger
sibling of Mt Thielsen, sharing it's
needle-like pyramid shape and being slightly
lower in elevation. Unllike Thielsen, though,
you have to do a little work to see it. It is
only visible briefly on the drive to the
southern entrance of Crater Lake National
Park. It is prominently visible to the
southwest when you are on the Crater Lake Rim
on the west side or if you climb Mt. Scott.
Unlike Thielsen, it is not easy to get close
to the mountain unless you get out of your car
and hike it, and one plus is that you don't
have the thundering hordes on the trail; in
fact, you are not likely to see anybody. It's
too bad because this is one of the easier
trails going up a tall mountain and the trail
is an engineering marvel.
The first two miles are through viewless
forest on a relatively level Pacific Crest
Trail. The uphill begins just before the
Union Peak Trail junction but the grade is
gentle, taking one through pumice barrens with
increasing frequency.
Suddenly you come out a clearing and there is
the mountain in all its craggy glory and stiff
necks result from craning heads upwards. It
really is an inspiring view, triggering
George's comment.
You'd swear there is no way a trail can go up
the sheer slopes but the trail is marvelously
constructed with stairs and rock walls keeping
the trail visible. The grade naturally
steepens but surprisingly doable the whole way
up due in large part to the 40 or so
switchbacks. The views get more and more
expansive the higher you go.
On the summit you can see forever. Or you
could, if there was not so much smoke from the
recent spate of lightening caused fires. We
could see smoke from the Middle Fork, Bessie
Rock, and Rattle complexes. Klamath Falls and
its lake was visible, and we could see as far
north as Diamond Peak. Most prominent was
Crater Lake to the east.
We had a nice lollygag and lunch at the
summit, content to admire the view for an hour
or so. The dismount is interesting as we had
to pick our way carefully down the
switchbacks, I think it was easier heading up
than down.
The turnout was light as there was only 6 of
us; everyone else missed a great hike. For
more pictures:
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