Granite Peak, a Nevada gem.

Bob Bolton and I had been chewing up a lot of roadway the previous two days, driving together from The Dalles Oregon, down through Bend, to Burns to Frenchglen, to a nearby campground where we spent the first night before enjoying the loftiness of Steen's Mountain. That same day took us into Idaho to do Hayden Peak and later to a campspot high above U.S. 97 where we spent our second night (listening to coyotes and being amazed by the planet Mars) This morning we got up and made our way to Stevenson Point, the highest spot in Malheur county. The road to and from U.S. 97 tested Bob's 4 runners tire severely but we made it down to have a nice lunch in McDirmitt, a town that straddles the Nevada-Oregon border. From there we made it down to Buckskin Canyon and a drive into the Humboldt national forest ( there weren't any trees though) Winding around on the backroads with some nifty dropoffs in places, we eventually made it to Hinkle Summit, where Bob took his 4 runner up a 4WD road and to its end where we parked. The climb up to Granite Peak was easy and a little bit of a scramble near the top but the true fun was finding a register nestled in the rocks at the summit. A couple of solar panels were nearby as was an antenna structure. The most clever entry in the summit register was from the helicopter pilot who claimed to have summitted the peak without climbing or hiking it. He had to be pretty talented when you saw where he had to land the chopper, it was not very big. A great day in the sunny nevada desert clime and a climb to get to a memorable county highpoint. I recommend this one highly.