My three summit day plan was for naught. The road from highway 119 (47.47079, -123.21280) to Saddle, 1700, and Dow is bermed with concrete barriers. The other potential ways in now have locked gates with no trespassing signs at (47.43676, -123.21622) and (47.42468, -123.20073), so even hiking in is out.
There might be a way in from the west, under the power lines, but the sat images weren't encouraging.
My three summit day plan was for naught. The road from highway 119 (47.47079, -123.21280) to Saddle, 1700, and Dow is bermed with concrete barriers. The other potential ways in now have locked gates with no trespassing signs at (47.43676, -123.21622) and (47.42468, -123.20073), so even hiking in is out.
There might be a way in from the west, under the power lines, but the sat images weren't encouraging.
Taylor Butte is on public land, but the road referred to in the previous write ups is now gated, locked and posted. Access still possible in theory, but not via road. I did not have time or information at the gate to figure an alternate route.
To reach East Green Mountain from Christmas Valley, take Millican Road north from Christmas Valley HWY. Cut over to Crack in the Ground Rd or alternatively take Crack in the Ground Road from Christmas Valley HWY. Crack in the Ground road is not paved, but fine for passenger vehicles.
I recommend stopping at Crack in the Ground Road for some Geo-Tourism. It is a short ~1mi out and back hike. Crack in the Ground is as the name describes and is a very cool fissure in the basalt.
After activating Little Glass Butte, I drove down the south side towards Round Top Butte (GPX). The road down was rocky with obsidian, be sure to collect some when you stop to open the wire gates. Once down the mountain, turn east and follow the ranch road. I parked at approximate 43.50076, -119.93735.
The drive from Glass Butte to Little Glass Butte looks straight forward on a map. It is anything but. 4wd is required and high clearance is recommended. If you do not have these, park at 43.53358, -119.97777 and hike up. Additionally, the rocks on the rough road are obsidian and can puncture tires. Thankfully this did not happen to me, but I was surprised. The road up from the parking coordinates is steep and I nearly stalled getting up it. Pumping the clutch kept me moving. Once up top it is a matter of navigating around ruts and obsidian rocks. I was about at my vehicle's limit.
Glass Buttes in central Oregon is a premier rockhounding location. The summit of Glass Butte is accessed off of Highway 20 up a well-maintained gravel road (GPS track). There are some small water bars on the road, a passenger vehicle could make it up no problem with careful driving.
I did Pothole Butte after Maklaks. It was not on my list for this trip but you always should keep a back up plan if you have some extra time or one fails right?
I came from Sun Mountain Rd but this is easily accessed from 97 via FS RD 70. Take a left off RD70 at 42.95707, -121.87904. The SW side of the mountain is very steep and cliffs. We drove around the south side to 42.95635, -121.9501.
Maklaks was the 2nd summit I did while camping at Jackson Kimball State Park, Sand Ridge the evening before, Maklaks the next morning. These two can easily be done in one day. If really ambitious, you could even add Pothole Butte or another Hwy 97 summit.
Sand Ridge was the first of 3 I did while doing a quick spontaneous one night camping trip to Wood River at Jackson F Kimball State Park. After setting up camp, we went to scout it for the next day but were able to get close enough I decided to hike up and activate it that evening.