Bushwhack to the Tripoint Monument

Hi Blog!

We made it to Oregon! We have left the Eastern Sierras and are working our way over to the Eastern Cascades. We are now in lava land!

When we arrived in Lakeview, Oregon yesterday, we went to several Visitor Centers (Lakeview Ranger District Office, BLM - Forest Service Interagency Office and Lakeview Chamber of Commerce) in order to get local information. When researching things to do in Lakeview, we learned there was a Tripoint Monument marking the border of California, Oregon and Nevada. There is supposed to be a hiking trail to the monument. None of the visitor centers had any information on how to get to this monument. We found a write-up on the internet, along with several topo maps. We decided we would try and find the monument all on our own.

We left Base Camp RV Park in Lakeview and headed East on Highway 140, also know as the Warner Highway, as we had to go up and over the Warner Mountains in order to reach the Surprise Valley where the monument is located. Along the way, we passed Deep Creek Falls.

According to our research, the trailhead was supposed to be on an old BLM Road called Tripoint Trail. However, when we arrived at the GPS location (N 41.99003 W 120.03740) it appeared the old road was now behind a fence. Undaunted, we began to hike parallel to the fence, keeping the road in sight. The fence portion didn't last long and we soon found ourselves in a wide open valley complete with antelope and deer.

It didn't take long to realize there wasn't going to be much of a trail to follow. However, if you look closely in the photo below, you can almost make a out a two wheeled track leading off into the distance. We did our best to follow this track. However, it disappeared at the edge of a canyon. We knew we had to climb down into the canyon and back up again. When we reached the far side of the canyon, there were no more tracks to follow. We had to rely on our own route finding skills.

We had to stop several times to compare our maps and the GPS in order to make sure we continued walking in the correct direction. Once we reached the Twin Lakes, we knew were were not far from our quarry.

The Surprise Valley is part of the Great Basin desert. However, it receives abundant water from the Warner Mountains, making the valley green, which was a "surprise" for the early explorers. Despite all the greenery, we still couldn't escape the lava flows. Here is Kathy boulder-hopping in honor or Memorial Day Rug Rat Camping!

As we searched the ground for signs of a trail, we discovered the entire area was covered with obsidian eggs. A few of them may have jumped into Dave's backpack when we wasn't looking. All that looking down paid off. We found an old survey marker. Here Kathy compares her GPS coordinates with the survey marker from 1950.

We knew we were getting close to our quarry when we saw a fence stretching as far as the eye could see and ending at a canyon. In the photo below, you are looking into Oregon. California is to the left of the fence and Nevada is to the right of the fence.

Just on the other side of the fence, we found the Tripoint Monument (N 41.99494, W 119.99952). Here is our monumental selfie!

Once we got a closer look at the monument, we realized that it was a GeoCache! Kathy dove right in, pulling the cache apart and inspecting all the goodies that folks have left. We signed the register and carefully packed up everything and returned the canister to its place of honor.

We decided to have lunch in the shade of some old juniper trees. It turns out that these trees were marked as "bearing trees." We have since learned that a bearing tree, while not a property corner, is an integral part of the corner because it witnesses the location of a property corner by means of what surveyors call a tie (bearing and distance) between the center of the base of a bearing tree and the property corner. So, we actually had lunch on the corner of California, Oregon and Nevada!

After lunch, we tried our hand at Tripoint Monument twister. Here Dave has feet in both Nevada and Oregon and a hand in California!

Kathy's Tripoint Twister produced boots in both California and Oregon and two hands in Nevada!

Having reach our goal, we were much more relaxed on the return trip. All we had to do was follow our GPS track back to the car. We took a number of side trips. Dave cannot mask his pleasure at finding some old bones, including a skull, from what presumably was a range cow.

On the way back, we hiked down to the shores of Upper Twin Lake. The high mineral content, mostly sodium carbonate, make the lake milky.

By the time we returned to the Jeep, we had hiked five miles. Not having a trail only added to the adventure.