Bolan Mountain Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
| This page is marked as a Lost Hike. The "trail" may be dangerous and hard to follow and is not recommended for beginning hikers without an experienced leader. Carry detailed maps of the whole area and/or a GPS unit and compass. |
- Start point: Bolan Lake Trailhead
- End point: Bolan Mountain
- Hike type: Loop + in and out
- Distance: 4.0 miles
- Elevation gain: 945 feet
- High point: 6,269 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Summer into Fall
- Family Friendly: Yes, older kids to the lookout; young kids around the lake
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: At the lake on summer weekends
Contents |
Description
NOTICE: Trails on Bolan Mountain have not been maintained since the 2020 Slater Fire. The tread is lost or very faint, and there are stretches of blowdown. Using the lookout road one way or both ways may be an easier option.
Rather isolated Bolan Lake in the Siskiyous sits in a cirque below the rocky prominence of Bolan Mountain. Apparently, according to McArthur and McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names, both places got their names from a corruption of the word ‘bowling.’ Yes, in 1853, a mining community started up on nearby Sucker Creek, complete with a small bowling alley for entertainment. The buildings were destroyed during an Indian attack in 1855, but the settlement was reestablished in 1857 by the dogged miners, who carried “30 balls and 20 pins” over the mountains! Note that the Bolan Mountain Lookout, which used to be available for rent, was burned in the 2020 Slater Fire.
There are actually two trails out of Bolan Lake. The one on maps, the Bolan Lake Trail (3.4 miles return), goes to the top of Bolan Mountain, not around Bolan Lake. The beginning of this trail is unsigned, but begins 25 yards from the start of the end-of-campground driving loop. (However, since the fire, the beginning of this trail is difficult to locate.) Another trail, clearly marked with a trail marker, heads all around 12-acre Bolan Lake. This trail of 0.6 miles begins at the end of the driving circle. The description begins with the latter trail.
If you begin the outing with the lake walk, head back to the end of the circle, and find a small trailhead sign. The lake trail passes through a thicket of Sitka alder and then crosses a meadowy slope that blooms with asters and paintbrush. Almost circular Bolan Lake glistens to your right. Then the trail pushes through a dense alder thicket before crossing a boggy patch. There's a footbridge - with some detached planking – at the outlet creek. You'll pass under some larger Douglas-firs before reaching the campground.
The named Bolan Lake Trail, which actually takes you to Bolan Mountain, begins off the upper part of the end-of-campground loop, 25 yards in from the 5 mph sign. You’ll head up a slope of Shasta red fir, white fir, and Douglas-fir through a carpet of vanilla leaf, tanoak, and bracken. After two switchbacks, the trail levels below a sloping rock face, and makes an open traverse below a rocky bluff. Take note of some massive mountain hemlocks in these woods. The path continues rising to cross more talus with views across the valley of Bolan Creek’s East Fork. Then it switchbacks three times to cross over a ridgetop meadow to the Bolan Lake-Kings Saddle Trail Junction.
You'll make a right here to hike through a stand of conifers. The trail then turns up a meadow with lupine, aster, and Oregon sunshine. Continue winding up to where the trail levels below a ridge crest among huckleberry and mountain ash bushes. When you reach the lookout road, go right for a great view down to Bolan Lake. The road switchbacks up three times, and then stone steps lead up to the lookout site. The lookout, destroyed in the 2020 Slater Fire, was an L-4 square style walled with glass panes. The original lookout was erected in 1917, with the latest lookout put up in 1953 after the construction of the lookout road. From the lookout site on Bolan Mountain, you can see south along the rugged south ridge to Althouse Mountain and Mount Shasta in the distance. Preston Peak, Tanner Mountain, and the Red Buttes are visible to the east.
Fees, Facilities, etc.
- Campground, restrooms
- The Bolan Mountain Lookout burned in the 2020 Slater Fire.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Siskiyou Mountain Club: Red Buttes Wilderness
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Wild Rivers Ranger District
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Siskiyou National Forest
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Bolan Mountain
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Bolan Mountain
Guidebooks that cover this destination
- Hiking Sasquatch Country by Wendy & Gary Swanson
- 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Southern Oregon & Northern California by William L. Sullivan
- The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology by Luke Ruediger
- 75 Hikes in Oregon’s Coast Range and Siskiyous by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
- How to Rent a Fire Lookout in the Pacific Northwest by Trish McFadden & Tom Foley
More Links
- Bolan Lake Trail #1245 (USFS)
- Bolan Lake Campground (USFS)
- Bolan Lake (USFS)
- Bolan Mountain Trail (Highway 199)
- Bolan Mountain (Oregon Adventures)
- Bolan Mountain (Summit Post)
- “Bolan, Tanner lakes great family spots in the mountains” (Zach’s Adventures)
- Bolan/Tanner Lakes (Oregon Caves area) (Zach’s Adventures)
- A Lake Too Near (Backpacking in Jefferson)
- Bolan Mountain Lookout (USFS)
- Bolan Mountain Lookout (Travel Oregon)
- Bolan Mountain (Forest Lookouts)
- Bolan Mountain Lookout (Recreation.gov)
Page Contributors
- justpeachy (creator)
- bobcat