Shepherd Tower of the Metolius

[mattisnotfrench]

So there's a rock pinnacle along the Metolius River, about 6 miles downstream from Lower Bridge, known as the Shepherd Tower of the Metolius. I went backpacking into the Horn back in March with a friend, and we went looking for the Tower as we wanted to scout out a new place to climb. And we couldn't find it, despite bushwhacking up and down the slopes in and around the area the Tower is supposed to be. We got this nice view at least:



So my question is: Does anyone actually know how to find the tower? Or does it even exist? It seems strange to me that in a place as obsessed with climbing as Oregon that there is next to no information on such a noteworthy place.

[Water]

44.6457, -121.6113 ?

Looks like it could be a rock tower with the shadows it casts into trees.

curious about the few homes up there.. quite the trek to get in. imagine those are fairly remote as far as 'cabins' (homes) go in the woods.

[mattisnotfrench]

44.6457, -121.6113 ?

Looks like it could be a rock tower with the shadows it casts into trees.

curious about the few homes up there.. quite the trek to get in. imagine those are fairly remote as far as 'cabins' (homes) go in the woods.

We went to that exact spot and found it not exactly tower-like. Here's what that looks like in real life:



Despite what the photo looks like, that pinnacle is maybe 20 feet tall and crumbly. It doesn't fit the description of the tower that I've read, and it wasn't in the forest at all. The only information I could find on the tower is that it's 1/4 of a mile east of the river in the forest.

It's a mystery.

[retired jerry]

There are a few cabins North of Lower Bridge. They can drive in - they must have keys to the locked gate. I haven't seen any activity, but I've only been there in the winter.

There are a few cabins on the other end, near Monty campground. At least one is occupied in the winter. There's a gat locked in winter but opened in summer. Also, there are daily runs by PGE people to monitor river gauge.

There's a Castle Rocks on the usgs map, is that what you're talking about? (I assume not )

[sprengers4jc]

Might be worth picking up a copy of this book for the route? I wonder if it is on private land. All of the SummitPost links were broken, which makes me think that someone asked for it to be taken down. Some info I saw said it is 6.8 miles down the road, and it's located on the end of Green Ridge. Also, looks like the derivative spelling of 'Shepard Tower' returns additional info.

[cfm]

I haven't heard of it and have explored the area a few times and perused the maps many times.

Could it be another name for the five fingered sentinel? This is about a half mile north of Castle Rock.

[mattisnotfrench]

Might be worth picking up a copy of this book for the route? I wonder if it is on private land. All of the SummitPost links were broken, which makes me think that someone asked for it to be taken down. Some info I saw said it is 6.8 miles down the road, and it's located on the end of Green Ridge. Also, looks like the derivative spelling of 'Shepard Tower' returns additional info.

Thanks for the link! I'll go check it out from the Mazama library since I'm at their offices a lot. It can't possibly be at 6.8 miles from Lower Bridge, because my friend Karl and I spent a couple of hours exploring that side of the canyon in that area and we found nothing resembling a rock pinnacle aside from the picture I posted above.

I haven't heard of it and have explored the area a few times and perused the maps many times.

Could it be another name for the five fingered sentinel? This is about a half mile north of Castle Rock.

FFS.jpg

This theory makes sense to me. This is part of the mystery! Incidentally, you can see Castle Rock and Five-Fingered Sentinel from much of the east slope of the Cascades (and Olallie Butte!) if you know where to look.

[mandrake]

NW Oregon Rock by Tim Olson has the beta & route descriptions. Doesn't look terribly tall. Mazama library has a couple copies.

[BendB]

I just found this thread and thought I would post to see if there was any new information out there?

I've been looking for this for a couple of years now. My research puts it in the area where you previously explored. The coordinates from NW Oregon Rock put it at:

44.64580, -121.6112

I've climbed Gothic Rock (AKA FFS) before and want to take a crack at Shepard's.

[mattisnotfrench]

I just found this thread and thought I would post to see if there was any new information out there?

I've been looking for this for a couple of years now. My research puts it in the area where you previously explored. The coordinates from NW Oregon Rock put it at:

44.64580, -121.6112

I've climbed Gothic Rock (AKA FFS) before and want to take a crack at Shepard's.

That is the exact location of the pinnacle whose picture I posted above. This is why I wonder if this tower actually exists, or if it is something further up the slope that has been mislabeled.