Hobart Bluff Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Hobart Bluff Trailhead
- Ending Point: Hobart Bluff
- Hike Type: In and out
- Distance: 2.4 miles
- Elevation gain: 360 feet
- High Point: 5,502 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: Mid-spring into fall
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
Contents |
Hike Description
Hobart Bluff is a very popular hike for local families, the bluff itself presenting a wide-ranging viewpoint for the adults and plenty of knee-scraping scrambling opportunities for the kids. The hike, an easy stroll along the Pacific Crest Trail that skirts Hobart Peak, ends with a 200-foot ascent to a rugged cliff edge on a small plateau vegetated by white-leaf manzanita, mountain mahogany, and gnarly western juniper. You can also reach Hobart Bluff (and avoid driving the potholed Soda Mountain Road) by taking the Pacific Crest Trail from its crossing of Highway 66 – about seven miles round-trip.
Begin hiking north from the trailhead across a meadow. A sign indicates this grassland is Mardon skipper (Polites mardon) habitat. The skipper is a rare butterfly with an interesting scattered distribution: the south Puget Sound area and three counties in south-central Washington, the Soda Mountain area of Oregon, and grassy headlands on the Northern California coast. After passing through oak woods, you’ll cross a meadow slope and enter white fir/incense cedar forest as you skirt the eastern slope of Hobart Peak. A path leads left to a waterless campsite on a saddle, and from this location you can bushwhack to the summit of Hobart Peak. The trail gradually heads up through an oak grassland with sprawling clumps of big root (wild cucumber). Cross a brushy slope, getting views back to Soda Mountain, to reach the Pacific Crest-Hobart Bluff Trail Junction.
Make a left here to ascend the rocky slope under a canopy of small oaks and arching ocean spray. A switchback offers a view of Soda Mountain, and then you’ll hike up a stony, grassy slope that offers views up the southern Oregon Cascades to the rim peaks at Crater Lake. Balsamroot and Oregon sunshine bloom here in spring, and you’ll pass through manzanita thickets among a few hardy mountain mahogany trees and twisted junipers. The top of Mount McLoughlin becomes visible as does the Bear Creek Valley spreading below. From the summit area, you can see Mount Shasta rising above Soda Mountain’s east ridge and Pilot Rock prominent to the southwest. Peering over the bluff’s western parapets, you can see down to shallow Hobart Lake, which is on private property.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Pit toilet at trailhead
- Interpretive signs
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Day Hikes near Green Springs (Bureau of Land Management)
- Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (Bureau of Land Management)
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Hobart Bluff Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Hobart Bluff Hike
Guidebooks that cover this destination
- Oregon’s Best Wildflower Hikes: Southwest Region by Elizabeth L. Horn
- Hiking Oregon’s Southern Cascades and Siskiyous by Art Bernstein
- Hiking Southern Oregon by Art Bernstein & Zach Urness
- Where the Trails Are: Ashland – Medford And Beyond by Bill Williams
More Links
- Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (Bureau of Land Management)
- Let There Be Smoke! (Hobart Bluff, Oregon) 11-Aug-2018 (Boots on the Trail)
- Hike to Hobart Bluff (The Outbound Collective)
- Hobart’s Bluff (Outdoor Project)
- Hobart Bluff (Hiking Project)
- Hobart Bluff Trail (Ashland Trails)
- Hike Hobart’s Bluff (Share Oregon)
- Hobart Bluff (All Trails)
- Hike of the Week: Hobart Bluff (KDRV.com)
- “Flowers on steroids – hiking Hobart Bluff” (Mail Tribune)
- “Hobart Bluff, a pleasant rewarding day hike” (Mail Tribune)
- Hobart Peak (Cascade-Siskiyou NM) 21-Sep-2018 (Boots on the Trail)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)