Preston: Youngs Peak

Klamath National Forest

Six Rivers National Forest

Smith River National Recreation Area

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4

Blue and purple lines for day 4. Click for interactive map

We woke to a mist rolling over from the low pass to the Illinois River and down through Youngs Valley. Imagine how it might look from the triple point, with the one valley full of cloud, bleeding over to another and the third, perhaps clear? And so the suggestions that we should go up Youngs Peak began.

The clouds roll by, right to left, as they thin in the morning sun.

We had our breakfast from our unchallenged bear cans and packed up to head out. From here, it is all a repeat with a long road walk.

A lone incense cedar stands in the spotlight of the sun.

A Nashville warbler sings out strongly to tell that nasty recording who is in charge here.

The clouds still roll past, now left to right across El Capitan.

A pair of snowplants get the start of some flowers out.

Just a lovely bit of water in a seasonal stream.

The bear track in the snow looks fresh.

When we reached the old trailhead, we wandered along the ridge out to where there's view and old mining prospects for snacks. This is apparently a new biome because we found new flowers out there, too.

Broken Rib Mountain is thinking of making a little of its own weather.

Maybe not after all. The view down some mining and the Smith River past Broken Rib Mountain.

One of many Oregon violets.

Then we headed up some less long abandoned road, but still old and decaying.

Always fun to pick out the ocean breakers in the far far distance. The peak picking app confirmed there's ocean on the horizon.

Below Youngs Peak, Daniil pushed aside any emotional argument that we should go see the view from the top. He got to the practical matter of how long it would take. It's only a mile, but steep and brushy, so based on the detailed reports of two previous Peakbagger users, I went with a confident 3 hours. Then I hedged my bet and added not counting enjoying the view. Daniil counted up the hours of the rest of the hike and proclaimed it sufficient time. Near the trailhead, I pointed out it was a short climb to the ridge, or a quarter mile thrash from further on, and we headed up, first dropping the heavy stuff.

This bit is not a thrash at all! But we got off the snow when it got to having steep slides to rocks from where we could walk.

Looking down toward Bear Mountain. Our mined snack spot is the bald patch in the trees and the little meadow further off in the trees sparked some interest. The ridge from that bald patch has been used for a similar brushy walk up this peak.

Blue eyed maries with a western white pine cone.

We found our way to the top having confirmed that it is a little brushy to get there.

The ridge line ahead from Youngs Peak.

Some of the brush was Sierra gooseberry just getting to flowering.

Youngs Meadow from Youngs Peak, El Capitan rises behind it. Now little Copper Mountain is clearly visible apart from Preston Peak at the right.

But I had been selling this peak based on the triple point. Triple points are important, you know! It is actually a little further along the ridge, so we had to wander a little further ourselves. Besides, the ridge is so flat for a bit that we weren't sure where the real high point was. The clouds that had been streaming over from the Illinois side were long gone by the time we got there, but we looked down on everything from that triple point: the Illinois River represented by its west fork, the Smith River represented by its middle fork, and Klamath River represented by Clear Creek. We ultimately settled on a slightly further peak for more snacks.

Keeping on going.

Our distant volcanoes were out there again, sticking up just a bit further than the peaks around them and covered in white stuff. Mount Shasta sitting southeast and Mount McLoughlin sitting northeast.

Mount McLoughlin has itself a bit of cloud.

Only a little base of Mount Shasta isn't obscured by cloud.

Looking back across the triple point to Youngs Peak at the right. It is a little higher.

A few other distant peaks were picked out.

Between El Capitan and Copper Mountain, Medicine Mountain of the Marble Mountains is most prominent visually. English Peak, which also had a lookout once, is to the left.

Then we headed down again.

An American parsley fern unrolls its fertile leaves.

The view of the route to come. The distant line down the ridge is the road walk and a little can be seen coming back this way before the gate. The lake below is a nearer, seasonal one rather than Sanger Lake.

The brush got bad and we bailed down the side a little before where we'd come up. I needn't have hedged my bet as it was almost exactly 3 hours later. Grabbing our gear once more, it was just a short way to the trailhead, but a long way back to the car. I grabbed water from one of the little streams further along the road. Daniil went looking for frogs in the flooded meadow.

More of an aquatic garter snake than a frog.

Besides the big snake, there were also a half dozen or more of these tiny garter snakes.

Now down in it, returning on the Smith River side.

I was looking for flowers on the way down, especially the carnivorous ones I'd seen on the way up but were now in sunshine.

The California pitcher plant sits like green cobras around a stream.

And it's in bloom!

Lizards, like this common sagebrush lizard, are also common in the sunlight.

Common woolly sunflower.

The only other person we saw during the trip came down the road in a AWD Corolla, which is apparently a thing now, making us think the gate must be open now. Nope. They just don't coordinate the gates between the R5 and R6 forests. This was unfortunate because the driver had been across something uncomfortable in his new car and was going to have to face it again. I had a short infatuation with thinking this could replace my classic car until finding out it only gets 30MPG.

Looking back at Youngs Peak.

Looking down the barrels of some mountain blue Penstemon.

The Siskiyou Iris are deep and less deep yellows.

Deep in the Ceanothus, the bumble bees are hard at work.

A western fence lizard on a beautiful bit of serpentine rock.

Somehow we missed the western Rhododendrons on the way out.

Indeed, there had been plenty of time for the easy but brushy peak. We passed around the still locked gate to the car on the not-scary road side of it. There was plenty of time to drive back while noting that the Rhododendrons were looking pretty exceptional this year as we passed through Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.

*photo album*




©2025 Valerie Norton
Written 25 Aug 2025