John Fadgen and I had been in contact for several weeks about a possible hike. We had something bigger in mind, but busy lives and snow up high pushed us to decide on something closer and lower. We decided to head over to the Succor Creek area in Eastern Oregon and climb Three Fingers Rock.

Three Fingers Rock is a really neat formation that looks like a technical problem from a far, and heck, even from up close!

I met John, his wife Tamara, and their dog Shadow at their residence in Kuna and jumped into John's truck. The drive is pretty boring until you get near Succor Creek State Park, where the cliffs above you are pretty amazing. Soon after, we got our first glimpses of Three Fingers Rock.

The plan was to drive within a few miles of the rock and hike a 2-track up to the base of it. Well, John decided we could just drive the whole way... so we did. This got us to within 1/4 of a mile and 300 feet from the peak. 17 minutes later, we were standing on top of the eastern-most finger. The route was pretty straightforward. There were two registers on top and a lot of paper! Views were tremendous.

With the easiest of the 3 fingers out of the way, we eyed the middle finger for a route. We could see a ledge system that might go on the east wall. We thought it would be silly to take on that tricky climb only to see an easy route on the other side, so we descended down to the base and checked out the north side. John and I messed around and decided a route on that side got to steep. We then scrambled to the top of the gully between the middle and west fingers. We still couldn't see a feasible route. We scrambled up to the west finger, which was "spicy". I did fine on the way up, but the crux move on the down climb tested me.

Still not seeing an easy way up the middle finger, we saved it for another day.

We headed back to the vehicle with our next objective being nearby McIntyre Ridge. We drove back to the main road and parked about 700 feet below the peak. We then just hiked off in the direction of the peak. When we crested the ridge, we were within a few feet of the benchmark. Peak number 2 of the day and great views of the Succor Creek drainage.

Our last objective was Round Mountain. We had considered just hiking it from where we were parked. That looked a bit far away. I spotted a "road" along the fence line. John couldn't resist the challenge, so we followed the road until it became a cow track. We were much closer now, with 700 more feet for this peak. We hiked up some interesting terrain and found numerous cairns on top. I think the first high area we hit was the highest, but we explored the areas around the other cairns as well.

With our 3 objectives down for the day, it was time to head back home. John took us a different way on the return trip (which I think was faster).

Chalk up another fun day in the mountains with good friends!

Walk the 2-track west and up to the top of the ridge. Once on the ridge, the road turns northwest toward Three Fingers. The east summit is attained by hiking to the gully between the east and middle summits. The route is easy to spot from that point.

Stats above are for all 3 peaks, not just Three Fingers Rock.

From Succor Creek State Park, continue south on the improved road. After you pass Negro Rock and pop out of the canyon, look for a road turning right (north). Turn on this road. Drive this road until you reach a two track running up the hill to your left (west). Park here (there is a sign for a fiber optic cable here as well).