Battle Mountain State Park - 55 miles

Once the site of a Civilian Conservation Corps camp this scenic day-use park sits near the summit of the Blue Mountains. The park is named in commemoration of the nearby site of the Bannock-Paiute war of 1878 against a detachment of the US Cavalry. The uprising is reputed to be the last battle between Native Americans and the United States. Today this is a great site for small and large group picnics, or just relaxing in the shaded forest setting.

As you move north from Camas Valley and Ukiah toward Battle Mountain you are exposed to a unique metamorphic intrusion of very old rock that rises above the surrounding basalt flows.  This rise is called the “Blue Mountain ridge” and it separates two different lava flows:  Grande Ronde in the north and Picture Gorge in the south.  At Battle Mountain the road cut reveals an intrusion of granite that serves as part of this ridge.

Approximately one mile north of the Cape Horn summit on Hwy 395 the Willow Spring location of the initial skirmish between citizen volunteers from Pendleton and the Indian force can be seen from the highway.