Riley Gill was cold, wet and a little bit worried.
High up in the Strawberry Mountains, the young man from Springfield was a couple of days into an attempt to become just the seventh known hiker to complete the Blue Mountains Trail, a challenging route that connects all the major mountain ranges in Northeast Oregon in a 530-mile spiral that starts in Joseph and ends in John Day.
Gill was hoping to become the first to complete the route in reverse, starting from the John Day end and hiking south to north. He was also tackling the Blue Mountains Trail earlier in the year than most others have done, starting in late June to take advantage of cooler temperatures rather than waiting until August or September.
His first challenge was the Strawberries, which still had significant amounts of snow in the upper elevations, especially on north-facing slopes. And after an unusually wet spring, storm systems continued to roll through the area.
The idea of a long-distance hiking trail showcasing Northeast Oregon’s most spectacular landscapes has been around since the 1960s. The Blue Mountains Trail, which officially opened in 2021, links all four of the region’s major mountain ranges — the Strawberries, Greenhorns, Elkhorns and Wallowas.
Riley Gill was cold, wet and a little bit worried.
High up in the Strawberry Mountains, the young man from Springfield was a couple of days into an attempt to become just the seventh known hiker to complete the Blue Mountains Trail, a challenging route that connects all the major mountain ranges in Northeast Oregon in a 530-mile spiral that starts in Joseph and ends in John Day.
Gill was hoping to become the first to complete the route in reverse, starting from the John Day end and hiking south to north. He was also tackling the Blue Mountains Trail earlier in the year than most others have done, starting in late June to take advantage of cooler temperatures rather than waiting until August or September.
His first challenge was the Strawberries, which still had significant amounts of snow in the upper elevations, especially on north-facing slopes. And after an unusually wet spring, storm systems continued to roll through the area.