2009-08-30T00:08:00.000-07:00

Ever been to Mary’s Peak?

At just over 4,000 feet, Mary’s Peak is the highest point in Oregon’s Coast Range. From the top, you can see most of western Oregon—from the sea to the snow-topped Cascades, from the gnarled Klamath Mountains to Washington State.

After many years of promising, I finally took my husband and daughter to the top on a tour reconnaissance mission. A three-hour drive, or so, from our home in Coos Bay, we parked at the meadow-edge parking lot and walked the last stretch to the top.

The fog was starting to ease up the west face of the Peak, so our view of the Pacific was more hope than certainty, but all other views were as lovely as expected. Even with the drive, the experience is well worth sharing with clients.

It had been many years since I had visited; I had forgotten how marvelous it is to see the communities of unusual plants. As common with peaks, Mary’s has plants on top not found below. Daughter Mackenzie was particularly taken with the bold upright cones of the noble firs growing in the highest elevations. (The noble fir in the photograph had the limbs on the right clipped to allow vehicles to pass.)

I found several plants I couldn’t readily identify to species, though most resembled relatives in lower elevations. And I took quite a few photos for my business, particularly of the nice outcrops of the gabbro (once-melted ocean-bottom that cooled slowly) that caps the Peak, protecting it from the erosion that wore down her neighbors.

While we arrived too late to hike the several trails around the peak, we took in all the views—fog and all—and declared the excursion successful.

Want to go? Mary’s Peak is accessed from Oregon State Highway 34, about 15 miles west of Corvallis (or about 25 miles east of Waldport).

Wavecrest Discoveries