Pilot Rock is a prominent

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

located in the western

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

near the east end of the

Siskiyou Mountains The Siskiyou Mountains are a Coast Ranges, coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, Calif ...

, just east of the

Siskiyou Summit Siskiyou Summit (also Siskiyou Mtn. Summit; also referred to as Siskiyou Pass) is a summit (high point) on Interstate 5 (I-5) in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is distinct from Siskiyou Pass, which is a nearby, historical mountain pass. Siskiyou ...

near Ashland,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Rising thousands of feet above the Shasta and

Rogue A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior or strikes out on an independent and possibly destructive path. Rogue, rogues, or going rogue may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * ...

valleys, it is a

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

distinguishable from over away. At 25.6 million years old, it is one of the oldest formations of the Cascade Range. The rock is protected by the

Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument The Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument is a United States national monument that protects of forest and grasslands at the junction of the Cascade Range and the Siskiyou Mountains in Southwestern Oregon and Northwestern California, United Stat ...

and the Soda Mountain Wilderness. Several trails pass near Pilot Rock, including the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

Geology

Rising above the surrounding hills and thousands of feet above the Shasta and Rogue valleys, Pilot Rock is one of the most prominent features of the Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument. It was created when

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

broke through a weak spot in the Earth's crust and solidified beneath the surface, forming a plug. The softer rock around the plug slowly

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...

away, leaving Pilot Rock as it is seen today. Similar features include

Devils Tower Devils Tower (also known as Mato Tipila or Bear Lodge) is a butte, laccolithic, composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Ranger District of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Bel ...

in Wyoming and

Shiprock Shiprock (, "rock with wings" or "winged rock") is a monadnock rising nearly above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is above sea level. It is southwest of the town ...

in New Mexico.

Argon–argon dating Argon–argon (or 40Ar/39Ar) dating is a radiometric dating method invented to supersede Potassium-argon dating, potassiumargon (K/Ar) dating in accuracy. The older method required splitting samples into two for separate potassium and argon measur ...

shows that the rock is approximately 25.6 million years old, making it one of the oldest volcanic formations in the Cascades, but much younger than the 425 million-year-old Siskiyou Mountains nearby. Pilot Rock has a large amount of

columnar jointing Columnar jointing is a geological structure where sets of intersecting closely spaced fractures, referred to as Joint (geology), joints, result in the formation of a regular array of polygonal Prism (geometry), prisms, or columns. Columnar join ...

, created when the magma cooled. The joints are tilted about 20 degrees to the east due to the gradual uplift of the Siskiyou Mountains to the west. The rock also has an unusually high amount of black

hornblende Hornblende is a complex silicate minerals#Inosilicates, inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common ...

crystals, indicating that there was a significant amount of water in the area when it formed. Extensive talus deposits have accumulated around the rock's base. The surrounding soil is primarily the sticky, eroded remnants of

volcaniclastic Volcaniclastics are geologic materials composed of broken fragments (clasts) of volcanic rock. These encompass all clastic volcanic materials, regardless of what process fragmented the rock, how it was subsequently transported, what environment it ...

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

History

The

Takelma The Takelma (also Dagelma) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Rogue Valley of interior southwestern Oregon. Most of their villages were sited along the Rogue River. The name ''Takelma'' means "(Those) Along the River". H ...

tribe of Native Americans originally called the rock ''Tan-ts'at-seniphtha'' (stone standing up), but to early settlers Pilot Rock was known as Boundary Mountain. The

United States Exploring Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

passed through the area on September 28, 1841, renaming the rock Emmons Peak after Lieutenant George F. Emmons, a U.S.

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

and member of the group. Emmons described the rock as "a singular, isolated rock, which stands like a tower on the top of the ridge, rising above the surrounding forest with a bare and apparently unbroken surface."

James Clyman James Clyman (February 1, 1792 – December 27, 1881) was a mountain man and an explorer and guide in the American Far West. Early life James Clyman was born on a farm that belonged to George Washington in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1792. ...

also described the rock when he passed through the area on June 26, 1845. The rock later become known as Pilot Rock because it served as a landmark for pioneers coming north from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on the

Applegate Trail The Applegate Trail was an emigrant trail through the present-day U.S. states of Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon used in the mid-19th century by emigrants on the American frontier. It was originally intended as a less dangerous alternati ...

, being visible from as far as the southern end of the Shasta Valley, over to the south. Nine planes have crashed into Pilot Rock since 1942, mainly due to poor visibility. Pilot Rock is protected by the Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument, created in 2000, and the Soda Mountain Wilderness, created in 2009.

Flora

Pilot Rock is located in the eastern Klamath Mountains ecoregion and is surrounded by dense

mixed coniferous forest Mixed conifer forest is a vegetation type dominated by a mixture of broadleaf trees and conifers.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p 13–14 It is generally located in mountains, below the upper montane vegetation type. Sierr ...

Wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

s such as wild

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

, larkspur,

columbine Columbine may refer to: Places * Columbine, Colorado, a census-designate place in Jefferson and Arapahoe counties in Colorado, United States ** Columbine High School, a high school in Columbine, Colorado, United States *** Columbine Memorial, a ...

, lupine, and

paintbrush A paintbrush is a brush used to apply paint or ink. A paintbrush is usually made by clamping bristles to a handle with a ferrule. They are available in various sizes, shapes, and materials. Thicker ones are used for filling in, and thinner ones ...

grow in the spring and summer. Gentner's fritillary, a rare species of the lily family, has been found growing on and near the rock.

Trails

There are several trails near Pilot Rock which can be accessed via a forest road that ends at a parking lot approximately northwest of the rock. The main trail, part of the Pacific Crest Trail, travels southeast towards the rock for about , before branching into two trails. The left branch is the northbound continuation of the Pacific Crest Trail, while the right fork is the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

trail. The steep summit trail is about long, and gains approximately in elevation. At the summit, there are views of landmarks such as

Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( ; Shasta people, Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk language, Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a Volcano#Volcanic activity, potentially active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. A ...

, the

Trinity Alps The Trinity Alps are a mountain range in Trinity County and Siskiyou County in Northern California. They are a subrange of the Klamath Mountains located to the north of Weaverville. Geography The Trinity Alps are within the Pacific Coast R ...

, and

Mount McLoughlin Mount McLoughlin is a dormant steep-sided stratovolcano, or composite volcano, in the Cascade Range of southern Oregon, United States. Located in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, it is one of the volcanic peaks in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, within the ...

References

{{Volcanoes of Oregon Rock formations of Oregon Landforms of Jackson County, Oregon Volcanic plugs of the United States Oligocene volcanoes Oligocene North America Paleogene geology of Oregon Volcanoes of Oregon Cascade Volcanoes

Geology

History

Flora

Trails

See also

References