Canyon Mountain

  • Moderate (to Dog Creek)
  • 6.6 miles round trip
  • 1200 feet elevation gain
  • Open June to mid-November
  • Use: hikers, horses


  • Difficult (to Dean Creek)
  • 11 miles round trip
  • 1700 feet elevation gain

Gold drew 10,000 miners to Canyon City and Canyon Mountain in 1862. Today this craggy peak is part of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, with a scenic, well-graded trail zigzagging along the mountain’s forested flanks.

Start in Canyon City, 2 miles south of John Day on Highway 395. At the Grant County Historical Museum turn east …

The Canyon Mountain Trail sets off through an open forest of scattered ponderosa pines and Douglas firs. …

If you’d like a longer hike …

This chapter taken from the book 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Eastern Oregon.