Rock Creek and Spanish Peak

  • Moderate (Rock Creek to Fir Tree Creek)
  • 7.6 miles round trip
  • 620 feet elevation loss
  • Open late May to mid-November
  • Use: hikers, horses, bicycles


  • Moderate (to rim cairn and Spanish Peak)
  • 7.9-mile loop
  • 1000 feet elevation gain
  • Open early June to mid-November

A new trail on the crest of the Ochoco Mountains connects the views and wildflowers at Spanish Peak with a historic mining ditch along forested Rock Creek. For a day hike, try either end of this trail system. If you have a shuttle car, you can hike the entire route one way, mostly downhill.

Drive Highway 26 east of Prineville …

The trail that starts here ambles across a meadow of blue lupine and scattered pines, descends 0.4 mile to a footbridge across 15-foot-wide Rock Creek, and then follows the creek down through lovely meadows and stands of lodgepole pine.

Drive east on gravel Road …

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