A well-graded trail from a campground at a quiet mountain lake climbs past patches of wildflowers to a lookout atop this panoramic Siskiyou summit.

The names of Bolan Mountain and nearby Bolan Creek date to Southern Oregon’s 1853 gold rush, when cagey entrepreneurs sought to lure gold dust from entertainment-starved miners by building a bowling alley at the confluence of Sucker Creek and Bowling Creek (as it was then called). Indians burned the entire establishment to the ground, but the determined bowlers returned in 1857, carrying 30 balls and 20 pins on their backs over a mountain trail.

To drive here,  . . .

This chapter is an excerpt from 100 Hikes: Southern Oregon