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Mountain/Rock |
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44.49890°N / 121.8992°W |
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5849 ft / 1783 m |
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Northwest of Three Fingered Jack in Oregon's Cascade Range, overlooking the Eight Lakes Basin lies Duffy Butte. A twin-summited pile of boulders, Duffy Butte oversees Duffy Lake and Mowich Lake. The hike in to the lakes is a popular one although most seem content to hang around on the shores without trying to scale this one. There is no trail to the top and indeed the last couple hundred feet are a sandy and steep scree mess with a few rock piles to scramble up.
My altimeter puts the north summit as a bit higher and indeed it appears that way to the eye. You can go cross-country from either the north or the south on this one depending on which side of the lake you are coming from. This area was devastated by the B & B Complex Fire in 2003. (More of the fire stats) As such, it was off limits for a while. Because there is no maintained trail to the top you will have to deal with spikey snags and thorny trees along with small sinkholes where the fire burned roots under the ground creating gaps in the sandy soil. There is some plantlife returning so be careful not to trample any.
Views of Three Fingered Jack are the best but you can see down to Broken Top. To the north, Jefferson dominates. It's interesting to do this climb as you start out in old growth fir forests which are lush and green. You leave the greenery behind shortly after starting up from the lake. Brown and black tree trunks and crispy soil over sand then take over followed by a rock scramble. You get to see it all from the top, Cascade volcanoes and green forest islands amid brown seas of burnt trees dotted with lots of blue lakes in this region. It's quite the treat and it only costs you about 7.5 miles roundtrip with 1800 feet of elevation gain.