Bolan Mountain Fire Lookout
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DownloadHighlights & Remarkable Spots
~ Mile 19 / Sucker Creek Viewing
Among the many legends to be found about this area, the existence of a bowling alley in nearby Sucker Creek is an intriguing one. Miners carried 30 balls and 20 pins up and over these mountains so that they could bowl in their spare time. In the 1850’s!
Sucker Creek is to your northeast by about 2.5 miles.
When We Like to Ride This
The climate in this region is characterized by cool wet winters and warm dry summers. We suspect that the best time to be out on your bike is spring and fall, or early summer mornings to beat the heat.
Terrain & Riding
Riding out of Bridgeview, you’ll roll past vineyards, blueberry fields, and houses set back from the road. In 3.5 miles, you’ll pass Holland General Merchandise if you need to stock up on snacks or water. As you begin a steady climb up through dense conifer forests, you’ll leave the vineyards and houses behind. At approximately mile 14, you’ll enter the 2020 Slater Fire burn area. Mile 18 brings you to an intersection for the Lookout. If you head east straight down the hill, you’ll come to Bolan Lake. If you veer slightly right and head up the hill, you’ll come to the Lookout. After this high point, the route continues downhill and to the south, where it eventually brings you across the California border for a few miles before it turns back north and returns you to Oregon.
The Start
The Grange has a large gravel parking lot.
Food & Water
- ~ mile 3 / Holland General Merchandise Store
Route Notes
We recommend a red, blinking light with a radar detector for this route. This area can have light traffic on the paved sections from residents and workers on the surrounding vineyards and farms.
We were unable to validate all road surfaces. Thus, there may be more or less gravel than we have indicated in the metrics section. Feedback on where the gravel segments begin and end would be super helpful. Please leave in the comments section.
Love Where You Ride! Learn More
The Siskiyou Mountains, which fall within the the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion, span southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. They are the most biologically rich temperate forests in western North America. Home to many endemic (found nowhere else in the world) species and ancient lineages (descendants of species that survived the last Ice Age or even earlier geological periods), they rank among the world’s four richest temperate coniferous forests. This biodiversity stems from the region’s rugged terrain, diverse geology, and stable, ocean-moderated climate.
The Siskiyou Mountain Club is a non-profit that restores, maintains, and promotes primitive trails in the backcountry and beyond. While they are better known for their hard work maintaining trails in the remote corners of Southwest Oregon and Northwest California, their work was integral to the rebuilding of the Bolan Fire Lookout.
Videos
Mountaintop Legacy – Restoring Bolan Mountain Lookout
Podcasts
How to “Love Where You Ride!”
Does this mean smile and be happy and listen to some tunes as you ride? Or is it something else? Something bigger than just self? In today’s episode, we talk with Kait Boyle, who is the Co-Founder of Bikepacking [...]
Route Development and Exploratory Routes
Find out what goes into gravel route development and what it’s like to do a Dirty Freehub exploratory route. Sometimes all goes well, other times it is an adventure and maybe even epic. Special guests Michelle and Gatum share their stories with us!
Have you ridden this route? Got a question? Join the discussion!