Frank Hill Road 3-12-25

Photos by Francie

Ashland Hiking Home

On Wednesday we only had 3 people brave enough to come out with a predicted storm. Liz, Scott and myself gathered at Liz's with our rain gear and started up Frank Hill Road. It had been a long time since I had done this hike without snow.  The weather was in our favor at 45°.  It just lightly rained or had a gentle breeze for most of the hike. 

The road goes up Frank Hill Road and you can see some views of the valley.  We passed the abandoned mobile homes and took a short break before heading up the off trail hill. It looked like a well traveled game trail. We took several short breaks as we made our way up. When we got to the top, there was a chair. I saw a game trail camera so I waved at it. Liz decided to stop at the chair for a rest. Scott and I continued up a road to see what was there. We came across a hunting ladder step and stand. From there, we turned and headed up a lesser traveled road. We made our way around a fallen tree and saw that the ground leveled out. It was like a nice viewing platform. Wagner Butte was up close and personal

The wind started to pick up a little and it started to rain a bit more. We decided we should head back because Liz might be getting cold from sitting. Shortly after we made the turn, Liz was headed towards us. We then headed back to the chair. There was a man driving a nice Polaris off-road vehicle and Liz took the time to talk to him while we adjusted our rain gear and layers. Scott noticed the trail camera and then realized I was waving to it and not the chair earlier. I had a good chuckle over that.

Since the weather was changing, we headed back down then took a shortcut back to the cars. Scott decided to head home and I went into Liz's and had some hot coffee and enjoyed my lunch I had brought. We hiked 6.25 miles and gained 1587 feet of elevation.