Trip report
Aug 2, 2025 — I chose to reach the high-prominence Highland Peak from the Ebbetts Pass Trailhead, using the PCT for my approach. The peak is often paired with its northern neighbor, Silver Peak, but there’s really no easy way back to Ebbetts Pass from Silver Peak. Peakbaggers generally traverse from Highland to Silver, drop west to the Noble Canyon Trail, then reascend back using the PCT. I just wasn’t feeling strong today, so I decided not to be miserable by pushing it. In hindsight, had I wanted to do both of them with more alacrity I would have started from the Noble Canyon Trailhead instead to form a more natural loop.
However, the hike I ended up with from Ebbetts Pass allowed me to enjoy the scenic high road, and coming from this direction also allowed me to take an alternate route back by tacking on Tryon Peak, rather than take the PCT in both directions. So I ended up getting two peaks, just not the two that are more commonly done together.
I parked at the official Ebbetts Pass Trailhead, which is located north of the actual pass, though many park on the road’s shoulder there instead to access the PCT. The trail was mostly forested, but I got glimpses of the volcanic rim housing countless hoodoos along the base of the ridgeline housing Tryon Peak. Soon enough I could also see across Noble Canyon toward Highland Peak and Silver Peak.
The PCT descended almost exclusively for several miles, then passed the junction with the Noble Canyon Trail, where it began to climb. The trail hugged the base of the volcanic formations for a while before ascending to Noble Lake. Just before the lake, I located a faint social path leaving the PCT, indicating the route to Highland Peak.
Cairns marked the way and route-finding wasn’t too tricky as I made a wide arc around the base of the steepening slope. A clearer social trail eventually led me steeply to a minor saddle on Highland Peak’s south ridge. I began the ascent, where social trails were braided and misleading, sometimes veering from the crest without reason. I slogged upward through a section of loose, ashy terrain, then a sandy slope that gained a false summit.
The ridgeline turned rockier as I descended from the false summit toward the high point (Class 2). A bit of brush at the saddle was followed be some talus-hopping up to the summit of Highland Peak.
I backtracked to Noble Lake, following the PCT to a saddle east of Tryon Peak, where I left the main trail and angled upward through light brush and easy Class 2 rock. Now on the summit, I could start my return north back to Ebbetts Pass via the volcanic rim that I’d been gazing up at all day. I’m a sucker for tundra, so this easily became my favorite part of the day when the landscape opened wide with sweeping alpine grasses, and I didn’t see any cairns or signs of previous hikers.
A cliff guarded Peak 9731, just a lump along the ridgeline, but a loose Class 2 gully offered a way through. I was confident all obstacles were behind me, but a final short stretch of rough, eroded hoodoos forced me to pick my way carefully. Much of the crest held at Class 2/2+, but it can mostly all be avoided by dropping to the left if preferred.
Kinney Reservoir shimmered below and Raymond Peak‘s unique form poked up on the horizon as I wandered along the rim, which had developed hints of social trail. Rather than drop straight north back to the PCT on a dangerously loose slope, I chose a less direct descent.