Pilot Rock, OR

Pilot Rock is an Umatilla County city at the foot of the Blue Mountains, about fifteen miles south of Pendleton. The city takes its name from a basalt formation west of town that wagon trains on the old Oregon Trail used as a sighting point near Emigrant Pass and Cabbage Hill. The same landmark is still called “The Rock” and can be seen from the Blue Mountain foothills on a clear day. Pilot Rock grew from the area’s gold-rush years: the post office opened in 1868, the town was platted in 1876, and incorporation followed in 1912. Timber and agriculture remain the big local industries, with East and West Birch Creek meeting nearby.