Rogers Peak is the highest mountain in Tillamook County, Oregon

Tillamook County, Oregon

Tillamook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for the Tillamook, a Native American tribe who were living in the area in the early 19th century at the time of European American settlement. In 2010, the county's population was 25,250...

. Located in the Tillamook State Forest

Tillamook State Forest

The Tillamook State Forest is a publicly owned forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. Managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry, it is located west of Portland in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, and spans Washington, Tillamook, Yamhill, and Clatsop counties. The forest receives large amounts of...

, the peak is also the highest peak in the Northern Oregon Coast Range

Northern Oregon Coast Range

The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, contains peaks as high...

, which is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range

Oregon Coast Range

The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean...

.

Geology

The origins of these mountains began approximately 40 million years ago during the Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

 age. During this time-period, sandstone and siltstone formed in the area. Additionally, igneous rocks and basalt flows combined with basaltic sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 to create many of the mountainous formations. Other sedimentary rock in the area formed more recently, around 20 million years ago. It is hypothesized that portions of the area were islands during parts of the Eocene era.
The entire coast range sits on a convergent tectonic margin interacting with the Juan de Fuca Plate

Juan de Fuca Plate

The Juan de Fuca Plate, named after the explorer of the same name, is a tectonic plate, generated from the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and subducting under the northerly portion of the western side of the North American Plate at the Cascadia subduction zone...

 that is subducting beneath North America tectonic plate

North American Plate

The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, Bahamas, and parts of Siberia, Japan and Iceland. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plate includes both continental and oceanic crust...

.
The range is part of a broad, plunging structural arch of sedimentary and Tertiary volcanic strata that is being uplifted.
Other portions of the mountains consist of marine sedimentary rock.
The basalt in the area comes from basalt flows that covered much of Oregon that originated from fissures in the central portion of the state. It was during the middle Miocene period that the range was uplifted in the broad, northeast-plunging arch.

Flora and fauna

Forested parts of the mountain include Sitka spruce

Sitka Spruce

Picea sitchensis, the Sitka Spruce, is a large coniferous evergreen tree growing to 50–70 m tall, exceptionally to 95 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of up to 5 m, exceptionally to 6–7 m diameter...

, western redcedar, Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...

, and western hemlock

Western Hemlock

Tsuga heterophylla. the Western Hemlock, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma County, California.-Habitat:...

.
Other plant life native to the mountain are Coptis laciniata, salmonberry

Salmonberry

Rubus spectabilis is a species of Rubus native to the west coast of North America from west central Alaska to California....

, salal

Salal

Gaultheria shallon is a leathery-leaved shrub in the heather family , native to western North America. In English it is known as salal, shallon, or in Britain simply Gaultheria.-Ecology:...

, sword fern, Oregon grape, bracken fern, and others.
Insects may include millipede

Millipede

Millipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of legs per segment . Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one...

s, collembolans

Springtail

Springtails form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects...

, spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s, beetles, and various centipedes. Animals that inhabit the area are weasel

Weasel

Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....

s, chipmunk

Chipmunk

Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. They are usually classed either as a single genus with three subgenera, or as three genera.-Etymology and taxonomy:...

s. black bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

s, snowshoe hare

Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, or Snowshoe Rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks...

s and deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

. Different birds include chickadee

Poecile

Poecile is a genus of bird in the tit family that is often lumped into the genus Parus. It has 13–15 species, which are scattered across North America, Europe and Asia; the North American species are the chickadees...

s, kinglet

Kinglet

The kinglets or crests are a small group of birds sometimes included in the Old World warblers, but are frequently given family status because they also resemble the titmice. The scientific name Regulidae is derived from the Latin word regulus for "petty king" or prince, and comes from the...

s, woodpecker

Woodpecker

Woodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....

s, jays, Brown Creeper

Brown Creeper

-Description:Adults are brown on the upperparts with light spotting, resembling a piece of tree bark, with white underparts. They have a long thin bill with a slight downward curve and a long tail. The male creeper has a slightly larger bill than the female...

s, and Red Crossbills among others.

Location

Rogers Peak is located approximately 8 miles (12.9 km) north of Lees Camp on Oregon Route 6 with access is via North Fork Road.
Hiking the mountain is about a 3.5 miles (5.6 km) round-trip with an elevation gain of about 1100 foot. The mountain, located on private timber land, is on the Oregon Coast

Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It runs generally north-south along the Pacific Ocean, forming the western border of the state; the region is bounded to the east by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast stretches approximately from the Columbia River in the north to...

.

Name history

In 1964 the mountain officially became Rogers Peak. Previously, it had also been referred to as Blue Lake Peak and Nels Rogers Peak. The mountain was named for Nelson S. Rogers, who was the Oregon State Forester

Oregon Department of Forestry

The Oregon Department of Forestry is the agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon which performs a wide variety of functions relating to the management, regulation and protection of both public and private forest lands in the state...

 from 1940-1949. He was a prominent figure in the rehabilitation of the Tillamook Burn

Tillamook Burn

The Tillamook Burn was a series of forest fires in the Northern Oregon Coast Rangeof Oregon in the United States that destroyed a total area of 355,000 acres of old growth timber in what is now known as the Tillamook State Forest. The fires spanned the years of 1933–1951. By association, the name...

.