I did this summit in the area my family hunts mule deer, as I didn’t have tags last year and still wanted the family trip to the desert.
The entire area is accessed by “roads” that were never cut by a grader but worn in by years of mostly rangers driving out to care for fences, waterholes, and salt blocks for the cattle they graze in the region. They drove around the lava beds they could, and over the ones they couldn’t. As such, you’ll want a decent amount of clearance, and may not always have enough room to get around junipers, sagebrush, and bitterbrush without scratching your paint. Carry a spare tire and know how to change it. We’ve lost more than one sidewall out here over the years, and you’re not going to find a tow truck likely to come fetch you.
Also, while not super common, we’ve seen rattlesnakes and mountain lions out here on plenty of trips. If those make you uncomfortable, take whatever precautions you feel appropriate.
Another note, always leave gates the way you found them. Carelessly leaving a gate open could result in days of extra work for ranchers tracking down the cattle you let out of where they expected them.
To get to Stockade Mountain from Burns, take Highway 78 East and South 65 miles to the Crowley Riverside Road, and turn left (NE) and follow the gravel road out about 13.5 miles to a ranch with a house on the left, a big barn complex on the right, and a feedlot on the left side of the road with a gate on both sides of it. This feedlot accesses a BLM road that you will take up the hill into the BLM area on top. About 5 or six miles and a couple of gates and waterholes, you’ll find a road that tees in from the right, with a yellow cattleguard about 100 yards in from the intersection. Turn East on to this road and you should be pointed straight at Stockade Butte, another 4 point summit. Take this road past Stockade Butte, staying left at the Y beside the Butte. You’ll pass through a place where the cavalry used to maintain a stockade, for which the butte and ridge were named, and where cowboys still camp occasionally while rounding up cattle in the fall. The road will parallel a creek bed that at least stays damp most of the year, and then out through a flat open area. Follow the tire tracks to the road straight across, and don’t get fooled in to hanging a left turn up the draw that feeds in to the flat area. Staying left at the next fork, this road will go out across a big open area south of the ridge until it suddenly dumps off a very steep nasty road back down to the Crowley Riverside Road. Just before this, there is a sharp left turn back up the ridge. Follow this up until your GPS says you’re close to the summit, and then bushwhack from there.
The road up the ridge runs through a great deal of what was once a fairly thick juniper forest, mostly burnt off in the summer of 2014. Many of these are starting to fall, so expect the road to be periodically blocked. A chainsaw, winch, or combination thereof may be necessary to get very far by road. Depending on how far you can drive, the hike may be anywhere from 500 yards to a couple of miles. If you can take off from somewhere near the top, you should be able to traverse fairly close to the altitude of the summit and not have to climb more than 100-200 feet.
The summit still has some live junipers for shade, and a nice big rock outcrop that I used to boost my mast up for my EFHW. The hike is pretty tame, just lots of meandering around bushes and downed trees.
