Mount McLoughlin (or Mt Pitt) as seen over the trees from Fish Lake, rises to nearly 10,000 feet as a steep-sided, dominantly basaltic andesite lava cone. McLoughlin is easily recognized from as far away as Medicine Lake in California, along I-5 between Yreka, California, and Medford, Oregon, and even from around the rim of Crater Lake. Just a few miles from Lake of the Woods, where each summer boy scouts, girl scouts, and travelers from around the globe hike and climb to the top. It's a pretty easy day hike. And if you are prepared for the cold winds, even in the summer months, it's always fun to spend the night on top. It's long since fallen, but during WWII, there was a look out post, which helped cut down the bite of the cold wind. Although it is the tallest volcano between Mt. Shasta and Crater Lake (Nat'l Park and deepest fresh water lake in North America), McLoughlin, is dwarfed by the bulk of Shasta and Mazama [Crater Lake]).When viewed from the south or southeast it appears a a seemingly perfectly symmetrical Fuji-like volcano. However, when seen from the east, along the shores of Klamath Lake, or from the north along Crater Lake's rim, it is apparent that a major part of the mountain is missing. Late Pleistocene glaciers have carved away the entire northeast side of the mountain, lowering the summit nearly 300 feet, excavated the large bowl-like cirque, and exposed the congealed lava that fills two small central conduits. Glacial striae and other glacial features are common in the cirque, and glacial deposits such as moraines and till are present at the mouth of the cirque and around the north base of the mountain. Finally, the composition of McLoughlin's lava is much more mafic than that of other volcanoes at which explosive events of the required size have occurred.