Blogs

Indian Ridge is accessed by trail beginning on the Selway River near Indian Creek Campground. This US Forest Service primitive campground is famous from the humous outdoor book INDIAN CREEK CHRONICLES where the author, college student Pete Fromm spent a winter watching over an Idaho Fish and Game artificial salmon rearing channel. The well- marked summit trail climbs through towering centuries-old ponderosa pine open-forest and some recent fire snag forests.

This private timber land is owned by Stimson Lumber Company.  Stimson allows very limited access to their land with many, many stipulations.  The area access from Olson Road off of Highway 26 is not open to the public before 4:00 PM on weekdays due to logging and road building actitivies.  Non-motorized access is allowed on weekends.  The gates can be closed at any time and are usually only open to the public during hunting season on posted days.  In other words, expect the gates to be closed most of the time.

Here's an easy drive-up summit that you can do on the way to the coast. Any vehicle can make it on these well-graded roads.

University Mountain with an adjoining lower non-SOTA summit, Mount Sentinel overlooks the city of Missoula.  Access is by three main routes, a road (closed to motor vehicles) or two trails.  It is a communication site for several Agency repeaters and a popular summit in summer and winter for hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers.  The subordinate summit to the west is a launch site for hang gliders.  Visitors can be expected on any of your SOTA activations here.

Bare Cone Lookout is a popular drive-up destination, motorcycle, quad 4-wheeler and auto, on the Bitterroot National Forest. Visitors travel here to visit an active US Forest Service Lookout and to experience the outstanding vistas of managed forest, wild forest landscapes and the rugged southern end of the Selway Bitterroot Mountains. A trail passes near the summit. The trail is on the historic southern route of the Nez Perce people, access to hunting bison on the vast Montana plains to the east.

Castle Rock is a popular hike from Nez Perce Pass on the Bitterroot National Forest. It can also be accessed from a trailhead near Bare Cone Lookout to the east. Both routes are about the same distance and terrain. The last 200 feet is a scramble to the summit over loose rock and bedrock from either a notch in the cliffs on the west side or more open loose rock routes on the east side. Most folks will be using both hands and feet on this one. Summit views are tremendous to the north where you’ll be looking into the rugged southern mountains of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Area.

Burma Road High Point is accessed through Smith Rocks State Park, near Terrebonne, Oregon. An Oregon State Park day or annual pass is required.

I had been eyeing this unactivated two point peak for several weeks. When we saw the weather forecast looking unusually good, the little sherpa and I made a plan to catch the summit on the weekend. A couple of days before the Saturday, she suddenly found herself torn betwingst a summit with me or hanging out with her BFF. Shortly after the sad news was delivered to me that I had come in second place in the popularity contest, Roland/K7FOP sent me an email inquiring if he could tag along. But of course he could!

This must be one of the all time easiest summits to get to.  The dirt road is graded with no gravel.  The only way to know you're not on asphalt are the occassional potholes.  The summit is very large and surrounded with trees that obscure any view of the surrounding vistas.  There is a lot of trash scattered around from clay shooting with a large fire ring indicating a party destination.  The actual summit is a small knoll to the west of the flat area where I set up both a 2m "J" pole and a random wire HF antenna.

Davis Mountain is a sizable flat top butte on the east side of the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway. The six point summit tops out at 6,625 feet asl. It has undergone considerable fire activity in recent years, and the top has very sparse vegetation.