Blogs

Silver Star is a classic hike in SW Washington that should be on everyone's list to do at least once.

Little Cowhorn Mountain is a summit north of Oakridge, OR that has an inactive lookout cabin perched on rock columns. This 4236’, two point summit offers great views of the Sisters and other Cascade mountains. It is an easy hike of a mile or so with about 850’ of elevation rise.

Lowder Mountain is a 5570’, 4 point summit southeast of Cougar Reservoir in the Three Sisters Wilderness. A 5.6 mile round trip hike leads through forest and hillside meadows up to a mostly treeless summit. Net elevation rise is about 900’. A short side trip from the top opens up to great views of steep cliffs and lakes far below.

Bull of the Woods is a pleasant and popular hike south of Estacada of about 6.5 miles and 1300 feet of gain. There's an unused (but locked) fire lookout at the summit, giving you a chance to be out of the sun (or rain) to activate by standing under the structure.

Here's a near drive-up south of Estacada with a hike as short as a quarter mile and 200 feet of gain.

UPDATE 2021 - Mount Lowe may have been damaged in the September 2020 fires. Check for access.

Nash crater (W7O/CM-100) is just south and west of where OR 22 intersects with
US Hwy20 near Santiam Pass. Take FS 2676 off of US Hwy 20. After a quarter of
a mile, take a left onto FS 723. Note that I found this area to be pretty much
unsigned with multiple roads going in many directions. Take a map and GPS. Its
confusing at times.

Follow FS 723 around the east side of Nash crater. Ascend to a slight saddle
and flat area on the southeast flank of the mountain. I found a small pullout
here and parked.

Naomi Peak is a great hike along a well-marked trail from the Tony Grove Lake area.  Tony Grove is a popular site seeing destination 28 miles NE of Logan Utah.  The summit has views in all direction and is highly recommended as a day hike or a SOTA adventure.

This was my third attempt at Red Mountain.  The first time I had not done any previous research on this summit, other than I have seen people on several occasions head up to the final summit (as I walked past to go to Red Pass) that really did not look like they were doing other than a day hike.

Upper and Lower Table Rocks dominate the skyline north of Medford Oregon, just off Interstate 5.  Upper Table Rock, located in Central Point, Oregon offers great views in many directions, and has an easy, well-maintained trail, used by more than 10,000 people each year.  From the trailhead, it's a 30-45 minute walk to the summit, which is large and flat. There's no infrastructure on the mesa, but it is very large and offers both open spaces and some trees usable for supporting wire antennas.