Blogs

A short, steep and rough climb will get you to the summit of Slide Peak.

This is an easy summit to get to. Can get there from Falls City but its is easier to come in from highway 410 near Logsden. Use Big Rock Creek Road to access. This is also on private timber land and is closed during fire season. I will upload a google track in the download section for help. The name came from the summit area. The summit is in dense forest and during activation Mosqutio's were horrible and we forgot repellent. Needless to say we were in a hurry to collect chasers. Thanks to all the chasers that came to my aid.

I decided to activate this one after looking at it for a long time. This peak is somewhat out of the way on timber company land. Roads are normally open except during fire season. After activating, I decided I wanted to name this peak after a ham that recently became a silent key. Bob Boswell, W7LOU, was an inspriation to new and old hams. He was an elmer to many inculding myself. He also was the founder of the R.O.A.D's group(Radio Operators Association of Dallas) in Dallas , Or. He will be missed by many.

Red Hills of Dundee HP is a summit on private property with all of the Activation Zone apparently also on private property.

W7M/CL-023 may be climbed easily climbed from the Scapegoat Plateau.  The approach is 17 to 21 miles – depending upon which route one chooses to access the plateau.  The southeast ridge of the mountain is a good approach and offers great views of the plateau.  The Plateau is prime grizzly bear habitat – so be “Bear Aware”!

Walk up the relatively gentle northwest ridge from the Scapegoat Plateau to attain the summit.   The approach is 17 to 21 miles – depending upon the route that one chooses to access the plateau.  The summit ridge has an interesting and fragile rock outcropping that is decaying to become talus.  The summit offers incredible views of the surrounding mountains and the magnificent Scapegoat Plateau.  The Plateau is prime grizzly bear habitat and the grassy meadows at the base of this summit are a favorite foraging area – so be “Bear Aware”!

Flint Mountain may be easily climbed up its southeast sloping ramp from the Scapegoat Plateau. The approach is 17 to 21 miles – depending upon which route one chooses to access the plateau. The cliff band that guards the eastern side of the mountain slopes downwards to the left (south) and can easily be topped towards the left. After topping the cliff band, walk along the bench northwards until you reach a trail (visible in photo) that ascends the steep side-slope towards the summit ramp. Follow the grassy ramp to the summit.

Githens Mountain in the Clackamas River drainage is a short, one mile hike and only about 500 feet of gain. It can be activated along with nearby Tumala (Squaw) Mountain from the same trailhead. Finding the summit may require a GPS, as it's not on the trail and isn't particularly distinct.

Tumala (or Squaw) Mountain in the Clackamas River drainage is a nice walk through the woods of about 2.5 miles RT and about 800 feet of net gain.

This was first dip into the SOTA adventure, and it was big fun! Although this is a super easy almost urban summit it was a good way to start and see how things worked. I used my new KX2 and Alexloop and everything worked great considering propogation. In about 2 hours I worked 24 Q's;14 states and ZL! Not bad for 5W to the loop.I did miss one station calling me on SSB-a cross mode contact if I could've figured out how to undo the 'LSB' mode; somehow the KX2 was set that way on 20 when obviously it should've been set at USB. I did figure it out at home later..sorry to whoever was calling.