Blogs

A fantastic Activation together with my SOTA Buddy, Tim, KG7EJT, along with his wife Masako, my wife Sharon & Dexter the SOTA Dog on Memorial Day 2016.  Great weather, fantastic views from the summit and a successful SOTA Activation for both of us, yielded a memorable outing. "Mount Attenuator", mostly known as Summit Lake Peak, is approximately 3 miles north of Mount Rainier National Park.  Thus it affords incredible sweeping outlook of the north aspect of mighty Mount Rainier.  Mount Attenuator is 5,780 feet (1,762 meters) high, and is reached via approximately 6.1 mile RT trail.  Elevation gain is approximately 1,360 feet.

A great trip to the summit of Sheep Mountain. Trail is almost snow free with some patches towards the top. There is 30-40 blowdowns that will slow you down if you are riding a bike.

This is a nice hike of 1100 feet on a well-graded trail of about 4.8 miles round trip.

Indian Mountain, north of Mount Hood, is a remote summit with great views of Mount Hood.

This summit is right across from the Cement Plant off Hwy I-84 between Baker City, OR and Farewell Bend, OR.  Looked like a nice option for a quick activation when traveling Hwy I-84.  However, the obvious road to the top was chained with a sign stating permission required.  No contact info, so must be locals wanting to keep people off the land.  There is also a radio facility near the top, so the chain and sign keep people away from that area as well.

This is a very nice hike (3.3 Miles, 2,900 ft.)

Drive west from Augusta towards Nilan Reservoir and Benchmark.  Continue for 14-miles, turning right (Northerly) on the Willow Creek road towards Gibson Reservoir.  Continue another 1.2 miles and turn left immediately after passing Scoutana – an old Girl Scout Camp.  The turn is also signed as “USFS Administrative Site”.  Follow this road and park where it is blocked by a gate.

This is a very nice hike (1.0 Miles, 690 ft.)

This was my second activation of Lucky Peak.  Always a good hike to test your fitness level.  There are a few options to get to the top.  The route we took was 11.2 miles and 3089 feet of climbing.  See my previous report for more information.  Lucky Peak 2015:  http:/www.pnwsota.org/node/556 .  You can also drive to nearly the top if you want a shorter hike.  The road up (from Hwy 21) is best with a SUV or high clearance vehicle.  There is a small parking lot and bathroom at the end of the road.

Peak 7057 is the first peak along the FS374 ridgeline north of the Harris Creek Summit.  The second peak is Hawley Mountain (W7I/BC-069). Harris Creek Summit (saddle) can be reached from Harris Creek Rd. which connects Horseshoe Bend and Placerville, Idaho.  It is a dirt road in good condition.  From Harris Creek summit, FS374 is a resonably good single track road.

Dead Mountain, W7O/CM-115 is an out of the way summit in a forested area.  A road goes right by this 2 point summit.