K7ATN's blog

K7ATN's picture

Peak 4700, WA | Sep 2023

Summit: 
W7W/PL-064

Just east of Mount Rainier National Park and north of Highway 12 is this bushwack activation.

K7ATN's picture

Peak 2905, OR | June 2023

Summit: 
W7O/NC-072

Steep, but Priusable route for activating Peak 2905. A one way hike of about 0.9 miles and 100 feet gain. The AZ is on Stimpson Timber land. 

K7ATN's picture

Goodnoe Benchmark, WA | April 2023

Summit: 
W7W/MC-073

Goodnoe Benchmark is a unremarkable roadside activation - until you throw in the turbine blades whirring over your head. The summit proper is dominated by a wind turbine and the closest public place is only a fraction of a mile away - next to the gate for the property. Appropriately, the area is posted no trespassing, but there is a small pull off.

K7ATN's picture

Desert Cone, OR | Aug 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CS-044

Desert Cone by Mike-NS1TA.  About 2.5 miles OW and 700 feet gain.

K7ATN's picture

Peak 761 (Skyline Ridge) OR | Jan 2023

Summit: 
W7O/WV-138

An update to operating in the Activation Zone of the urban summit, Skyline Ridge. This location describe here (about 705 feet elevation) is about one-eighth of a mile from the summit proper (761 feet elevation). An address for navagation is 860 Skyland Drive, West Linn, Oregon. 

K7ATN's picture

1485 Cypress Island North Peak, WA | Sep 2022

Summit: 
W7W/SK-165

Cypress Mountain North Peak (1485) was successfully activated September 18. Four of us climbed to the summit just under 1500’. We had 12 vhf 2M contacts including one Summit-to-Summit with Mt Thompson about 98 miles away. The approach from Eagle Harbor is about 3 miles going via Cypress Lake. At the lake continue on the old road on the south side until it turns into a use trail.

K7ATN's picture

Monte Carlo, WA | Sep 2022

Summit: 
W7W/MC-061

Monte Carlo is a nice trail to an open summit near Underwood, WA. This appears to be the shortest and easiest way to Monte Carlo - a hike of less than a mile and about 800 feet gain. 

K7ATN's picture

Old Baldy, OR | July 2022

Summit: 
W7O/SC-058

Approach the summit from the north on FS 600 - it's less than a quarter mile OW and about 100 feet gain. There is a GPS track provided by N7KOM here:

https://sotl.as/summits/W7O/CS-058. The GPX track instructions say:

K7ATN's picture

Quilcene Ridge, WA | July 2022

Summit: 
W7W/NO-158

Depending on how much you like the paint on your vehicle, Quilcene Ridge might be a drive-up. Even so, where the slide alder starts significantly encroaching on the road it's only a quarter mile to the summit. So walking is an option.

K7ATN's picture

Umpcoos Ridge, OR | July 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CC-039

This one-point summit is likely not worth the time driving 40 minutes RT on forest roads. In fact, the roads in this area are quite convoluted - I found it best to navigate using GPS with turn-by-turn directions. You may end up bushwacking through a tangle of coastal brush...or get lucky and find a way to the path visible on sattelite images that I found after the fact. Any "hike" might be less than 0.10 mile and several hundred feet of gain.