K7ATN's blog

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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.

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Desert Cone, OR | Aug 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CS-044

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

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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:

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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.

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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.

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Hoodoo Butte, OR | Summer Access

Summit: 
W7O/CM-060

Hoodoo Ski Area has lifts that can take you directly into the AZ during ski season - during the summer you'll need to park and walk from the gate shown in the photo below. The maintenance road is about 2 miles OW and 1000 feet of gain. 

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Muttonchop Butte, OR | July 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CE-150

Muttonchop Butte, Oregon is west of the intersection of Highway 58 and Highway 97. The bushwack from the north was not pleasant, see if you can find the trail that leads to 0.5 mile west of the Quarry OHV area. Take Highway 58 4.2 miles from Highway 97 and turn left onto Road 5825.