K7ATN's blog

Let's start by making sure we are talking about Oregon's Larch Mountain and not one of the two Larch Mountains in Washington, and not the one in Idaho either.

UPDATE MARCH 2022 - Permits required weekends April 23 to June 12, plus Memorial Day. 

Dog Mountain is a wonderful climb nine months of the year - but in March we went from spotty sun and 38F to snow blowing sideways at 25 mph and perhaps 27F in a partial white out. It's a bit less than eight miles round trip with 2900 feet of gain.

Biddle Butte is also known as Mount Zion and is located in Skamania County, Washington, about 20 miles west of Portland, Oregon. Biddle Butte is 1,460 feet ASL and was named for Henry J. Biddle, an early conservationist of the Gorge.  Biddle was responsible for building the trail to the top of Beacon Rock, completed in 1918. There is no public access to this summit. 

This is a straightforward drive-up activation about an hour south of Bend with great views. Paulina Peak and North Paulina Peak are both in the Newberry National&nbs

This would be a great activation on a mountain bike - the single track looks like a good time. On busy weekends hikers might be outnumbered by bikes - however, for this early fall, late evening activation I saw no one on the trail. The trail is about 4.1 miles one way with about 0.3 miles of that cross country and 1300 feet of elevation gain.

There's nothing particularly interesting about Pete's Mountain - it's essentially a suburban pavement activation for one point. There's no public space so one ends up standing on the public right of way a few feet from the road, pretty much in someone's front yard. I was across the street from the actual 'summit' that's in the front yard of a large house. 

The road to Glass Butte requires a high clearance vehicle and four-wheel drive is recommended.

The roads in this area to access Little Glass Butte might be Ok in a very carefully driven passenger car, but high clearance is recommended. If you are traveling through eastern Oregon this is a worthy six-point peak to check out, especially along with an activation of nearby G

Sixteen miles of roundtrip hiking, even on a nice bit of the PCT, is a long way to go for two points, but it might the easiest way to get to Buck Peak and it's a lovely hike just the same.

Lava Butte is an easy and fun four pointer if you are ever in Central Oregon. It is a drive-up summit part of the year. There is a sometimes staffed lookout at the top and enough room for operating and most any antenna. Since it is a popular spot, you could get plenty of questions about ham radio when it is busy.