KG7AV's blog

Having made my QSOs at Pine, scrambled down the summit, and headed back over the observatory and down the south access road - 4x4 only and not for the faint of heart.  Once on the valley floor, took NS-2310 south toward East Butte and China Hat, swinging back to pick up NS-1849 and circle up toward the summit.   The easiest route to China Hat is to take China Hat Rd NS-18 from south of Bend, but I was on the wrong side of the basin for that. Parked the truck and hoofed it the last mile as the manzanita was encroaching on the double track pretty tightly.

Inspired, I guess, by yesterday's peformance by American Pharoah, I had intended to attempt a trifecta of 6 point peaks this day - Pine Mountain W7O/CE-058, China Hat W7O/CE-053, and Paulina Peak W7O/CE-009.

Fox Butte is the site of a now defunct fire lookout tower that is listed in the National Historical Lookout registry. The road to the top is gated, leaving you with a hike of roughly 3/4 mile to the summit. That's if you're comfortable backing down an inclined double track about 1/4 mile - there is no, repeat no, turnaround.

UPDATE: There may be No Trespassing signs on this approach now.

Re Horse Ridge Initial Activation 23 Feb 2014.

Ray KG7AV, Max KF7MAX