WARNING: Google Maps insists that there is a drivable road up through the South Fork Prison. Let me assure you there is not. It is clearly posted No Trespassing and they mean it. The route should start from the intersection of Hwy 6 and Ben Smith Rd.
On the 3rd day of our Bend trip, I got dropped off at the Lava Butte Visitor Center while my wife and kids sped off to the Bend High Desert Museum. The hike to the top was on a very nice, paved road for 1.75 miles. I made it up in an hour and looked around the lower level of the firewatch tower on the summit and the surrounding views.
Following my activation of Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095), I proceeded to the next stop on Pringle Butte. It's only a couple miles drive to there and the summit is almost a drive up. Google Maps gave excellent directions to the summit and I probably could have driven all the way but on the last turn up to the top there is a little bit of a washout and I decided to just hike the last 0.4 miles. The summit has a large flat area with a turnaround. It would likely be a nice overnight camping area though there don't appear to be any established campsites.
WARNING: Google Maps will route you on a road that is no longer publically accessible.
After activating Tumalo Mountain (W7O/CM-011), I proceeded south to Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095) for another activation and winter bonus. This summit had not been activated since 2014 and significant changes have occured.
On the second day of our Bend trip, I got up early and drove up to Dutchman Flat Sno-Park just across the road from Mt Bachelor skiing. There were a few remaining parking spaces and some snowmobilers unloading. I started up the snowtrack over by the restrooms. At some point, the GPS points up hill and you pick out a likely set of ski or snowshow tracks and follow it uphill. Eventually, they all seem to lead to the summit. There are a few orange no-motorized area signs towards the top but those were the only markers visible in the forest. I ran across a fe
So in my continuing series on how to summit the easy way, I loaded up the family for the tail end of spring break and headed over to Bend, OR. The weather was gorgeous with just a bit of wind blowing. That contributed to delaying my activation time by an hour due to the lift not yet in service. In the meantime, we skiied the lower slopes. Snow was icy in places particularly the sides of runs and the upper reaches. Once the Summit lift opened, I grabbed my pack and headed up.
In looking for my next winter activation, I came across Tom Dick and Harry (W7O/CN-032) which is on the upper portion of SkiBowl West.
I read Tim N7KOM's summit report from last week and decided to get while the getting was good. Things were still pretty much as he described from the previous weekend. The 2 trees were still blocking the road. The good thing about that is that there is a wide spot in the road just around the previous corner to park. There was only one other wide spot after that to park before the gate and nowhere to turn around.
We didn't make it up to the summit for this one. The road was posted closed for the season. We drove as far as we could up to the summit but it rapidly got nasty and we decided to turn around. Will have to try again in the spring.
On a overcast Friday morning, I headed out to Beacon Rock State Park to activate this summit. I was accompanied by KJ7UIP and we parked at the trailhead parking lot. There are 2 parking lots off highway 14, the eastern one having the restrooms.