This summit spans a property boundary between public BLM land and private Stimson land, and although Stimson allows the public to hike on most of their property on weekends, there is no need to enter their property to access the activation zone.
NC-066, in my head named "Souther Saddle" (even though it's not part of a saddle pair), was a nice bike ride into Stimson forest land. This peak forms the lower point of a triangle between South Saddle NC-002 and NC-065, commonly a paired activation. One could easily do both NC-065 and 066 in a day, provided enough time to hike or bike this route. There are also a number of other nearby peaks on the way in/out of the forest area that could be paired if you had time in the day.
This is a 1-point peak in Stimson Logging land, accessible via a hike from their gate on the edge of the Clatsop State Forest. The majority of this hike is on gravel and grass logging road, but the last section of the approach requires a climb across open clear-cut land. This peak would combine well with NC-085 in the same day, as that peak can be accessed by some of the same forest roads without too much backtracking.
I was skunked today on my activation attempt for Round Top, due to fire risk closure. Here's a quick note to myself and other future activators concerning this.
Although Stimson maintains fairly open (hiking) public access rules for their property, they do close access entirely during Industrial Fire Protection Level (IFPL) II or higher. If you are activating in a Stimson propery area during the summer months, check the website ahead of time.
Stimpson western (Oregon) public access rules:
W7O/NC-113 (“good ‘ol 1783” as they say) is a small coastal peak in USFS Siuslaw Forest land. From Hwy 101 take the turnout at (45.065829, -123.948579) — Google calls it “Cascade Head Trail - North Trailhead” as it’s the road that leads to the trailhead. This is forest road NF-1861 and is nicely graveled and easy to drive with a passenger vehicle.
Note: this road is closed by the USFS from Jan 1st to July 15th, effectively making this summit inaccessible during that time.
[Left this in draft form too long, time to attach pictures and publish]
After a failed summit attempt the previous day, I was able to summit Buzzard Butte and make an activation. Although I was only able to make 2 contacts, I enjoyed the activity (first activation for this summit!) and look forward to future activations.
Lesson learned: all forest roads are not created (nor maintained) equal. Buzzard Butte has two seeminly viable routes for approach: off HWY101 from the east via Farmer Creek Road, and from the west near Pacific City via Sandlake Rd. I discovered the east route, although still viable, is a much longer hike than I was planning for. Farmer Creek Rd becomes a forest road and is fairly drivable up to the point that it forks to NF-1034 (45.2585, -123.9035).