[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).