KE7JWP and I did an attempt on Gambol Knob earlier today. For me this was like the fifth visit to the area of the summit.
Its located in Campbell Global land, so a recreation permit is needed. I have had a motorized permit for a couple of different years. My previous visits were the long way through Campbell Global land......
My last visit made me decide that I wanted somone with me to make this attempt. Lots of steep. Trees. Lots of slash.
This was a summit that I have been wanting to do for quite some time. It appears to be a drive-up summit, because well it is. Except that there are very few areas to pull over as the summit itself is on private property.
A discussion with James, WA7JNJ, suggested he activated at 48.30379, -122.54255. But he was not necessarily recommending it. His activation was short and he has vowed not to return to this summit.....
My wife and I first attempted this a few years back, but only got to within 1/2 mile of the summit and I did not want to leave her at the car. We returned on 7/10/2021 so I could get this fairly easy first activation.
The forest service roads are easy to follow to and we parked at 48.8231, -121.9244. A motorsycle might be able to drive closer to the summit.
The 1/2 mile to get up was 400' in elevation gain. I started out too quickly and had to ratchet it down. I foloowed the road to the end and then traversed to the summit.
Maury Island was recently added to the SOTA database so I was super excited to do this activation with my wife, even though it was only a one pointer. The island is accessible from Vashon Island, which is a ferry boat ride from West Seattle or Tacoma. One could easily get on the ferry boat with their bicycle and bike to this summit.
Sunday, January 15th, 2017 was my attempt to do Mt. Spokane (formerly referred to as Jump-off-Joe). I believe my activation is the first “winter” activation of this peak. As previously reported, there are several ways to access this summit, which even include taking the chair lift in the ski area! Previous activations from other have included driving to the top, hiking, and Mountain Biking. My attempt would be on a snow shoe trail that is well travelled.
Saturday, January 14, 2016, I attempted the first ever winter activation of Quartz Mountain. This summit intrigued me as I have previously skied on the cross country ski trails at Mt. Spokane. The trails, which many are on a Forest roads, create the basis for the cross country trail system. There is a warming hut in somewhat close proximity to the activation point. I believe it is possible to drive up to the summit during the summer. The cross country trail maps shows the road leading to the summit as “occasionally groomed”. It was unclear when or if this trail was groomed this year.
This was my third attempt at Red Mountain. The first time I had not done any previous research on this summit, other than I have seen people on several occasions head up to the final summit (as I walked past to go to Red Pass) that really did not look like they were doing other than a day hike.