Flagtail mountain is not close to any population center. You can get to it from John Day by traveling south on US-397 and then turning west onto Izee Paulina Lane. Travel this paved road to 44.1618, -119.2511 and turn onto a good gravel road. Drive ~5 miles to an active lookout.
An outing to Pine Mountain offers an opportunity to activate 3 summits: W7O/CE-058, W7O/CE-068, and W7O/CE-176. After activating Pine Mountain. I drove up the road to Pine Benchmark. The road at 43.80666, -120.94173 is gated, but not locked. I drove through and closed the gate behind me.
An outing to Pine Mountain offers an opportunity to activate 3 summits: W7O/CE-058, W7O/CE-068, and W7O/CE-176. I started the day early with Pine Mountain. The main road up the mountain is heavily washboarded. Take 43.80066, -120.93746 and head up the good forest road. A sedan will have no trouble. I parked at the broad saddle and found a trail heading up the mountain.
This is an easy summit to activate. It's just very remote. A large fire lookout is on top of the peak but was not manned the day I was there.
Driving directions: From Yaak, Montana drive 17.5 miles south on 58. Take a left turn onto FS Road 309 and drive 5.27 easy miles to the trailhead. Here there is a winter ski/snowmobile hut with toilets and a large fire pit. Apparently this is a popular winter headquarters for cross country skiing and snowmobiling. The summit is an easy but steep 0.75 miles past the gate on the Forest Service road.
This summit became accessible to the public 2021 thanks to the hard work by a lot of individuals, Private Landowners, The Five Valley Land Trust, Nature Conservancy and the City of Missoula. The summit is private property and contains numerous communications towers. However, the new public access trail provides access to near the Activation Zone.
I think there are 2 ways to get to Arbuckle Mountain. But I only did this one. I don’t recommend this route unless you are a 4x4 enthusiast or maybe by mountain bike.
From Willow Creek Road out of Heppner which turns into NF-53 then turn onto NF-170 (45.16615, -119.23569). This quickly turns into high clearance and eventually into 4wd road. However, it is only 3 miles to the top. I would not recommend this road if it is not dry. There are several turns required, but I did not document them as I took several wrong ones.
Well, at least it’s not another Black Butte. It is also a nice road walk of 5 or 6 miles RT. The distance depends on whether you start at the turn off of the good gravel road or whether you bounce your way up ~0.3 miles to the gate. Elevation gain is 1000 or 800 ft respectively.
An easy summit in the John Day area is Long Creek Mountain. To access it turn east off of Highway 395 on NF-3940. This turn is at the Long Creek Summit, 44.6789, -119.1309. The turn off the highway is steep, but I believe it is Priusable to 44.6626, -119.0480. From here it is half a mile and 250 ft. of gain on a rough road to the summit. You can drive it with high clearance and your mirrors folded in, if you don’t mind a few paint scratches.
If you are touring anywhere near Crater Lake National Park, Garwood Butte is a quiet destination for an activation. The forest road is fairly Priusable and the hike is reasonably short, even if a bit steep in places. As for a number of other summits, one reward for making it to the top is a historic fire lookout. The "upper" trailhead is about 1 mile and 600 feet of gain - from road 3703 it's about 2.3 miles and 1000 feet.
From Roseburg, Oregon turn on OR-138 East / Northeast Diamond Lake Boulevard.
Summary - The trailhead for Bells Mountain (45.79834, -122.40197) is about 45 minutes from SE Portland, the hike is an easy 650' climb on a rock-and-gravel road, and 2M contacts into Portland and Vancouver are possible with a half-wave whip. The view is open; you can see downtown Portland and with trees on the bordering the clearing, it is easy to get a wire into the air. A great "first season" summit. A Northwest Discover Pass is needed to park at the trailhead.