Sand Ridge was the first of 3 I did while doing a quick spontaneous one night camping trip to Wood River at Jackson F Kimball State Park. After setting up camp, we went to scout it for the next day but were able to get close enough I decided to hike up and activate it that evening.
Start at the Lewisburg Saddle in the OSU research forest.
Dean Mountain, also labeled on some maps "Dear Mountain", as in Dear Mountain it's been such a long time, sorry I haven't written.
Vineyard Mountain is 2 miles north of Corvallis, OR. Its an easy,
summit for beginners.
From Corvallis, travel north on OR-99W till reaching the "City
Limits Store" at Lewisburg (red light). Turn left onto Lewisburg Rd.
for 1.3 miles. Then, take the right side fork onto Sulfur Springs Rd.
Go another 1.3 mi up to Lewisburg Saddle. At the Saddle, there is
parking for maybe a dozen cars. It's a popular and crowded place.
Go slow near there.
From the trailhead at the Saddle, head NNW on Nettleton Rd. #500.
This is a fairly easiy ascess summit, good for a quick activation if in the area. Start by taking Parish Lake road off Highway 22 at (44.525530, -121.994293).
This summit is a complete Priusable drive up. The actual summit is a few hundred feet distant with about 40 feet of gain, so the road is in the activation zone. Getting to the top is an easy bushwhack through recently logged open forest. To get there find the Mckenzie River and highway 126 whch runs along it.
Turn off of the highway 126 at 44.2371, -122.05542 onto NF-2654 which is paved for a while.
Take a right at 44.2502, -122.0607 to cross Deer Creek.
Take another right onto NF-2655 at 44.2554, -122.0577.
Final right at 44.2584, -122.05348 onto 616.
USFS-Yakima Tribal lands bisect this summit. Activate to the west to be on USFS properties. See the attached map. Beautiful views of Mt Adams to the north but an exposed summit, i.e. can be windy.
While we used motorcycles to get to this summer, a descent AWD car should have no problem with the road. There is enough space just to the south of the cow area to park one or two rigs and the hike is relatively quick. Not much in the way of shade so plan accordingly and bring extra water. This is pretty remote country but in the event of an emergency, you could likely get into the HiDARG Repeater on Sharps Butte [147.300+, T162.2].
Just to add an alternate route if you don't have an Inland Empire Paper permit.
There is a gated access road that starts at the same Blanchard Hump parking area as previously mentioned.
Follow the road upwards which has quite a few switchbacks so the distance uphill is more like 2.75 miles OW.
The road is part of Hancock Timber IX and is posted for non-motorized access only. Partway up, the land ownership transitions to WA DNR for most of the rest of the way to the top.
