Easy Trail

Cedar Mtn is located 25 miles South of Pocatello ID.  From Pocatello take I-15 to the Arimo ext.40. Then proceed West on Arimo Rd until you come to South Robin road. Take a left on S.Robin Rd until you come to W.Sublett Rd. Take a right, the summit will be in front of you and go west until you see a "Sportsman's Access Road, No Motorized Vehicles Beyond This Point". Hike on this double track until you reach the BLM boundary. The double track will take you to the top of a saddle. Here you will need to bushwhack about a half mile north to the activation zone.

On the 3rd day of our Bend trip, I got dropped off at the Lava Butte Visitor Center while my wife and kids sped off to the Bend High Desert Museum.  The hike to the top was on a very nice, paved road for 1.75 miles.  I made it up in an hour and looked around the lower level of the firewatch tower on the summit and the surrounding views.

Following my activation of Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095), I proceeded to the next stop on Pringle Butte.  It's only a couple miles drive to there and the summit is almost a drive up.  Google Maps gave excellent directions to the summit and I probably could have driven all the way but on the last turn up to the top there is a little bit of a washout and I decided to just hike the last 0.4 miles.  The summit has a large flat area with a turnaround.  It would likely be a nice overnight camping area though there don't appear to be any established campsites.

On the second day of our Bend trip, I got up early and drove up to Dutchman Flat Sno-Park just across the road from Mt Bachelor skiing.  There were a few remaining parking spaces and some snowmobilers unloading.  I started up the snowtrack over by the restrooms.  At some point, the GPS points up hill and you pick out a likely set of ski or snowshow tracks and follow it uphill.  Eventually, they all seem to lead to the summit.  There are a few orange no-motorized area signs towards the top but those were the only markers visible in the forest.  I ran across a fe

If ever in the area I highly recommend detouring up to Agency Hill. The mountain itself recently burned in the 2-4-2 Fire but the view from above is amazing. You look down at Crooked Creek, a winding creek in the basin that eventually gets to Agency Lake. Upper Klamath, Shasta, Mountain Lakes caldera, Crater Lake rim, McLoughlin, Pelican. You can see so much. This whole area has a lot to offer. Lots of eye candy! High clearance vehicle recommended. Follow any map straight up to summit. Plenty of area to set up but you may get a little sooty and it can be dusty.

In looking for my next winter activation, I came across Tom Dick and Harry (W7O/CN-032) which is on the upper portion of SkiBowl West.

We did this summit as a winter snowmobile trip with Cooper Mtn. and Poison Peak.

See full report here:

http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/wu7h/2022-march-04/cooper-mountain-wa-feb-2022

We did this summit as a winter snowmobile trip with Cooper Mtn. and Fox Peak.

See full report here:

http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/wu7h/2022-march-04/cooper-mountain-wa-feb-2022

WW7D and I set out on an adventure to see if we could activate Cooper Mountain via snowmobile. We knew that it was theoretically possible since Cooper Mountain lies on a groomed snowmobile trail. The only intel we had was a 7 day old trail grooming report. We knew from past experience that we might arrive to find the snow park gated or the trail impassible due to downed trees, lack of snow, etc. We decided to roll the dice and make the long journey from the Seattle area to Chelan, WA.

Here is a pavement to trailhead activation if you find yourself in the Columbia River Gorge near White Salmon, WA. A short hike of 1 mile and 700 feet of elevation gain will get you the chance at this 2 pointer. The hike is mostly on a good gravel road and the last bit is easy cross country (for now) as they ran a cat over almost all of it, so not much to push through or step over. There are stumps around and a couple of tall “habitat trees” that are likely in the AZ if you need that sort of antenna support.