I was tipped-off by K7DJL that Salmo was nearly a drive-up summit not too far from our planned camp on Priest Lake. Turned out that it was a fun scenic drive through cedar and hemlock forest and over a couple of mountain passes. The summit looks into Canada so we decided to spend the night in the saddle between the 1960s era US Forest Service Lookout and the actual summit.
1.5-miles, +920 ft
Elk Mountain has a notable 2,166 feet of prominence and a pleasant trail to near the summit.
It is a relatively long drive to the trailhead on good Forest Service Roads. Most vehicles should be able to make it with no troubles, but some clearance is helpful. This summit combines nicely with W7I/IC-172 (Green Mountain), which is a drive-up.
19.7-miles, +4,848 ft; -1,158 ft; From N. Fork Trailhead via Dry Fork
I activated this as the fourth summit on a multi-day backpacking trip. We camped at the mouth of Dwight Creek and climbed from there, from which the summit is a 6.5 mile on-trail hike with 3,200 feet of net elevation gain.
Here's an opportunity to do an easy summit if you are out in the Gorge for wine tasting, other summits or a hike at Catherine Creek. The road walk is short at 0.75 miles one-way and about 200 feet of gain. The road is Priusable the whole way but note that there are a number of "no turn turns" cited by our phone GPS on the way from Highway 14 to the trailhead - the directions below are general.
For those speedy hikers Rhodes Peak can be hiked in a day. For those like me, a trail sloth, a backpack camp at Goat Lake half-way there is a fine alternative for a multi-day hike to three nearby summits. The lake is within a scenic alpine basin next to W7I/NI-108 and looks across a valley to Williams Peak W7I/NI-003. Rhodes Peak is Clearwater County’s highpoint and is sought by those summiting every County highpoint in Idaho.
Williams Peak is a good trail hike with a short off-trail hike and a short rock scramble. The summit has good views but little room for operating. A good alternative is to hunker-in just below the summit and tie off to one of the few snags or live trees on the south side.
Most everyone who has driven to or from southern Oregon has driven over the Sexton summit, one of the main monitored passes during the winter. I never paid attention to the actual mountain until now. It was a nice day drive from my home QTH and we hit one additional summit on the drive back. Unfortunately it was really foggy so there was no view but I think on a clear day it would be nice.
Summary - An easy, if not terribly scenic drive to the trailhead and a short hike to the summit. Travel time to the trailhead was almost two hours. VHF contacts were easy, as was APRS spotting. Trask is on public land but the route I followed goes through a Weyerhauser gate.
Underwood Mountain is a 2 pt summit Northwest of Underwood, WA across the river Northwest from Hood River Oregon. The start point is about 4.5 miles off of highway 14. It is an easy 3 mile hike to the summit with 1400 ft elevation gain on forest roads closed to motor vehicles. There is a short 250 foot doable bushwack to the summit. It would be a very feasible mountain bike activation.
Oreana Ridge is a picturesque summit with scattered trees, grass/forb land, an old US Forest Service L-4 Lookout and a log garage. There are fine views of high peaks in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the steep slopes of Salmon River breaks. The lookout built in