Easy Trail

Oregon Butte is the highest peak in the Blue Mountain Range of southeast Washington State. There is a lookout up there which should be staffed by early July.

This is an easy, accessible road walk in a state forest that includes just a little bit of a bushwhack into the activation zone.  It is a perfect "second summit" if you are activating near Elbe, WA.    

Etienne (K7ATN) emailed me a few weeks ahead saying he would be in S. Pierce County, a few miles from Eatonville on June 24.  Hiking with Etienne is one of my favorite ways to activate, so we made plans to meet at Pack Forest for a pleasant hike to the Pack Forest high point  (W7W/RS-068).  

 One of our favorite summits in France, you can visit the winery and then hike up the road to the chapel and play radio! You can even stay overnight in accommodations at the winery. The hike is all of 1km with about 90m of rise. At the chapel there's a bench and some shade - a perfect spot to activate after wine!

It's perhaps easiest to find the summit by finding the winery: Chemin Notre Dame des Anges, 84570 Mormoiron. That's about an hour east of Avigion.

The easiest access to Mont Monnet is a 1.5km road and trail hike with a vertical gain of about 160 meters. Mont Monnet is in the Parc Naturel du Pilat near Longes, France. The map below shows the available trails - the shortest approach of 1.5km is from Col de Grenouze where there is parking (45.4768° 4.6971°).

Grivets is a simple "SOTA-car" (drive-up) summit about 30km south of Grenoble, France. There's nothing remarkable about this one-pointer, but it could be a quick activation stop along the A51.

Le Pet du Loup is a simple and easy summit in the lovely Parc Naturel du Pilat, about 45 minutes south of Lyon, France. Google Translate might let you know that "Le Pet du Loup" really does mean the Fart of the Wolf - a fun name.

It was great to meet club members at SEA-PAC.  I came back motivated to earn my first point! WV-095 (https://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/W7O/WV-095) is Mt Scott and has been frequently activated. It looked pretty straightforward and I had already cycled to the top a few years ago.

May 18th was the Puget Sound S2S party. I had plans to take my son dirt biking in Walker Valley in the afternoon, so I needed a quick summit that was resonably close to Walker Valley ORV park. Mount Cavanagh fit the bill nicely, and was surprisingly pleasent!

After reading K7EEX's warning about Stimson land, I reviewed the maps and Peakbagger reports, and found that a 2.6-mile trail existed starting right from the edge of US 26, up Shields Road, and staying on Tillamook State Forest land for the majority of the trip. In fact, this summit can be activated without ever stepping foot on Stimson land, as the boundary of their land is just a little higher than the activation region, but Stimson has a permissive access policy for non-motorized, leave-no-trace day use, so read their stipulations and head right up.

I just wanted to post a quick update on W7O/NC-044 the previous write up is still accurate but as I understand some people have found it posted no tresspassing I just wanted to post an update from my recent activation there.