Upper Table Rock is a very pleasant 1.25 mile, 736 foot gain (one-way) hike east of Central Point, Oregon. The trail is quite popular, but you should easily find a place to activate away from the crowds on the huge summit.
Skookum Butte is an old US Forest Service lookout at 7215’ on the Idaho/Montana border. The summit and lookout rests on massive granite boulders. Not having enough room at the lookout to secure our long wire antenna, K7PX Steve secured one end of the End Feed Long Wire to the top boulder, pitched the other end over the cliff and operated the antenna from below as a sloper. The lookout offers a fine view of the northeast end of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness.
Patterson Mountain is a 4460’ asl summit a few miles west of Oakridge, OR. It is rated at two points. To get there, drive east on Highway 58 for 24.7 miles from I-5 Exit 188A. Between mile posts 24 and 25 turn right on gravel Patterson Mountain Road 5840 and drive five uphill miles to a fork at Patterson Saddle.
On a beautiful early October day, my XYL and I headed south to check out a W7O/SC-xxx summit. We chose King Mountain, a 5264 ft, four point peak with RF facilities on top. To get there get off of I-5 at Exit 78 and head east onto Speaker Rd. This road merges onto 33-5-10 which continues on past Azalea, OR.
Mount Sylvania is a suburban drive-up site in Lake Oswego with nearly panoramic views of the West Hills, Portland, and points eastward. Directional antennas up though microwave bands do well at this site. Despite its dense residential neighborhood setting the RX noise levels observed were low. A weather station and several vertical antennas are on the summit, but I did not observe these to create any tx/rx issues on any bands I tried.
Wind Mountain is a nice hike in the Gorge with good views (in clear weather). It's about 2.5 miles round-trip and 1000 feet of gain. There's no pass required at the trailhead and it's often less busy than nearby Dog Mountain.
Head east on Highway 14 from Stevenson, Washington about 6.2 miles to Home Valley. Then turn onto Wind Mountain Road for 1.0 miles to turn right onto Girl Scout Road and go about 0.6 miles. This leads to a large dirt parking area at the end of the paving near 45.7145°, -121.7533°. This is usually the best place to park.
5.8 miles, 3,200 ft
Beartooth WMA – Open May 15 - December 2
Directions (From Wolf Creek – North of Helena):
Drive-Up in Summer, Ski or Snowshoe up in Winter
Directions (should be drivable by mid-late June):
Very Short Hike (0.1 Miles, +144 ft.)
Directions:
From Townsend – Drive east 2.4 miles on Hwy-12
Turn left and drive North 15.6 miles on Hwy 284
Turn right and drive 6.4 miles up Confederate Gulch (Good gravel Road)
Turn left and drive 3.3 miles up FS-4161 (Good USFS dirt road – may want some clearance)