Easy Trail

On this Saturday of the NA SOTA Weekend, at about 10:45am, our party of four set out from Sunrise on Mt. Rainier to walk the Mt. Fremont Lookout trail.  The Lookout promises spectacular northward views of the Grand Park meadows, and the entire trail is hugely scenic.  More to the point, about ½ mile before the Lookout, the trail passes a few hundred feet below the summit of Mt. Fremont, and that was, of course, the real destination for the hams in the group:  myself and Al N7OMS.

I was negligent in posting my Mount Catherine activation here but wanted to get it up for all to enjoy and use. We had a great early start on our way across Washington state on the 24th of August and had a great hike up this summit. This is a highly recommended SOTA for anyone heading through the Snoqualmie Pass area. 

Here is a link to the full blog with more pics and information: 

KF7PXT MOUNT CATHERINE BLOG

A clear, sunny and warm day; beautiful fall colors of yellow, gold, red and purple; a successful activation; and the company of my wife, Sharon and Dexter the SOTA Dog - all made for a very pleasant outing.  Summit Chief Mountain is a 6 point SOTA Summit in Chelan County, above the Stevens Pass Ski Resort area.  It is accessed via highway entirely, being located at Stevens Pass, on SR 2.

Dutton Ridge is one of many peaks located within Crater Lake National Park. There is no
established trail up the ridge but it is easily reached by taking the rim road east from
the lodge.  Once passing the trailhead to Sun Notch, the road rises to a very wide curve
that straddles the shoulder of Dutton Ridge. There is a pullout in the apex of the corner.

Park at the pull-off and proceed directly uphill staying just to the right of the trees
in the open pumice plain. The terrain is very soft especially at the beginning but gets

Mt Scott is the highest point in Crater Lake National Park. It is also the only place wherea normal camera lens can capture the entire lake. Its a popular summit and receives a lot of traffic. The trail-head is on the eastern side of the park directly off the rim road. It's 2.5 miles to the summit with about 1200 ft of elevation gain.

The trail begins in a nice hemlock forest that transitions to scrubby pines with less and less shade or wind breaks available. If its a hot day, take plenty of water and sun protection.

Palouki (Παλούκι, stake or fencepost) is an easy summit within walking distance of Skopolestown on Skopoles Island. The T1 trail will get you there. 

There's also a road towards Moni Sotiros that the trail crosses several times.

Velanidia (Βελανιδιά or oak tree) is a near drive-up near Volos, Greece.

"Sporadic-E Peak" (W7W/RS-019) is known to hikers as South Slide Mountain or, simply, Peak 6620. This 8-point summit, located in the northeastern part of Mt. Rainier National Park offers spectacular views at the end of a vigorous, but straightforward hike. Most of the route is on well-established and maintained trails, although the final 1.5 miles is on an unofficial trail. The final mile takes you across a sharp ridge to several smaller (non-SOTA) peaks before arriving at S. Slide. The 9.5 mile round trip yields about 2,500' of elevation gain.

Mt. Sawyer (W7W/KG-052) is a fun, easy 6 point summit that offers outstanding views of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and way beyond. The trail head has good accessibility from good gravel roads. The summit rises to 5,501' along the western end of the Tonga Ridge. The hike to the summit has 1,200' of elevation gain over about 3 miles (one way). The trails are well-maintained most of the way, although the final ascent includes some sections with vegetation encroaching into the trail. The summit itself has plenty of room for radios and masts, and some reasonably tall trees for wire antennas.

A four (4) point SOTA Summit, close in to Seattle Metro area.  This makes a great first Activation objective.  A quick return trip outing, just before the weather turned bad.  We still ended the Activation early, as it started raining.  Accompanied by my wife Sharon and our Labrador Retriever Dexter the SOTA Dog.