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.
Saddle Mountain might be considered an Oregon "Classic" SOTA hike. Positives are easy access to the trailhead, a lovely hike, wonderful views (in good weather) and a reasonable five miles round trip.
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)
4wd + Short Hike
Directions:
Exit east from Exit 85 on I-15
Drive 4.3 miles south on Hwy-91
Turn left on Burma Road – Continue 3.1 miles
Turn left on 2-track at Chokecherry Gulch (by gravel pit)
We had grand plans for the weekend and then saw them all melt away after a couple of received phone calls. By Sunday afternoon, the sobering reality of a totally adventureless weekend was weighing heavily on us. As my hope faded, Mrs.