Exposed Summit

Between October 21 and October 30, 2020, we visited the Sunriver / Bend areas of Oregon.  The cold but clear weather allowed us to Activate 8 SOTA summits in 6 outings.  This report is one of a series, and deals with the Activation of Pine Benchmark, W7O/CE-068.  A little earlier in the day, we had Activated Pine Mountain, W7O/CE-058, approximately 1.6 miles SE away, as the crow flies.  This duo makes a fine single day Activation with minimal effort getting from one TH to the other.

Between October 21 and October 30, 2020, we visited the Sunriver / Bend areas of Oregon.  The cold but clear weather allowed us to Activate 8 SOTA summits in 6 outings.  This report is one of a series, and deals with the Activation of Pine Mountain, W7O/CE-058.  On the same day, a few hours later, we also Activated Pine Benchmark, W7O/CE-068, which lies approximately 1.6 miles NW of Pine Mountain.  That Activation will be subject of separate report.

Haystack Mountain is one of several SOTA summits near the Magruder Corridor.  This road divides some of the most wild-country in Idaho, the Selway Bitterroot and Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness areas.   A trail system FS#26, and a non-system hunter trail is near the summit however it is much shorter to just bushwhack from the road through mostly open forest.  Only a short obstacle of downed trees slows the otherwise easy hike.&nbsp

One-day, three summits.  A good US Forest Service road system gets one close enough to activate three summits easily in one day, rare in Western Montana.  Burnt Mountain is an open grass/scattered-tree summit.  The other two nearby summits are Golden Mountain (W7M/GA-141) and Babcock Mountain (W7M/GA-146).  Both accessible v

 This summary is for two summits...Joell, KJ7GFN and I started our SOTA trip about 1.5 hrs before daylight, I was hoping to get to the first summit, Smith Rock (also Sky Lakes Wilderness for WWFF), while dx was still happening to EU. We dressed preparing for a freezing morning, forecast was at 20-25f low in the area, figured even cooler at 6000'. I wore the warmest of everything I had since I get cold very easily. But we were fooled! Some sort of an inversion in the mountains was happening and I am guessing it was more around 50-55!

One-day triple-summits activation.  A good US Forest Service road system gets one close enough to activate three summits easily in one day, a bit rare in Western Montana.  The other two summits, Burnt Mountain (W7M/GA-145) and Babcock Mountain (W7M/GA-146) are accessible via short hikes from the same US Forest Service road system. 

This summit is located South of Pocatello Idaho. Take Bannock Highway through town and turn at Gibson Jack Rd. The Trailhead is approx 3 miles on paved road. Once at the Gibson Jack TH take either trail 7015 which is a steep, exposed motorized trail...I would only take a dirt bike or 4 wheeler due to the condition of the trail or you can take single track non-motorized trail number 7014 which is longer but less exposed. I generally choose to hike the motorized trail due to time constraints.

Peak 2020 is relatively easy-to-access summit near the city of Tillamook on BLM land. It's nearly or fully drive up depending on your transport. From the look of the area, it's probably a known go-to spot for offroaders and hunters in the local forest who want a good view and a place for an evening fire.

At less than 4 miles of good road off Highway 93, Sula Peak is a popular ‘travelers’ summit for drive-up VHF DN25/DN35 and SOTA activations.  A modern US Forest lookout and a communications facility occupy the summit.  Frequently there are bighorn sheep grazing in the area and especially in the spring on the highway. 

Giveout Mountain's summit can be reached by car or truck on generally good logging roads. Portions of the drive up are steep and narrow; I recommend 4WD. There is recent evidence of a shooting range on the summit. During my visit several groups scouted the area and there were at least a dozen such ranges set up in the vicinity. I imagine that arriving in the late morning on a weekend day may lead to disappointment.