Here's an out of the way summit south of Prineville, Oregon with nice views and plenty of quiet. The drive towards the summit on Highway 27 is along the Wild and Scenic Crooked River and is lovely in itself with nice camping opportunities.
Zero Butte is just west of Condon, Oregon and is an easy drive-up summit. Take Highway 206 4.5 miles west from Condon and turn (left) west onto Richmond Road. Continue 1.5 miles to an unmarked dirt road heading off to the left. This is about where the unexpected subdivision ends and where what looks like a former military installation begins. The dirt road was easily passible in a passenger car for the 0.9 miles to a fence and a gate where the high point is located.
Grizzly Mountain is an easy drive-up summit about 9 miles west of Prineville. The views are great and the road passable in a passenger vehicle - perhaps slowly in the rocky places.
I received a note from Doug W7ZV letting me know that I had crossed private property on my hike to Wagner Mountain. In fact the SUMMIT of Wagner is apparently private property, owned by Young Life's Washington Family Ranch. The river map I was using did not indicate this, and there are no private property signs in this remote area. In short, I had no way of knowing that I would be entering private property on this hike.
Scouted the summit while in the area. Too far into the Coast Range for 2m contacts in the valley. Might be good for S2S contacts or other bands. Summit is easy to drive to approaching from the east, less than a mile off Boundary Road between the Trask & Nestucca drainages, no low-profile vehicles but anything else should be fine. Can drive right to the top, which has decent views and might make a good place to camp out.
Myself and AC7MA set off to activate Hex Mountain (1534m, 6 Points + 3 winter bonus) this past Tuesday (20th March). Here is a short video I made at the summit:
Good parking along the road in a pullout (during winter). Note for winter ascents, stay left of the track at the bottom so you keep high. Do not go right into the quarry as you will need to climb out. We had to snowshoe up mud! We stayed high on the descent. On your climb up, work your way to the left hand summit ridge. No trail and steep, but doable. Metal posts at the top to strap antenna to. Great views
In the summer you may be able to drive into the gravel quarry and take other ridgelines.
A bit over 11 miles from Tillamook on Highway 6 you will find this easy drive-up summit – Peak 2300. The road was graveled smooth in early 2018 and would be drivable in a passenger vehicle, even if a little steep in a few places.
“Bah,” said Scrooge, “Humbug.” At least that was what we thought to ourselves as we looked at the weather forecast for the weekend. The Weather Channel splashed the headlines of a series of epic storms that were lashing the west coast. Regardless, the lead sherpa was determined to get the family out of the house. There would be no sour moods for us! “There is hiking to be done, geocaches to be found, and a summit to be activated!” she proclaimed.
Scrambling much of the Rocky Mountain Front’s limestone summits keeps you looking for good footing as well as viewing the many ancient fossils of life when these high mountains were an ocean floor some 300 million years ago. The fossils are common and so are trails of big horn sheep and mountain goats. The views are outstanding of surrounding rugged SOTA summits and to the east, the vast plains of Montana.