Exposed Trail

During a 12-day, Self-Guided tour through the Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy, I had the opportunity to activate a few mountains that “happened” to be right along our route.  I was with my XYL, Sharon, and 2 other couples, so my opportunities were somewhat limited by time and patience (or lack thereof) of my travelling companions.  None the less, I managed 4 Activations.  This report deals with the Activation of Monte Pic, I/AA-181.  This easy to ascend peak is 7,753 Feet / 2,363 Meters in elevation.  The reason I report this Activation on the PNW SOTA reflector is to illustrate the outstanding opportunities that await those that venture out to Northern Italy, Switzerland, France, Austria and Germany.  These countries all share in common superb tourist infrastructure and ease of access to thousands of SOTA peaks, ranging from walk ups to world class alpine climbs. There is also the attraction of great food and beer, and hospitable local populations.  Finally, there are also opportunities to reach out to local SOTA Activators, and perhaps go out for joint Activations.

Pasture Ridge is one of several SOTA summits near the Magruder Corridor.  This corridor-road divides some of the most wild-country in Idaho, the Selway Bitterroot and Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness areas. The trail access to the summit begins at the Historic Magruder Ranger Station.

Gerakovuni is the highest point of Mount Othrys. We started in Almyros, about 19 km north of the peak.We did not follow the paint marks but used the GPS to bring us more directly to the summit. I'm not sure that was the best idea. I believe we may have passed through these two waypoints on the way to the summit. 

39.06381, 22.70841     39.05323, 22.69743

 The upland terrain is rocky and open, allowing easy cross-country.

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 Burma Rd HP, AKA Point 4,230, W7O/CE-304.  Prior to coming to the Bend / Sunriver area, I had contacted Ron, W6PZA, who lives in Bend, Oregon.  I had seen on-line that he had been a very consistent Activator in this area, and reached out to him to possibly arrange some joint Activations.  Happily, things worked out, we hit it off, and wound up doing 2 joint Activations - this one, and also North Paulina Peak, the subject of another Activation report.

This is a burned-over flat-summit on the Idaho/Montana Border.  Access is via an obscure 4x4 road that takes off to the north from FS#038.  Along this road after several hundred feet is a flatten area used as a dispersed campsite most commonly in hunting season.  Beyond this area the road becomes an ATV track weaving through a sn

This Idaho/Montana border summit is an easy ‘walk-up’ from US Forest Service Road #044.  The summit is on the Idaho/Montana border.  From the summit are good views of the steep slopes of the Salmon River Canyon and high summits in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. 

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.

Between our October 21, 2020 arrival in Sunriver, Oregon, and our October 30 departure, we were fortunate enough to have a spell of mostly cold and dry weather.  This allowed us to Activate 8 SOTA summits in 6 outings.  We also had the opportunity of doing 2 joint Activations with Ron, W6PZA, of Bend, Oregon - which was a lot of fun!  This report is one of a series, and deals with Mount Bachelor, W7O/CM-005.  The mountain is a Strata-Volcano, standing 9,065 feet in elevation.  It is in close proximity to the Three Sisters Wilderness, with its 3 namesake volcanos, all over 10,000 feet elevation.  Also in the vicinity is Broken Top, a collapsed volcano of over 9,000 feet elevation.  This nearby combination of peaks, together with a parade of many other strata volcanos from Washington State into Northern California, gives Mount Bachelor stunning vistas in all directions.

 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!