Planned on a camping trip for a few weeks to the area so I'd scouted out the summits on the map and noted routes in. Our orignal plan was to camp at and activate W7O/CE-265 - 6057 but in the weeks leading up to the trip, lots of snow had fallen in the higher elevations.
UPDATE MARCH 2023 - W7O/NC-037 has been retired. Please refer to the replacement W7O/NC-129.
Ten miles from Tillamook and off Highway 6 there is a near drive-up summit – Blue Ridge. The road is a bit rough in places but should be okay in a carefully driven passenger vehicle. Don’t confuse this Blue Ridge with W7O/SC-202 Blue Ridge near Coos Bay. The hike is short but steep 0.2 miles.
This is a delightful mile scenic hike to an active US Forest Service Lookout. The staff was very friendly and knew about ham radio. Views are spectacular unless you are there in the middle of an active fire season when smoke obscures the mountains. Getting there is over the better-maintained portion of the Magruder Corridor Road approximately 14 miles west of the Magruder Crossing. The lookout trail begins as an old road, but then transitions to a single-track trail through a very open grass/forb corridor, a snow glade, where deep winter snow drifts persist into the late spring growing season and prevent trees from growing. Steep mountain cliffs, cirques and mountain lakes are adjacent to the trail to the east.
Crescent Butte should be a simple drive-up just off Highway 97 south of La Pine about 17 miles. The roads in the area are quite confusing, and the main track is quite dusty in the summer. Thoughtful consideration of these directions and Google Maps is recommended.
This old Forest Service Lookout site has only a crumpled outhouse, concrete anchor blocks and a few pieces of rusted metal remaining. Young trees have grown up and have limited somewhat the view of the surrounding landscape. It is a short, but steep hike very typical of the ‘ridge access trails’ climbing out of the Selway River. Along the trail though are many old ponderosa pine with large rectangles of missing bark on their boles where the historic Nez Perce people peeled back the bark centuries ago to remove the underlayer of sweet cambium, the growing part of a tree (see photo below). Peoples footprints have been on this area for thousands of years.
Indian Ridge is accessed by trail beginning on the Selway River near Indian Creek Campground. This US Forest Service primitive campground is famous from the humous outdoor book INDIAN CREEK CHRONICLES where the author, college student Pete Fromm spent a winter watching over an Idaho Fish and Game artificial salmon rearing channel. The well- marked summit trail climbs through towering centuries-old ponderosa pine open-forest and some recent fire snag forests.
University Mountain with an adjoining lower non-SOTA summit, Mount Sentinel overlooks the city of Missoula. Access is by three main routes, a road (closed to motor vehicles) or two trails. It is a communication site for several Agency repeaters and a popular summit in summer and winter for hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers. The subordinate summit to the west is a launch site for hang gliders. Visitors can be expected on any of your SOTA activations here.
This must be one of the all time easiest summits to get to. The dirt road is graded with no gravel. The only way to know you're not on asphalt are the occassional potholes. The summit is very large and surrounded with trees that obscure any view of the surrounding vistas. There is a lot of trash scattered around from clay shooting with a large fire ring indicating a party destination. The actual summit is a small knoll to the west of the flat area where I set up both a 2m "J" pole and a random wire HF antenna.
When the plans for the weekend fell through, the sherpas jumped into action and planned something to do before telling me. Fearing that a free weekend would lead to a trudge up some hill hauling a heap of radio gear they seized on the moment to make a unified plan and then make a joint announcement. But they are compassionate souls - as they planned their day of geocaching and photography, they sought to placate the old man by finding a location with a nearby, albeit more mild, summit. And thus the great scheme was launched.
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.