Summary - Drive up summit. A long drive, so do it with other hills in the area. Easy to make 2M contacts and APRS spots. Not a good spot for an extended stay, I'd leave the HF gear in the truck. 2646 is on Weyerhauser land and there are gates to navigate. See my entry on Trask (NC-003) for more info.
Summary - An easy, if not terribly scenic drive to the trailhead and a short hike to the summit. Travel time to the trailhead was almost two hours. VHF contacts were easy, as was APRS spotting. Trask is on public land but the route I followed goes through a Weyerhauser gate.
K7EEX trip report for Wolfe Point (http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7eex/2018-january-13/wolf-point-oregon) mentioned a possible south trail. This report confirms a south access to Wolfe Point.
If coming from Cedar Butte activation, turn off of the road at: N45.57747° W123.63990°. Park at N45.57731° W123.61891° the trail looks like a small drainage (see pic). It is not maintained and hard to follow in places but you can get to the top from this south access.
Oreana Ridge is a picturesque summit with scattered trees, grass/forb land, an old US Forest Service L-4 Lookout and a log garage. There are fine views of high peaks in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the steep slopes of Salmon River breaks. The lookout built in
Tincup Hill summit is a large flat area covered by a regenerated old clearcut of 15-30’ tall lodgepole pine. There are also some mining exploration shallow-trenches cut into the summit area and access ridge. The hike is through easy terrain lacking in downfall or high brush. Trees are available to attach wire antennas.
Looking at maps, I took off for a morning hike to Wilcox Peak figuring there would be a gate part way down the hill. Surprisingly you can drive pretty much just into the AZ. The road finishes at a turnaround/shooting area, unfortunately with a lot of trash. Wish I took some large bags with me, putting it on my list as trash really bothers me in the woods!
I had planned a vacation with my son in Gilbert, Arizona the first week of November 2020 and asked if he could find a few SOTA summits we could activate together. I also flew my daughter in from out-of-state to join us. This is how it actually turned out:
Tuesday, November 3rd - Pinal Peak (W7A/AW-009) gravel road drive-up: 8 Contacts
Wednesday, November 4th - Christopher Mountain (W7A/AW-024) very rough access road & .5 mile hike: 13 Contacts
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.
11.3-miles, +3,828 ft; -574 ft; From N. Fork Trailhead
I activated this as the first summit on a multi-day backpacking trip. We camped at Canyon Lake and climbed from there. There is also camping at Lake Otatsy and Camp Pass. The entire route, including the Lake Otatsy area was burned in the 2017 Rice Ridge fire, so care should be taken in selecting a camp to minimize the danger from standing dead trees. Most of the area around Canyon Lake is not burnt.
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.