Good Parking At Trailhead

This is another fun summit.  Trailhead is at Kelly Park on highway 34 Soda Springs Idaho. Park across from the baseball fields and head south east on the Cross Country Ski trail. You can see the summit's towers East of Soda Springs throughout hike.  You will head for a tan municipal water tank. When you reach the water tank you can either bushwhack to the double track that goes straight up or go about 200 yards north of the water tank and head east at a cutoff then head towards the summit. The access to the summit is partly owned by the city of Soda Springs and BLM land.

Summary - With a three mile, three thousand foot climb, open views of the gorge, and lots of wildflowers, Dog Mountain is a worthy SOTA summit. The first two-thirds of the climb is in the trees, the rest on the windy, exposed mountain crown. The summit itself is thick with brush, so the best operating positions are found on its edge.  A Northwest Discover Pass is required for parking, as is a hiking permit during the wildflower season.

  This is a nice 4 pointer located in Soda Springs Idaho.  Access the Trailhead at the North end of Main Street of downtown Soda Springs. There is a "S" on the Mtn side above the trailhead.  After parking, take the green belt trail N.E. about 200 yards where you will come across a canal clean out crane.  Here you will see a trail going around a concrete barrier that will take you to the "S" on the hillside.  Going to the "S" is moderately steep.  Go to the summit of the "S" hill and looking NW you  you will see Chester Hill.

On the 3rd day of our Bend trip, I got dropped off at the Lava Butte Visitor Center while my wife and kids sped off to the Bend High Desert Museum.  The hike to the top was on a very nice, paved road for 1.75 miles.  I made it up in an hour and looked around the lower level of the firewatch tower on the summit and the surrounding views.

Following my activation of Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095), I proceeded to the next stop on Pringle Butte.  It's only a couple miles drive to there and the summit is almost a drive up.  Google Maps gave excellent directions to the summit and I probably could have driven all the way but on the last turn up to the top there is a little bit of a washout and I decided to just hike the last 0.4 miles.  The summit has a large flat area with a turnaround.  It would likely be a nice overnight camping area though there don't appear to be any established campsites.

WARNING: Google Maps will route you on a road that is no longer publically accessible.

After activating Tumalo Mountain (W7O/CM-011), I proceeded south to Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095) for another activation and winter bonus.  This summit had not been activated since 2014 and significant changes have occured.

On the second day of our Bend trip, I got up early and drove up to Dutchman Flat Sno-Park just across the road from Mt Bachelor skiing.  There were a few remaining parking spaces and some snowmobilers unloading.  I started up the snowtrack over by the restrooms.  At some point, the GPS points up hill and you pick out a likely set of ski or snowshow tracks and follow it uphill.  Eventually, they all seem to lead to the summit.  There are a few orange no-motorized area signs towards the top but those were the only markers visible in the forest.  I ran across a fe

On the last weekend of no permits a weather window opened up for an overnight hike & early morning activation of Mt St Helens. The trail was covered with snow to the parking lot. I hit the trail at 1:20am and made good time to chocolate falls on skis. Somewhere heading up the ridge I had to make the switch to bootpacking the skis. Heavier backpack, but faster travel overall. 

So in my continuing series on how to summit the easy way, I loaded up the family for the tail end of spring break and headed over to Bend, OR.  The weather was gorgeous with just a bit of wind blowing.  That contributed to delaying my activation time by an hour due to the lift not yet in service.  In the meantime, we skiied the lower slopes.  Snow was icy in places particularly the sides of runs and the upper reaches.  Once the Summit lift opened, I grabbed my pack and headed up.

The Nestucca River Byway is a very secluded and off-the-beaten-path route through the North Coastal Range, between HW6 to the North and HW18/HW22 to the South. It's paved from Carlton at least as far West as the turnoff South to Willamina, but not maintained in the winter, so the sign says when approaching from the East from Carlton.