Good Parking At Trailhead

(NOTE: This report covers both Shafer Butte W7I/BC-064 and W7I/BC-070. It is posted twice so that it can link to both summit references on pnwSOTA and SOTAWatch.)

(NOTE: This report covers both Shafer Butte W7I/BC-064 and W7I/BC-070. It is posted twice so that it can link to both summit references on pnwSOTA and SOTAWatch.)

For anyone heading up to Mount Hood or headed from Portland into Central Oregon, Clear Lake Butte would be a nice stop on the way. It's a well graded and mostly paved forest road, suitable for biking or bringing along those that aren't big hikers. And no one would mind arriving at a classic fire lookout.

If you are interested in an atypical activation, this rock might be just for you. A low elevation early spring attainable summit. Located in a WA state park North of Coulee City, WA.  Much more expansive than Beacon Rock and depending on the day of the week, fewer visitors.

Great views and clear terrain for miles. Elevation at top is 2285 feet with a quick gain of 650 feet from the TH thru a steep slot in the cliffs which can be loose rock at times.

Steamboat Rock State Park offers campsites and boating opportunities.

With a clear weather window during a wet week, my wife and I decided we should go hike/run up Lucky Peak.  The trail head is only a couple miles from our house so we spend quite a bit of time on the first few miles of the trail.  This would be our second time hiking all the way to the top.  It would be the first time hiking/running the peak with the SOTA gear on my back though!

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Despite a propensity of warm sunny weather lately, Saturday brought dark overcast skies and the threat of rain in the northern Puget Sound for our Summit to Summit party.  That didn't discourage our activators. 

Stack Rock has become more accessible over the last few years due to private land being converted to public access.  A private donation made it possible for the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley to purchase private land around and on the way to Stack Rock.  More information here at this LINK.  The trail is widely used by hikers, mountain bikers and is now used by those that have drank the SOTA Kool-Aid!

The payoff for this relatively short non-technical summit is huge!  Fantastic 360° views from the summit.  Closest prominent peaks include, Mount Baring, Glacier Peak and the Monte Cristo Group.  I'd been to the summit of Beckler several times prior to learning of SOTA. I recalled the location of Beckler Peak was quite remote; there are no major towns within a 40 mile radius of the peak, and, Beckler is surrounded by many higher peaks.

Nice weather, good company and a successful Activation (including a summit to summit contact with VE7DB on VE7/FV-024) were high points.  The route was not terribly ascetic, and the summit block is a large pile of Basalt talus.  We elected to operate from the false summit to the southeast of the summit block. This was a joint Activation with Tim Nair, KG7EJT.  Joining us was Masako, Tim's wife and Sharon, my wife.  Rounding out the crew was Dexter the SOTA Dog.

UPDATE July 2020: Elk Rock has been posted "No Trespassing" by Weyerhauser. See sign below.

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This was my first attempt to activate a summit and all of this is a first attempt in terms of planning, tools used, the template I used to write this, etc. Let me know  if there are other things you want to know about for future summits.