Good Views From Summit

Summary - Hiking Three Corner Rock and Birkenfeld together combines good views, no views, an open summit, a forested summit, a long hike, a stiff bushwhack and decent elevation gain. You can do this TRC first or Birkenfeld first. Starting at the Rock Creek Pass trailhead (45.74910, -122.04310) follow the PCT east to (45.71410, -122.00700). From here you have a short steep bushwhack up the ridge to the summit of Birkenfeld. Come back down the same way and return to the way you came, turning off the PCT to the Three Corners Rock trail.

Barklow Mountain is a 2 point summit in the Rogue/Siskiyou National Forest between Powers, OR and Port Orford, OR. The site is a former fire lookout (now gone), serviced by a disused road and a short trail. The summit area has a view to the west and plenty of space to set up a vertical or a wire. Some lookout foundation artifacts remain.

Peak 1980 is on Washington State DNR land approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes north of the Portland Metro area and about 6 miles south of Cougar, WA. This land requires a WA Discovery Pass.

The summit is a drive-up, but the last .75 miles is rough and a mid-clearance vehicle with AWD or better is recommended. See SOTL.AS or Sota Maps for the route GPX file.

There are a few trees remaining for a wire and open space for a vertical. I made one contact on 2m into the Portland Metro during a weekday morning using a half wave whip. You should do better on the weekend.

UPDATE: the instructions given by Bill WJ7WJ in A Good Hand of Pinochle are still accurate.  However, when I was up there last week, there were several trees that had blown over the road and only some of them had been cleared.  I had forgotten to bring the chainsaw and they were too thick to cut with my bow saw.

The description by NR7Y is still accurate in 2024 for the approach from the south.  I had some difficulty finding the correct road to the gate.  Here is a gps track to the gate:  

http://www.pnwsota.org/content/w7onc-007-drive-route

Getting there: The route is quite straighforward. As of October 2024, it is possible to drive the 1/2 mile up the brushed-in logging road from the 5800 road to where the old road grade peels off. There is parking for two vehicles at the start of the bushwhack. 

A drive-up on quite good gravel roads (see below), with great views in all directions (fully logged following forest fire a few years ago).

I came in from the West, leaving the paved road at 44.97599, -122.50586. These subsequent gravel roads were good enough for any passenger car. Just watch for big rocks on the road. There's not much to say about this road. There were very few gates, and I didn't notice any signage near them (unlike below).

From Lake Wenatchee, travel north on Forest Service Road 6200. The Carne Mountain trailhead is at the end of a 13-mile dirt road. The first 11 miles are rough, but the last 2 have recently been regraded and are quite decent. A high clearance vehicle is recommended, although we made it in our low clearance campervan. No pass is required and we slept at the trailhead to get an early start the next morning. The parking lot is small, and people park on the side of the road when the lot is full. It can be difficult to turn around if people park on both sides.

This turned out to be an easy activation. The road has some rutted sections where having a high clearance vehicle is nice but not necessary. Since we were hosting a S2S Party, 2M was no problem, but we also worked many locals on 2M. There are plenty of old Juniper snags to tie off a mast to for HF. Have fun!

See my full report here