Good Views From Summit

Monte Carlo is a nice trail to an open summit near Underwood, WA. This appears to be the shortest and easiest way to Monte Carlo - a hike of less than a mile and about 800 feet gain. 

Thatcher Hill is located in the Portneuf Mountain Range just south of Lava Hot Springs.  Access is off Hwy 34 south of Thatcher, Idaho. The road to access the summit is extremely difficult.  There were deep mud puddles, exposed watermelon sized rocks to negotiate and rock gardens suitable for only 4wd high clearance vehicles. I was mentally exhausted from driving on the road and decided to park the Jeep (42.39139, -111.84305) and hike along the road.

While the road up is rough, Kings Mountain is a great summit to setup and hang out for the afternoon near Usk, Washington. Take the road up from the Skookum Lake C.G. area, about 2 1/2 miles. The road could be a MTB ride as well; 4WD recommended due to erosion and rocks. There's room to park one or two vehicles at the top, plus a small area to turn around. Plenty of large trees for a arborist's throw line to rig your antenna.

East Crater Summit can be accessed from the Northwest via PCT (See http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7ahr/2020-october-10/east-crater-wa-september-2020 )  or from the east side via East Crater Trail #48 (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31748).  This report is for the east side access.

The effort to access this summit was hard to justify 2-points!  Looking at the summit from the road below made me think about abandoning the "planned" 1.50-mile hike and just biting the bullet and going straight up the mountain (.30 miles/739-foot gain).  I made the better choice by opting for the longer hike. Looking at the contours, traversing the side-slope and making gradual elevation gain seemed like a good option.

This was a fun drive and activation.  There had been rain recently and Coal Bank Road was peppered with water hazards and rocky runoff portions.  Though easily passable in a high clearance 4wd, it was NOT Prius friendly. The summit was large and flat with a few trees scattered around for attaching antenna masts.

FAIL - Not Recommended: Unless you happen to be traveling along Highway 46, I would not plan on activating this summit.

Herschberger is a lovely little lookout that you can drive nearly to the top, all but the final stairs and a little trail. The LO is basically right in the AZ so I operated sitting in the doorway (no chairs) for shade. There is zero data at the lookout but if you step out you might get lucky. Great view of CL Rim, Thielson, Rabbit Ears and many other ridges. The lookout was open and not manned. Not sure if this is common.

Weaver would possibly be a bit easier with some trail maintenance but the real challenge is the last ascent. Basically all of the 1000' gain is in the last half mile out of about 2 miles OW. Park at the trailhead for Rogue/Umpqua Divide Trail 43.04046, -122.45929. You will hike around the westside of Jackass Mountain then start hiking around the eastside of another peak between Jackass and Weaver. This is where it gets tricky. I continued down trail and then went off trail to summit and it was pretty difficult.

In my continuing series on easier/shorter approaches to summits, I found a back-side social trail to Barlow Ridge summit.

Originally I was just going to bushwack it (0.6 mile and 400' elevation gain) but upon arrival I discovered this path.