Good Views From Summit

This is a fairly easiy ascess summit, good for a quick activation if in the area. Start by taking Parish Lake road off Highway 22 at (44.525530, -121.994293).

I hiked this with Bill K7WXW and my wife as part of a two summit hike.  Bill did a good job of covering the hike.  There is lots of overgrown shrubbery on the bottom half, but it is does not rise to the level of bushwhacking at this time.  Give it a few more years wihtout trail maintenance and it will be more interesting.  This was a enjoyable hike with great views and good 2m contacts into Portland.

Summary - Rocky Top, on the edge of the Beachie Creek Lionshead burn, is a short hike, about .75mi and 700ft, from the trailhead. The drive up from HW22 is 8.5 miles, much of it narrow, exposed and rough but doable with 2WD. You may want to stop at the trailhead for the Arch and hike the last two miles of road up.  The hike, unshaded and generally steep, ends in a small, rocky, burned over, summit.

Summary - Mount Beachie, on the edge of the Beachie Creek Lionshead burn, is hiked from a trailhead above Elk Lake.  The fire burned over the top here, so it is a little desolate on top. 2M contacts, with a better-than-stock antenna, are possible. I did not turn on APRS.  The trail is rough the whole way and by turns, steep, rocky, buggy, boggy, and overgrown.

Summary - Battle Ax, on the edge of the Beachie Creek Lionshead burn, is hiked from a trailhead above Elk Lake. The trail is often rough and rocky and the last quarter mile, steep. The hike from the trailhead to the summit is about 2.6mi and 1700ft. Trekking poles and shoes good on rock are handy. The summit is open, with the remains of a lookout and views of all the big mountains; you'll need a mast to put up an HF wire.  2M contacts, with a better-than-stock antenna, are possible. I did not turn on APRS and ATT digital service was in and out.

Table Rock lies between Summer Lake and Fort Rock in central Oregon. It's easily visible and obvious for miles--a large round platau surrounded by desert. Views are great, of course.

USFS-Yakima Tribal lands bisect this summit.  Activate to the west to be on USFS properties.  See the attached map.  Beautiful views of Mt Adams to the north but an exposed summit, i.e. can be windy.

While we used motorcycles to get to this summer, a descent AWD car should have no problem with the road. There is enough space just to the south of the cow area to park one or two rigs and the hike is relatively quick. Not much in the way of shade so plan accordingly and bring extra water. This is pretty remote country but in the event of an emergency, you could likely get into the HiDARG Repeater on Sharps Butte [147.300+, T162.2].

Just to add an alternate route if you don't have an Inland Empire Paper permit.

There is a gated access road that starts at the same Blanchard Hump parking area as previously mentioned.

Follow the road upwards which has quite a few switchbacks so the distance uphill is more like 2.75 miles OW.

The road is part of Hancock Timber IX and is posted for non-motorized access only.  Partway up, the land ownership transitions to WA DNR for most of the rest of the way to the top.

This summit was a bit of a drive up from Highway 95.  Turn east onto E Ohio Match Rd and follow until E Forest Service Rd 1552.  This becomes gravel and then dirt and then rather rutted dirt.  A car might be able to navigate the ruts with careful driving but a high clearance vehicle or 4x4 would be better.  The upper portion of the road gets better.  Park at (47.87615426731026, -116.63432109643475) and follow the spur road around to the summit.  Hike is around 2 miles and 800' elevation OW.  The spur road had a couple tank traps in it and appears to dwindl