A steady, relentless 3000 ft climb over 3.6 mi to the summit. The trail is mostly forested until you make the ridge, about 100 ft (elevation) of the summit, then you get spectacular views of Rainier, Adams, St Helens, and the Goat Rocks. The summit is exposed with a few nearby trees. It also is a repeater site for the USFS. When I was there, it was HOT and really no where to get out of the sun.
On a recent trip to Riffe Lake, I had the opportunity to activate this summit.
On the way over to Bend, I stopped to activate Black Butte. I came on Hwy 20 and turned at NF-11 which is also the turn for Indian Ford Campground. From there I followed north to the turn for NF-1110 (also known as Black Butte Rd) and on around the north of the mountain. After a hairpin turn, there is one more sharp turn to the right which takes you to the upper trailhead. The road up to the last turn was in good shape as of this writing. The upper portion after the last turn was not as good but still very drivable.
This was my first summit on the day of the Central Oregon S2S party.
I had spent the night at the Pine Mountain Observatory Campgrounds which is FCFS so get there early. If it's full, there are dispersed locations but it's hard to find one in the pitch black dark. The observatory requires no headlights (only running lights) at the top so take that into account.
In the morning, I drove back down NF-2017 to the trailhead which also double as a cattle watering station.
This was my second summit for the day of the Central Oregon S2S party.
I had spent the night at the Pine Mountain Observatory Campgrounds which is FCFS so get there early. If it's full, there are dispersed locations but it's hard to find one in the pitch black dark. The observatory requires no headlights (only running lights) at the top so take that into account.
The summit is in pretty much the same shape as previous report linked by Etienne K7ATN.
This summit is a drive-up, albeit a butt clincher at times. Here is an excerpt from summitpost.org:
“Ellen D has an elevation of 8,633 feet, and with a prominence of 2,053 feet, makes the list of Nevada’s 172 prominent peaks. . . .
“An unimproved maintenance road leads to the top of Ellen D Mountain, where you’ll find an impressive array of radio towers, solar panels and maintenance buildings. . . .
Bill K7WXW is an early riser, and I was stoked to find someone keen to get up South Sister for a sunrise activation. We set out from the trailhead in the dark at 2:12am PST. Bill had an issue with his headlamp battery. Luckily, I had a spare headlamp to loan him. With that sorted, we hit the trail.
I left, by accident, my phone (camera) and my antenna mast at the Jeep. By the time I realized it I was too far up the mountain to retrieve them. Luckily I was wearing my Garmin watch and was able to record the route and elevation data. Though not too tall, there are some scrub oak at the summit. This most likely compromised my inverted “V” antenna quite a bit since I could only get on a branch about 6 feet off the ground.
There are no established trails to the summit, but you basically head east up the mountain. This is a total bushwhack, steep and lots of scrub oak and sagebrush. The summit is exposed with lots of room to set-up my inverted “V” wire antenna. The ascent is just shy of a half mile and 500 feet of elevation gain. The first 8 miles of the dirt road is Prius friendly but the remaining drive requires high clearance, though not a 4wd.