NOTE in January 2021 - This summit has been posted PERMIT REQUIRED FOR ALL ACCESS by Weyerhauser. See photo below.
I read up on K7ATN's activation from 2015 and spent a fair amount of time looking at the maps. It seemed like there was an easier way to the summit than the highly rutted road that he had taken. Sure enough, there are good roads all the way to the bottom of the approach.
Peavine Mountain is a drive-up summit a bit east of Mount Hood, accessed mostly on paved Forest Service roads. You should consider this summit in the Mount Hood 2m FM "dead zone" as we were not able to raise anyone on 146.52, even after begging on the Mt. Hood repeater.
Travel on Highway 6, and turn north onto Cedar Butte Road between milepost 17 and 18. Drive over the bridge and continue straight at the Muesial Creek Road junction (0.1 mile). There are signs at each junction that direct you to the Cedar Butte Trailhead, however, mark your mileage here and watch for posted signs. The trailhead is about 5.5 miles from this point, although the sign says 5.7. At 2.0 miles turn right at the “Y” intersection. At 4.8 miles, the Cedar Butte Road veers left.
This summit had never been activated and I now know why! The USGS maps would have you believe there is a road to the summit. There actually was a road when the forestry lookout was standing, but the last 1-1/2 miles of road is now overgrown and would take some guts and a great off-road 4-wheeler to traverse it. These same last miles are steep and unrelenting, though completely forested. When the so-called road ends. there are a few hundred feet of vertical trail required to reach the summt.
On June 7, 2017 my wife and I were in the region east of Canyonville, OR. After enjoying Pickett Butte, we headed to Acker Rock, another rock outcrop with a lookout perched on top. Both of these are 2 point summits.
I was staying at The Lodge in Castle Rock State Park for a long weekend. This park is just north of City Of Rocks National Reserve which is a world class rock climbing destination. Though I am not a rock climber there are also a whole bunch of nice SOTA summits in the area. I picked CI-131 as I could see it from the front porch of The Lodge. In fact when I was on top, my wife, looking through binoculars, could see me waving at her. How often can your wife actually see you on a summit if she is not also with you?
Huckleberry Mountain and its lookout is well known and for very good reasons. The catwalk around the elevated lookout offers wonderful, 360 degree views. All of the major snow capped peaks from Mt Hood to Thielsen and McLoughlin are visible. In addition, detailed views down into the nearby foothills are there for our enjoyment. The lookout makes a great place to do radio.
If the journey and the scenery are equally important as the activation, this is the summit for you. At about 4 miles, one-way and a modest 2650' of gain to a summit elevation of 3835', this summit offers a 360 degree view of the Columbia River and Chelan area.
This summit is located in the Chelan, WA. Best access is by trail for best and varied views. There is also an access road to maintain the cell towers located on this site, which is a single lane unpaved, narrow, rocky road with drop offs used by maintenance personnel, hang glider folks and tourists.
(0.2 miles, + 155 feet)
This summit is on USFS land & is covered by the Beaverhead-Deerlodge-Central map. The area is open to motorized vehicles on designated routes Dec.3 – Oct. 14.
The trailhead may be approached either from the north (Moose Creek / Maiden Rock I-15 exit), or the south (Melrose I-15 exit). The northern road has two stream crossings that could be problematic during high runoff. The road from the Melrose exit (Trapper Creek Road) is better.