On a brief vacation in Southern California to visit family, I managed to activate three (3) SOTA peaks. This is report 1 of 3 for this trip.
San Gabriel is 1,878 Meters, 6,161 feet elevation. It is a 6 point SOTA Summit.
Identified by SOTA as Chuckanut Mtn, this peak is better known as Blanchard Mountain and is part of the Chuckanut Range. it is located on State Trust Land managed by the DNR. More information about the area may be found at:
www.blanchardmountain.org
A DNR Blanchard Forest Block map can be downloaded at:
This Friday afternoon activation happened on a cool day with the sun breaking through a few clouds for a beatiful sky above the epic scenery. It takes a ferry ride from Anacortes to Orcas Island to get here, but it's sure worth the trip! The main road goes from the ferry dock right through Moran State Park. Turn left at the Y onto the Mt Constitution road, which can take you all the way to a sizeable parking lot at the top.
An early ferry ride out of Anacortes took me to Orcas Island and, after a short drive, I arrived at the Cascade Falls trailhead by about 7 AM. My plans included biking in about 3 miles and hiking up the last 3/4 mile to the summit. Wrong. I was 1/2 hour into the ride when 2 facts became clear: 1. My hybrid bike was not up to the task of handling that muddy, rocky, slippery road - no matter how much air I let out of the tires. 2. My lungs, legs, and nerves weren't up to the task either. I took the bike back down to the truck and began again.
Check out my blog at http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2014/03/larch-mountain-w7wlc-103-sota.html for additional information.
Here is my everytrail post with downloadable GPX tracks - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2713566
Tom, Dick & Harry Mountain is a nice late season snowshoe near Mount Hood. It's about 4 miles one-way and 1850 feet of gain to bag this four-point summit with iconic views of Mount Hood. It's a bit of work with some route-finding on snowshoes, but hopefully this trip report will help you get there.
These eleven miles (RT) seem much farther when you are on snowshoes - take that into account if you should decide to try this winter activation.
A fairly short snowshoe near Mt. Hood gets you two points - in the summer this activation may be a bit more challenging in the bushwack.
Another highly recommended hike and activation - this one in the Clackamas River drainage.
One of the most gorgeous hikes I've taken in Oregon, it's clearly popular during the 'summer' season but we had it all to ourselves this spectacular November Sunday. Note that there are four "Huckleberry Mountain" in the Oregon ARM - one of them is also in WV and is also 2 points - make sure you get yourself to the right one.