Shady Trail

Summary - Three Corner Rock (TRC) is easy to get to, includes a lovely forest hike with a steady climb, and a open summit with great views. 2M contacts into Portland are easy to make with a half-wave whip. Bring a mast if you want to put a wire in the air as there is only one, eight foot tall, tree to work with.  The drive is about 90 minutes from the east side of Portland. The hike climbs about 1100 feet over two miles and is mostly on the well-used PCT.

K7ATN provided a good winter access trip report, but there is a very easy trail to the summit of Multorpor mountain that bypasses having to deal with any Ski Bowl access. This activation would be good for new SOTA activators. It is easy to get to and is an easy summit trail under the shade of a forest canopy on the way up. My hike was under 3 miles and under 800 feet of climbing, you could shorten it by parking closer on the road, see below.

Summary - Saturday Rock is easy to get to, about two hours from Portland, has awesome views and a short, sometimes gnarly and steep, bushwhack. Park at 45.85645, -122.17190 and follow the ridge to the summit. The first clear area you encounter on the top isn't it, keep going!  Trees to hang wires, easy 2M QSOs, good APRS connectivity, spotty cell service. National Forest parking pass required.

K7ATN reported poor road/driving conditions when attempting to get to the Zig Zag Mountain trailhead on the south side of Zig Zag Mountain. This report shares activation information for the north approach from Riley Horse Campground. The drive can easily be done in a passenger car (recreation permit to park). There are two options from this point, I took Cast Creek trail, and it was 12.8 miles RT with 3900 ft vertical climbing total.

We have been planning this climb for over 18 months. Our entire family was going to do the adventure in June of 2020, but COVID closed the park. Really I began planning before that. Shortly after I started SOTA, I began refining my kit and learning CW with the intent of one day being prepared for this mountain.

Our group:

Well, we made it back alive.  Bennett Pass Rd/NF-3550 is a single lane (which serves both directions) dirt track.

We had spent the night at Rock Creek CG and thus driving up NF-4860 to the turn at the intersection with NF-3550.  There are, however, only 1 or 2 places to turn around after that.  We had to digg (a 4-letter word) through 2 snow banks to gain passage and only saw one other vehicle (a Jeep) on the route.  High clearance 4x4 vehicle required on NF-3550.

Full Quieting Mountain was instead fully quiet at least on 2m FM. Maybe it should be called Evil Step Sister as it lurks unattractively above Sleeping Beauty. (Did fine on HF)

Looks like there may be a shorter bushwhack from the north when examining the map. However, I was invited to hike Sleeping Beauty by some friends. Answering the question why isn’t Sleeping Beauty a SOTA summit leads you to Peak 5060, which has the required promonance. 

So I started from the official Sleeping Beauty trailhead:

Trail access to Round Mountain is good, but the last 100 meters or so of vertical is not. Cell service at the parking lot and on the summit is present, but spotty in between. I heard good strong signals for APRS on the summit. A comfortable skill set with crampons and ice axle will certainly make the last 100 meters or so pleasant. I have summited twice, once in winter on skis, and once late spring. Lots of snow still in June hence my recommendation to use crampons and ice axe. Not totally necessary, but certainly easier and easier on the vegatation.

Indian Spring Butte is very near Strawberry Mountain (W7O/NE-018) and it is possible to summit both in a single day. It is 0.8 miles one way and 600 feet of gain. There is no defined trail, but the access is straightforward because of minimal undergrowth under the tree canopy and it is an easy ridgeline to follow.

One of the four Wildcat Mountains in Oregon, this one is a short bushwhack from a Honda-Fit-accessible road, and as it is directly across NF2655 from Bunchgrass Mountain W7O/CM-087, these peaks would make an excellent pair or trio with Iron Mountain. 

On US 20, turn south onto NF15 and follow twists and turns, and several forks, to a sign on the left that says Fritz Wildcat, at 44.3437, -122.1303. Follow this road up to climb the ridge, and park at 44.3296, -122.1014, the saddle. Google has all these roads marked and it can get you there.