Treacherous Trail

Blowout Benchmark is a short hike and cross-country summit near Detroit, Oregon. There are no views but you get to enjoy the quiet of a second-growth forest.

Peak 3700 is a bit of an adventure, but certainly do-able summit near Detroit, Oregon. You'll follow a long-abandoned logging road and head cross-country for the final ascent into the Activation Zone. There are no views and the final ascent is very rough, but you get to enjoy the quiet of a second-growth forest.

Here's an out of the way summit south of Prineville, Oregon with nice views and plenty of quiet. The drive towards the summit on Highway 27 is along the Wild and Scenic Crooked River and is lovely in itself with nice camping opportunities. 

Update (5/18): Private Property Alert!

I received a note from Doug W7ZV letting me know that I had crossed private property on my hike to Wagner Mountain. In fact the SUMMIT of Wagner is apparently private property, owned by Young Life's Washington Family Ranch. The river map I was using did not indicate this, and there are no private property signs in this remote area. In short, I had no way of knowing that I would be entering private property on this hike.

0.7 miles (+940 feet, -190 feet) from saddle; 12.2 mile approach from Dearborn TH

We made this part of a 4-day backpacking trip that included W7M/CL-057 (Peak 7676) and W7M/CL-008 (Caribout Peak).  See also the trip reports for these summits.  The trip report for W7M/CL-082 describes trailhead parking at the Dearborn Trailhead & the initial portion of the trail to our campsite on the Continental Divide between Blacktail Creek and the Lander’s Fork.

Ten miles from Tillamook and off Highway 6 there is a near drive-up summit – Blue Ridge. The road is a bit rough in places but should be okay in a carefully driven passenger vehicle. Don’t confuse this Blue Ridge with W7O/SC-202 Blue Ridge near Coos Bay. The hike is short but steep 0.2 miles.

Birkenfeld Mountain is a summit best done as part of a one-way traverse that would include Three Corner Rock-W7W/LC-101 and Greenleaf Peak-W7W/LC-104.

Green Mountain, W7O/CM-109, is a two-point summit above the Calapooia River drainage in Oregon. It is 4505' asl and has a lookout tower on top. At least one hiking internet site said that it should be open to access by the public. I downloaded the Google Maps directions to it and headed off Thursday morning, May 18, 2017.

Peak 4620 is a backcountry snowshoe activation that can be done in the winter if you don't mind using a GPS and are comfortable with off-trail navigation.

A first activation of Eureka Peak on snowshoes turned out to be quite a workout. The basic climb description is about 2.5 miles one way and 1200 feet of gain, but the real work is off the trail with the last half mile being particularly steep. Since there is no trail to the top this would be difficult to do without snow cover.