I skied up Cooper Mountain on Feb 6, 2022 for its first-ever winter activation and my first trip up it. This looks to be a drive-up summit in the summer, but winter is a very different story unless you have a snowmobile (there is a groomed snowmobile trail all the way to the summit, so that would be quite easy). However, I do not have a snowmobile, so I made the trip on my new Altai Hok 125 cm skis.
Yesterday morning I climbed Mt. Hood (W7O/CN-001) for a sunrise SOTA. I think this was my 6th ascent of Hood. Conditions on the mountain change daily & weekly. This was one of the more difficult ascents & descents.
My friends and I left the climbers lot at Timberline just before 2am. We took our time and made the top of Palmer around 3:40am. After a quick breakfast we continued up the mountain on good solid snow. We were hit with sulfur from Devils Kitchen throughout the hike up.
Wickiup Mountain is a summit on the edge of Astoria's Bear Creek Watershed, from which they draw their water, as well as an active radio site. As such, access from the south is gated, and road access from the north stops just shy of the summit. What followed is one of the thickest, roughest bushwhacks, mile for mile, of my SOTA career, but it was nice to tick this one off the list. If you route find a little better than I do, you might have a better time, and if you hit it earlier in the year, the die-back of the brush might benefit you.
Not recommended at all. This was treacherous. I got pretty torn up trying to get through some difficult brush and rocky cliffs. I never made it to the very peak and had to call it good enough because of exhaustion, dangerous drops, being alone etc. I also lost my pole somewhere trying to get through the 10ft tall thickets I am guessing. It was rough. If I every try again I will try a different route and will definitely not do it alone.
de AG7GP
17.6 miles; + 5,900 feet; -1,900 feet; From the TH near Gibson Dam
Another one I have wanted to get over to do before the snow comes. The area is magical this time of the year with the aspen turning around the basin. The hike was pretty difficult. Combination of bushwacking in tall brush, lava flow, and down trees. I parked SW of the peak, near where there once was road 3519-700, still on some maps. I was trying to beat an incoming storm and it got very windy but my big dilemma was I got to boulder climbing to the peak, just past the AZ and my dog would not go further.
Summary - From Portland, a long, relatively easy drive (2WD okay) and a short, difficult bushwhack will net you a big beautiful view from a very small summit. 2M is likely to be difficult, bring a mast if you want to do HF, and be prepared to scramble if you want to operate from the summit itself.
NOTE: Forest Road 9341 is blocked by a rockslide at 46.23071, -121.82871 and there is an additional 3 mi approach to the trailhead on pavement.
This was summit 2 of a 2 First Activation day.
This summit is inside a WA Resource Management Area near the Spokane Indian Reservation. I parked along Rail Canyon rd. to access the state land. A gate at the access road marks the beginning of the hike. I used two main dirt roads to get close to the summit and then bushwhacked the last 1,000 ft. Use caution, this area had a forest fire this summer; fallen trees and loose objects make this hike challenging. At the summit I was able to get simplex contacts on 2m with ease. Plenty of trees to use with a throw line for my EFHW setup. No water; moose tracks in the area.
1.2 miles round trip. ~900ft elevation gain. Moderate bushwhack.
Gold Peak is a one point steep bushwhack in the Tillamook State Forest. To get to the trailhead one needs first to get to the Trask River Road out of the town of Tillamook. From Portland there are two cutoffs. One is longer and paved, the other good gravel. Travel times are similar, but the gravel route is shorter.