Treacherous Trail

My wife and I first attempted this a few years back, but only got to within 1/2 mile of the summit and I did not want to leave her at the car.  We returned on 7/10/2021 so I could get this fairly easy first activation.

The forest service roads are easy to follow to and we parked at 48.8231, -121.9244. A motorsycle might be able to drive closer to the summit. 

The 1/2 mile to get up was 400' in elevation gain. I started out too quickly and had to ratchet it down. I foloowed the road to the end and then traversed to the summit. 

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:

Brundage Mountain is short, but punchy. Don't let the distance to summit fool you. It goes from a road to a double track that fades into the brush. We mostly followed the gps track from K7MK. His track yields a good spot to cross the creek and keeps you out of the thickest brush. Where we deviated was on dealing with the block below the summit. We opted for climbers right on the ascent and climbers left on the descent. The right side is more rocky and feels like a stairmaster. The left side is more dirt, so more slipping. Pick your poison I suppose, both are steep. 

Today I dragged my Dad, my kids and their cousins up to Gracie Point summit.

I had read another activator who took the southern approach, listed as 5 or so miles one way and a rather steep hike.  I figured that was a bit much for my crew so we went around back to the northern approach.  Starting on S Wenas Rd turning onto Sheep Company Road.  Discovery Pass is required.

Turns out with an Expedition (or other 4WD vehicle) you can drive/bounce slowly all the way to the summit.

We passed a pair of does and a 4-5pt buck.

Bunchgrass Mountain is a bushwhack through meadows of bear grass (presumably its namesake), and trees and brush up higher. It eventually reaches an unavoidable steep push to the AZ, which rewards you with impressive nearly panoramic views of Wolf Rock, Latiwi Mountain, and others to the east. This is across the road from Wildcat W7O/CM-082, and across the highway from Iron Mountain, so they make a good pair or trio if you have the time.

This is a SOTA gem! A landowner blocked access to the original trailhead in 2011, but a new trail has now been established. The new trail has some challenges but is easy to follow, with signs of regular maintenance. The summit offers a wonderful 360-degree panorama view with Mt St Helens looming large just North of the summit.

W6PZA first activated this summit in May of 2020. I read his blog post  and it seemed informative on how to get to the summit. I attempted to summit using the directions from W6PZA from the East side on Forest Service Road 1270720. I attempted to find the grown over road that he used, but quickly found that it is even more grown over now. Bushwhacking is an understatement with this summit.

This is a decent stop-off on the way to the Marys Peak day use area. The easiest approach is from the west, which has the least gain and the shortest path up to the logging roads up there.

NOTE: This route is only available during ski operations of Mt Bachelor Resort. The Summit Chair ski lift only runs during winter and spring ski operations. 

Mount Bachelor offers one of the easiest 10-pointers in Oregon, if you want it. It is possible to buy a lift ticket and take the Summit Chair ski lift nearly to the activation zone. It is only a short hike to the summit proper from the top of the lift.