Treacherous Trail

This and W7O/SC-288 were detours after I got off work. I work overnight in the Applegate area and get done at 9am so had the day ahead of me and decided to check the area out. This summit was short hike but not easy. It was straight up in crumbly earth with slippery madrone leaves on top. I forgot my trekking poles and had to find a couple limbs to help me out. Once to the top, it was a peaceful little treed area, part of it a very old road. Easy set up.

This and W7O/SC-288 were detours after I got off work. I work overnight in the Applegate area and get done at 9am so had the day ahead of me and decided to check the area out. This summit was short hike but not easy. It was straight up in crumbly earth with slippery madrone leaves on top. I forgot my trekking poles and had to find a couple limbs to help me out. Once to the top, it was a peaceful little treed area, part of it a very old road. Easy set up.

Doris Peaks is my name for a set of peaks above Doris Lake.

My stats:

Distance: 9.1 miles

Elevation Gain: 2000 ft

On trail: 6 miles

Off trail: 3.1 miles

Difficulty: Arduous

Quick search of sota summits finds 30 Goat Mountains, exclusive of my favorites: Old Goat Mountain and Scape Goat Mountain. Can unfortunately relate to both of those.

There are six in W7W and 2 in W7W/LC. This blog is about W7W/LC-035. The plan for this trip was found on summitpost: https://www.summitpost.org/goat-mountain/153737. Andrew, K7AHR, and I followed those directions to a successful activation.

Yainax Butte, or as the surveyor pin says, “Yonna”, was a mountain I was hoping to drive up to the lookout and do a quick activation on my way to SOTA campout/"expedition" in the Fremont NF west of Lakeview. The roads were awful. There are a couple ways to get there, just follow the maps but once you get to the main access road to summit, it is extreme 4wd rutty, rock crawl for about 3 or 4 miles. We ended up going all the way but I do not recommend it. It would be better off as maybe a  day hike up rather than drive.

After my success over at Break In Pk., I continued on to Lone Butte to give it another go, after my previously failed attempt. Access remains the same, only take the road in if PNW pinstriping is something you like to adorn your paint.

I referenced K7ATN's blog post from a couple years ago and found some revised signage, new road clearing efforts and noted some additional GPS turn coordinates.  Here is an updated trip report for Monte Cristo HP in the Trout Lake area of WA. And here's the previous trip report: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7atn/2018-november-16/monte-cristo-hp-wa-nov-2018.

I have to say, this was a fun hike, it's really my style.  It is truly a bushwhack hike, there is no trail, and you will not be afforded a road or any kind of guide.  A GPS waypoint of the peak is absolutely necessary, and even that won't help you at points from getting into trouble with really dense, thick undergrowth.  Be prepared to climb over and through stands of pine trees, manzanita, and deadfall.  This area is littered with old logging roads, which have given rise to dense thick stands of 1" pine trees 6 inches apart.  The path you will likely take crosses t

This was literally my first activation.  I've been thinking about SOTA on and off for 7+ years now.  Ray & Max posted a trip that they took to this same summit maybe 6 years ago, but I took a different route.  Looking at the maps, and reading the rules, the route they took is along the OHV roads which are closed to vehicle traffic.  The entirety of Horse Ridge is closed to motorized vehicle travel.  Instead, I parked along the south edge of the Horse Ridge area along Ford road, along a spot where I could easily pull off and not be in the road itself.

Adrian, Patrick and I headed up for some backpacking/activating on Friday. We drove to South Breitenbush Trailhead with the intent of camping 2 miles in then attempting a first activation of Dinah-Mo Peak and heading back down the next day. Well, with what I thought was an hour of slack time, we encountered first some downed trees on NF46 (Clackamas River Hwy - Breitenbush River Road) and then were stopped by downed trees a mile and a half from the trailhead. No big deal, we have a little time, right?