We had great weather and great participation in the September 2017 Willamette Valley Summit-to-Summit Party.

W7O/NC-071, listed as summit number 3058, is a part of what is more commonly referred to as Hembre Ridge.  While formally Hembre Ridge is the ridgeline that runs northeast to southwest, summit 3058 is the highest point in this massif.  I’ll leave it to others to quibble about whether this summit should be renamed.  

Very Short Hike (0.1 Miles, +144 ft.)

Directions:

From Townsend – Drive east 2.4 miles on Hwy-12

Turn left and drive North 15.6 miles on Hwy 284

Turn right and drive 6.4 miles up Confederate Gulch (Good gravel Road)

Turn left and drive 3.3 miles up FS-4161 (Good USFS dirt road – may want some clearance)

4wd + Short Hike

Directions:

Exit east from Exit 85 on I-15

Drive 4.3 miles south on Hwy-91

Turn left on Burma Road – Continue 3.1 miles

Turn left on 2-track at Chokecherry Gulch (by gravel pit)

4wd + Short Hike (0.9 Miles, +631 ft., -215 ft.)

Directions:

Exit east from Exit 85 on I-15

Drive 4.3 miles south on Hwy-91

Turn left on Burma Road – Continue 3.1 miles

Turn left on 2-track at Chokecherry Gulch (by gravel pit)

We had grand plans for the weekend and then saw them all melt away after a couple of received phone calls.  By Sunday afternoon, the sobering reality of a totally adventureless weekend was weighing heavily on us.  As my hope faded, Mrs.

I read up on K7ATN's activation from 2015 and spent a fair amount of time looking at the maps.  It seemed like there was an easier way to the summit than the highly rutted road that he had taken.  Sure enough, there are good roads all the way to the bottom of the approach.  Take Bacona Road out of the little town of Buxton until you come to Buxton Lookout Road that turns off to the right.  Follow Buxton Lookout Road upwards until it reaches the closed yellow gate.

Access to Saturday Rock summit is via NF-42 which begins at Sunset Campground at the end of NE Sunset Falls Road.  The road is well graded, though peppered with its fair share of chuck holes. Follow NF-42 for  approximately 9.4 miles to the intersection with NF-53.  Continue on NF-53 for another 2.4 miles to the intersection of NF-53 and NF-38. Plenty of room to park at the intersection off the main roads.

Willamette Valley and Puget Sound Summit-to-Summit (S2S) Parties
Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 18:00 UTC (11am local)
Frequency: 146.58-fm

Peak 4005 is a near drive-up summit a bit east of Mount Hood, accessed mostly on paved Forest Service roads. You should consider this summit in the Mount Hood 2m FM "dead zone" as we were not able to raise anyone on 146.52.