Winter activation of a "standard Idaho 2-pointer" (read: barely achievable especially during winter!). I took advantage of a newly activated holiday at work (President's day) to activate the closest summit to Boise. I went up the standard "hiking" summer route. The round trip on foot is 11.5 miles and 3000 ft vertical. The summer "4x4 drive-up" route is gated closed Nov-April and is currently under a bunch of snow.
The activation zone for Cooper Mountain is a (very) short hike above the dog park at Winkelman Park, 10139 SW 175th Ave, Beaverton, Oregon. There is no AZ access from Cooper Mountain Nature Park to the west and the summit proper is posted "No Trespassing."
Hello SOTA Fans! You may have noticed that the PNWSOTA site was off the air for a number of weeks recently. The old server that hosted the site for the past 7 years died. Luckily KK7DS had been keeping backups and we were able to restore the site on a new server. Hooray!!
Shout out to NH6Z for hosting the site for many years. Also a HUGE thanks to Dan KK7DS - without his expertise (and backups!), PNWSOTA would no longer exist and 7 years worth of awesome trip reports and other SOTA data would now be lost!
Peak 5580 is in a cluster of 2-pointers east of Mountain Home Idaho on the north side of Hwy 20. They lie about 1.5 hours from Boise so it makes for a nice trip to knock off a few summits. These summits are generally considered the most achievable around Boise even know it takes a short drive to get there. Other summits in the area require off road driving or longer hikes. Some of the peaks in the cluster are available for year round access (SR-130 being the best), but Peak 5580 is a ways off the highway. In the winter the road is not maintained and could be sn
This was a winter activation of Bearhead Mountain.
WW7D and I decided to give this a shot based on some WTA trip reports that indicated it was possible to drive to the trailhead. We took my 1988 Toyota 4x4 truck that has big tires and is fairly capable off road.
This was a New Year's Eve activation with WW7D. You can find a .GPX file of our route here.
We parked on the side of HWY 2, just east of the turnoff for Smithbrook. This is where everyone who is headed up to Smithbrook for winter sports parks. There were some XC skiiers, and snow mobiles unloading as we pulled in.
Here's a long snowshoe in winter - 7 miles round trip and 800 feet elevation gain. The lookout is rented in the winter, so be sure no one is there if you climb up the stairs to take advantage of the additional height.
We checked out access to Neskowin Ridge in January 2019 and found that it is Miami Corp. property and gated. Google Earth labels the road "Van Duzer Forest Wayside" as it is just a quarter mile west on Highway 22 to the state park with that name.
The current access status was "Walk In Only" and other times of the year it may be restricted further. It appears to be about 3 miles and 1200 feet of gain to the summit from the gate.
By Rob - AE7AP - Activation across the UTC New Year.
Bill - N7MSI & myself had a fine time squeezing 10-points out of a 2-pointer!
Taking Gooseneck Rd off of Highway 22. Same approach as nearby Dorn Peak W7O/CC-013 http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/ki7emx/2017-december-10/dorn-peak-oregon
Once you leave pavement on to gravel, follow road for 2.4 miles. You will come to an 3 way intersection at 44°59'16.96"N 123°30'32.75"W (44.988044° -123.509097°). Turn left here. If you are going to Dorn Peak take the right - it will take you all the way to the summit.