Decided to kick it up a notch this time, (but only one notch) and do a 4 pointer.  But feeling a bit lazy I went looking for a 4-pointer that I could reach without a really long hike.  Gold Mountain, just east of Darrington, fits the bill.  I headed north from downtown Darrington on SR530, and then east on Sauk Prairie Rd.  After a couple miles, turned south on FS24 (pretty good gravel road), and after 4 or 5 miles turned right on FS2420 (OK gravel road with a few potholes to dodge).

A six-point SOTA on a Wednesday? You bet! The July 4th holiday made for a nice mid-week excursion to the hills to one of Washington's fourteen Goat Mountains. This one was twelve miles north of Mt. St. Helens.

After getting stopped at a closed forest road in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, we rerouted and arrived at the trailhead for Goat Mountain Trail #217 a little late. As soon as we stepped out of the Jeep, we knew that we were in for a bloody battle against the "skeeters." I think I was a pint low before I even started climbing.

2011-10-15 Mount Fremont W7/RS-005 CN96DW92

Start elev.: 4291 ft (1308 m)
Max elev.: 7324 ft (2232 m)
Total ascent: 3342 ft (1019 m)
Trip odometer: 11.4mi (18.347km) Up: 5.8mi (9.334km) Down: 5.6mi (8.012km)
Total time: 12h25m Up: 5h33m Down: 2h58m

A good dirt/gravel goes all the way to the top.  There is a small radio tower, container and photo cell structure.  Park somewhere down the hill and make the final hike to the top.  There is good cell coverage and I was able to self spot.  The top is forested so the view is through trees to the Sisters and Mt. Bachelor to the north.

I did not spend a lot of time at the top since the mosquitos were out in force. 

This is an easy 6 pointer but remember to bring your bug spray if you are there in summer.

Stats:
6.8 miles roundtrip
1761 ft elevation gain
Start elevation: 3463 ft
End elevation: 4962 ft

We parked at Falls Creek Horsecamp off Forest Road 65, about 16 miles north of Carson, WA. A call to the Gifford Pinchot National Headquarters a day earlier revealed 3-4 feet of snow at a berry patch just north of Red Mountain at a similar elevation. Begrudgingly, we attached our snowshoes to the back of our packs and then started out on Race Track Trail #171. After a short distance we encountered a kiosk that told us to bury our poop and fill out a wilderness use permit. We dropped a copy in the box and safely tucked away our copy for when a Ranger approached asking to see it.

2011-09-24 Palisades Peak W7/RS-008 CN96EW77

Start elev.: 6111 ft (1863 m)
Max elev.: 7083 ft (2159 m)
Total ascent: 3078 ft (938 m)
Trip odometer: 9.3mi (14.967km) Up: 4.8mi (7.725km) Down: 4.5mi (7.242km)
Total time: 11h07m Up: 4h Down: 2h45m
Video
APRS

Get up soon after 0400. Quick shower and on my way to the garage, to get the car. I packed my backpack Friday afternoon and put some other stuff (GPS, camera, boots, etc.) into a shopping bag. I only had to get dressed and grab the two packs on the morning. My pack weight about 50lbs. I have measured it to be around 49 without the antenna which is in the car and weighs about 2 pounds. Again I will take about 100oz of fluid with me. However, this time I head to a McDrive for breakfast first on the morning. This is what I usually do before hikes. Get two egg sausage McMuffins, which usually last till noon. I take some coke with me and throw a RedBull on the back seat. Maybe it will be good when I get back to the car. 0508 I already drive south on I-5. It is still dark and there is some traffic, but not much.

This is probably the easiest summit to locate in Idaho.  It is a volcanic dome that rises 2500 feet in the middle of the Snake River Lava Plain. You can't miss it.  I accessed it from the ARCO approach, a drive of about 20 miles across a dusty BLM desert road which brought me to the base.  Here I unloaded my ATV and rode up the summit trail which is 5 miles one way. A really fine and popular ATV trail ride.  The trail ends at the very peak where there is a viewing platform and stinky outhouse.

This was really a spur-of-the-moment thing.  I saw the weather was going to be great on Friday, cleared a day off with the boss, and checked over my "portable station": My NorCal NC-20, EFHW tuner and 34' of wire.  Cobbled up a Li-ion battery, and looked over some summit possiblities.  I settled on West Tiger as not being too far away, or too ambitious for a first attempt. (But I wanted to do more than a 1-pointer!)  So I put an alert on SOTAwatch, and set 11:00am local as a start time.

As we headed back from Lakeview Peak earlier in the day, Taylor and I took a detour to go by Bandwidth Mountain. This two-point summit is not significant enough to have an official name, but like many in the Washington SOTA database, it has been assigned a cute amateur-radio name to avoid a simple numbering system. Our outdated topo map software showed a road leading in the direction of the summit, but stopping a couple miles short. However, some satellite reconnaissance ahead of time showed that the road actually went much farther, to just below the base of the summit.

UPDATE (as of June 18, 2017): Weyerhaeuser now requires a recreational permit in order to access this area.