K7WXW's picture

dog mountain wa | april 2022

Summit: 
W7W/LC-119

Summary - With a three mile, three thousand foot climb, open views of the gorge, and lots of wildflowers, Dog Mountain is a worthy SOTA summit. The first two-thirds of the climb is in the trees, the rest on the windy, exposed mountain crown. The summit itself is thick with brush, so the best operating positions are found on its edge.  A Northwest Discover Pass is required for parking, as is a hiking permit during the wildflower season.

N0DNF's picture

Chester Hill, Soda Springs Idaho

Summit: 
W7I/SI-193

  This is a nice 4 pointer located in Soda Springs Idaho.  Access the Trailhead at the North end of Main Street of downtown Soda Springs. There is a "S" on the Mtn side above the trailhead.  After parking, take the green belt trail N.E. about 200 yards where you will come across a canal clean out crane.  Here you will see a trail going around a concrete barrier that will take you to the "S" on the hillside.  Going to the "S" is moderately steep.  Go to the summit of the "S" hill and looking NW you  you will see Chester Hill.

NE7ET's picture

Lava Butte, OR | Mar 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CE-188

On the 3rd day of our Bend trip, I got dropped off at the Lava Butte Visitor Center while my wife and kids sped off to the Bend High Desert Museum.  The hike to the top was on a very nice, paved road for 1.75 miles.  I made it up in an hour and looked around the lower level of the firewatch tower on the summit and the surrounding views.

NE7ET's picture

Pringle Butte, OR | Mar 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CM-094

Following my activation of Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095), I proceeded to the next stop on Pringle Butte.  It's only a couple miles drive to there and the summit is almost a drive up.  Google Maps gave excellent directions to the summit and I probably could have driven all the way but on the last turn up to the top there is a little bit of a washout and I decided to just hike the last 0.4 miles.  The summit has a large flat area with a turnaround.  It would likely be a nice overnight camping area though there don't appear to be any established campsites.

NE7ET's picture

Wampus Butte, OR | Mar 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CM-095

WARNING: Google Maps will route you on a road that is no longer publically accessible.

After activating Tumalo Mountain (W7O/CM-011), I proceeded south to Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095) for another activation and winter bonus.  This summit had not been activated since 2014 and significant changes have occured.

NE7ET's picture

Tumalo Mountain, OR by snowshoe | Mar 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CM-011

On the second day of our Bend trip, I got up early and drove up to Dutchman Flat Sno-Park just across the road from Mt Bachelor skiing.  There were a few remaining parking spaces and some snowmobilers unloading.  I started up the snowtrack over by the restrooms.  At some point, the GPS points up hill and you pick out a likely set of ski or snowshow tracks and follow it uphill.  Eventually, they all seem to lead to the summit.  There are a few orange no-motorized area signs towards the top but those were the only markers visible in the forest.  I ran across a fe

N7KOM's picture

Mt St Helens, WA | March 2022

Summit: 
W7W/LC-001

On the last weekend of no permits a weather window opened up for an overnight hike & early morning activation of Mt St Helens. The trail was covered with snow to the parking lot. I hit the trail at 1:20am and made good time to chocolate falls on skis. Somewhere heading up the ridge I had to make the switch to bootpacking the skis. Heavier backpack, but faster travel overall. 

NR7Y's picture

2399, Or | March 2022

Summit: 
W7O/NC-091

Confirming Bill WJ7WJ's report a couple years ago, this peak contunues to be a drive-up. Like Bill, I managed to activate it by hiking up the OHV trail to the southwest of the peak, but confirmed the drive-up path exists and is workable in all but the most fragile passenger car. If your transport has gone to South Saddle, it can do this one too.

WB7VTY's picture

Brief Grizzly Mountain Notes

Summit: 
W7O/CE-135

Just a couple of notes about Grizzly Mountain.  First, dont try to google map the directions to the road (NW Grizzly Mountain Road).  Ive been up there many times since I grew up over there but never tried google just to see what it said.  Today I did. Im not sure where google was going, but Im sure it would have never actually gotten me to the correct turn off.  Id still be wondering through the sage brush on the completely wrong side of the mountain.

NE7ET's picture

Mt Bachelor, OR - the Easy Way | March 2022

Summit: 
W7O/CM-005

So in my continuing series on how to summit the easy way, I loaded up the family for the tail end of spring break and headed over to Bend, OR.  The weather was gorgeous with just a bit of wind blowing.  That contributed to delaying my activation time by an hour due to the lift not yet in service.  In the meantime, we skiied the lower slopes.  Snow was icy in places particularly the sides of runs and the upper reaches.  Once the Summit lift opened, I grabbed my pack and headed up.