I activated these two peaks, NC116 and 118, during summer 2021. At the time, Weyerhaeuser had recently taken ownership of the parcel, and marked the area as open to public walk-in access. Unfortunately, Weyerhaeuser has now moved this land under a lease. Unless you can identify the lease owner and join their club for legal access, these peaks are no longer accessible to activators.
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The recent update of the W7O ARM (Association Reference Manual) moved the activation zone of Frog Lake Buttes to the higher of the two butte summits, which gave me a reason to repeat one of my annual snowshoe hikes, notch another unique, and collect a winter bonus. This was my fourth trip to the summit (three in the winter, one in the summer).
Lenhart Butte is a drive-up or near drive-up just east of Sandy, Oregon. The access is via paved roads. Your GPS will guide you to the parking area, 45.34611, -122.1697, or at least mine did.
The parking area is also in the activation zone, but is also pretty much in someone’s front yard.
There is a gated road with a no parking sign on it. This road leads to a radio tower installation that is a tad higher and less than a half mile away. The towers are a bit more secluded.
Blue Ridge has moved a bit since it was NC-037. The vehicle access is the same as it was as written up here: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7atn/2018-february-04/blue-ridge-or-february-2018
I'm running the Badger Mountain Challenge trail race this Saturday 25 Mar, which crosses through the AZ of Badger Mountain W7W/WE-061 as part of the course. I'd like to attempt a quick SOTA activation when I cross through the AZ on 146.58-FM. If you live in the area or know other Hams who are local, please monitor that freq and I'll log as many chasers as I can. I should be at the summit sometime between 1030 and Noon. Thanks in advance.
http://www.badgermountainchallenge.com/
Matt - W7MDN
The Larch Mtn access road will be closed for paving "most of 2023". See https://www.multco.us/roads/webform/larch-mountain-road-paving-and-repair for the details.
Horse Creek Butte doesn’t appear as classically defined buttes nor typical of buttes that characterize many Idaho and Montana landscapes. It has a highly fractured ridge of boulders capping the summit, but with little geological relief from the surrounding subalpine fir, and lodgepole and whitebark pine forest. The summit route has good views of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, remote sections of the Salmon-Challis National Forest and large areas of burned forest.
I did the first activation of Sheridan Mountain in July of 2015. I wrote up a quick trip report for the NASOTA group and planned to write a more detailed trip report later, but I lost my notes for the activation. Sheridan has not been activated again. I am writing this trip report now with the hope that someone will find it useful. Sheridan is not an easy summit to get to or climb, but it's not that hard either.
Let's sart with my original trip report and then I will add some commentary from memory.
Cline Buttes is a moderate hike/ride, depending on your approach. The traditional mtb route is to start off the quarry road on the east side and climb the Cline Butte XC Trail around the west side interconnecting with FAA access road to the summit. There is a short cut near the summit that keeps you on the west side of the butte and drops you out right at several big rocks that are in the AZ and can provide some wind protection. 2M can work well but having had one failed activation for lack of 2M contacts, I highly suggest bringing and HF rig as well.
Baldy Peak was a wonderful and pleasant surprise. I recommend it. The minimum hike is 1.2 miles round trip with about 650’ vertical. The hike can be extended by parking a bit further down B-1000 and hiking up the Buck Creek trail.
I was fortunate enough to be first activator of this summit. I think it was never activated because people were trying to come at it from the Hwy 141 side. Even though there are seasonal access roads, approaching from the East side requires crossing private property. I approached the summit from the West side.