I was able to activate Prune Hill this past Friday morning along with Rich KJ7UIP. Google Maps had accurate directions to Dorothy Fox Park which is inside the activation zone. The park was a bit soggy from all the rain but we found a convenient tree to lean a fiberglass mast against w/ a J-pole for 2m.
Got 6 QSO in short order. Thanks again to all our chasers!!!
We then headed up the gorge to activate Beacon Rock (W7W/LC-163).
Wickiup Mountain is a summit on the edge of Astoria's Bear Creek Watershed, from which they draw their water, as well as an active radio site. As such, access from the south is gated, and road access from the north stops just shy of the summit. What followed is one of the thickest, roughest bushwhacks, mile for mile, of my SOTA career, but it was nice to tick this one off the list. If you route find a little better than I do, you might have a better time, and if you hit it earlier in the year, the die-back of the brush might benefit you.
I completed the first-ever activation of Wapato Peak today (Peak 3380). Wapato Peak has no official name in the SOTA database, but several sources mention this one so it's the name that I will use.
There is no established trail, but the hike is fairly easy, with only ~800 feet of elevation gain and a 1.5-2 mile round trip. It is steep at times, but I found it manageable with trekking poles and ordinary hiking boots even with an inch of snow on the ground.
Buck is pretty much a drive up summit if you have the right vehicle. It is one I pretty much just do because I am near and its 6 points, nothing hugely spectacular. Maybe nice if looking to do a shaded one during the summer. There are 2 peaks to the summit that are both in the activation zone. I have always gone to the one the SOTA marker is on but the other I think may offer view? I'll have to remember that for next year.
Treed area, pretty flat, plenty of area to operate.
I have done Surveyor a couple times. The first time I had my closest experience with a bear as one started climbing up the very rocky summit ridge as I took a selfie on top, not seeing her below! I think it was a mama and a young one may have been in a den in the rocks that she pushed out that came around the ridge to where we were. It was quite an experience and I was glad I was not alone. Maggie treed the young bear which added to the excitement. It also could have only been one bear, hard to tell size of them all when caught off guard!
Lake mountain has been on my list for quite a while but for some reason I had the impression it was going to be much harder. I was waiting to do it with a partner for safety reasons but it ended up being a great day of just me and Maggie. It is a steep mountain but most of it is either trailed or open meadow until you get towards the very top. I made the mistake of going straight up not looking at my GPS satellite images and got very tangled up in the manzanita and buck brush. This is definitely not Maggie's favorite way to hike, sometimes refusing.
W7O/SC-214 was a nice little mountain that I did after Holcomb Peak. Basically you drive past Holcomb peak a bit SE and it's pretty self explanatory of where to go. You'll take a small spur road and depends on your vehicle how close you can get. You can park in some large pullouts just a little ways up the road or jeep it another 1/4mi or so. Depends on how much pinstriping you're looking for, it gets narrow with sharp manzanita and no easy turnaround.
Snow was coming soon so I really wanted to get out and try and get a few new mountains in before winter came. A couple on my list were Holcomb peak and a no name summit right next to it, SC-214. I put these on hold before because they are a drive to something that I've never been to and have no info on, however with winter bonus and no snow yet, it made the trip worth the risk. My 1st summit was Holcolmb Peak which looked like it had the possibility of being a drive up if timber corp allowed, but much of the mountain and surrounding area had no trespassing signs.
I completed the first-ever activation of Goat Mountain (not to be confused with Goat Peak, W7W/OK-107 or other Goat Mountains in W7W) today. The summit is a communications site, so in the summer it's likely possible to drive all the way up. There were no closed gates or signs that would indicate that public access is limited, though the last stretch of road is in bad condition with several trees blocking it.
Rock Candy Mountain is an old US Forest Service Lookout site. The summit views are great with cliff cirque basins full of chipmunks, golden-mantle squirrels and chirping pikas, and distant high peaks of the Cabinets Mountains to the south, the Selkirk Mountains to the west and into Canada to the North. Part of the summit is trashy with remnant Lookout debris, rusting metal, wire and much broken glass. A concrete footing at the Lookout is dated 1932.