Easy Trail

SOTA Summit 7560 could easily be termed “Magruder Ridge High Point”. It is located on Magruder Ridge approximately 1.0 mile south of Magruder Mountain that it dominates by a mere 138’. Magruder Mountain and Ridge are named for the massacre of Lloyd Magruder and his party of four others in 1863 near this area. See sign photo. The summit is mostly forested but has views of other highpoints in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness and Salmon Mountain Lookout in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Long Tom Mountain is a long forest road drive mostly through burned forest. The current Long Tom Lookout built in 1977 is ½ mile south of the SOTA summit. Interesting that reports from The Recorder Herald, Salmon ID, state that the Spring Creek Road to the Lookout was completed in 1932 and that the first radio receiving and sending unit was installed at the Lookout in 1934 and high frequency radio in 1950. 

Devils Point is a mostly open snag-covered summit with excellent views of the surrounding Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the Hell’s Half Acre Lookout.    Much of this area has experienced very large wildfires over the last several of decades and abundant snags exist. Operators should be aware of snag hazards when selecting your operating position and hiking especially on windy days.   

Trail Miles: 3.0 Roundtrip

Elevation Gain: 700’  Loss: 200’ 

Ingle Mountain is a six point summit near Mt. Vernon Oregon. It is a little over 4 miles round trip with a total elevation gain of ~1100ft, but it seems a bunch more. That is because net elevation gain is only about half of that. So one keeps seeing false summits followed by saddles followed by false summits …

This was the first summit we did at the start of our 5 night camping trip, combining SOTA and CQP throughout the week. We camped just below the summit on road 3615-011. It was a beautiful drive in across a very large meadow then into the timber. From 3615-011 turn left on RD 208 and it is up to your vehicle how far you can make it up. We parked about 42.29882, -120.25346. Easy trek up an old road then a short final climb off track. Only about .75 mi RT. Great views of east through the timber, a little bit harder to see other directions.

On a recent trip to Idaho, I had the opportunity to activate Bernard Peak which is a drive up 45min or so from Coeur d'Alene.

The drive up was uneventful, though some sections of the road have quite a few potholes and washboards.  I managed it in my wife's Toyota Highlander.

While the road up is rough, Kings Mountain is a great summit to setup and hang out for the afternoon near Usk, Washington. Take the road up from the Skookum Lake C.G. area, about 2 1/2 miles. The road could be a MTB ride as well; 4WD recommended due to erosion and rocks. There's room to park one or two vehicles at the top, plus a small area to turn around. Plenty of large trees for a arborist's throw line to rig your antenna.

East Crater Summit can be accessed from the Northwest via PCT (See http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7ahr/2020-october-10/east-crater-wa-september-2020 )  or from the east side via East Crater Trail #48 (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31748).  This report is for the east side access.  It is 4.7 miles round trip with 1350 feet of vertical gain.

Herschberger is a lovely little lookout that you can drive nearly to the top, all but the final stairs and a little trail. The LO is basically right in the AZ so I operated sitting in the doorway (no chairs) for shade. There is zero data at the lookout but if you step out you might get lucky. Great view of CL Rim, Thielson, Rabbit Ears and many other ridges. The lookout was open and not manned. Not sure if this is common.