Trail contains no technical obstacles
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.
Old Baldy turned out to be a popular summit at the 2022 Campout. Easy short trek up an old logging road (not obvious) after you park at a dead end that ends at a memorial.Open space on summit with rock and brush. Old ruins of lookout.
You can access the TH from two different directions. You can either take Dead Indian Memorial Rd to Big Draw, Rd 2520. Take Big Draw Rd to RD 600 and turn left, or I continue on up the main road to RD 640, turn left and it turns to 600.
In my continuing series on easier/shorter approaches to summits, I found a back-side social trail to Barlow Ridge summit.
Originally I was just going to bushwack it (0.6 mile and 400' elevation gain) but upon arrival I discovered this path.
Puffer Butte is located in Washington’s Field Springs State Park in the very southeast corner of the state. The hike is less than a mile and 400 feet. There are plenty of Trees on the summit for hanging wires. I had spotty Verizon coverage. For more:
https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/puffer-butte#hike-full-description
Columbia Mountain is easily my favorite hike in the Sherman Pass area. This 3.2 mile climb is not steep, almost always shaded and well maintained. The spring at the junction of trail 24 and the Kettle Crest trail still had a trickle in early September. There is a cabin at the top and several benches to set up. One of the few activations where I've been able to sit on a bench in the shade. I plan to return and camp at some point. Fun hike.
Runt Mountain is a SOTA peak at the top of the chairlift at Lookout Pass Ski area. Lookout Pass Ski area is on Interstate 90 at the Idaho/Montana border.
From Idaho, take exit 0 on Interstate 90 and turn right into the parking lot of the ski area. You will have to purchase a lift ticket ($13) for the ride up the main chair. I activated this in the summer as they open the area up to hikers and mountain bikers. You might be able to activate this in the winter but with much more difficulty with skiiers buzzing by you.
On a recent camping trip to Riffe Lake, I activated this summit after activating Burley Mountain (W7W/PL-039). See my other trip report for directions to get there.
The route we took after Burley was to continue on NF-77 from the junction with NF-7605 and follow it until the junction with NF-202 at (46.344296, -121.927806) There is a spur at this junction (NF-7700201 that heads north a short 1/4 mile to the summit.
The activation zone is a small clearing surrounded by trees with no view.
On the way over to Bend, I stopped to activate Black Butte. I came on Hwy 20 and turned at NF-11 which is also the turn for Indian Ford Campground. From there I followed north to the turn for NF-1110 (also known as Black Butte Rd) and on around the north of the mountain. After a hairpin turn, there is one more sharp turn to the right which takes you to the upper trailhead. The road up to the last turn was in good shape as of this writing. The upper portion after the last turn was not as good but still very drivable.
