Easy Trail

First SOTA Activation of Fourth Of July Mountain, a 4 point SOTA summit above the town of Manson, Washington, was accomplished on Saturday, September 10, 2016.  On a weekend trip to visit with our friends who have a vacation home in Manson, we took some time to Activate this peak.  The overall terrain is quite dry and arid, especially this late in summer.  The trail itself is non-descript, and the redeeming aspect of the activation are the great views from the upper slopes and summit of the mountain.  The weather was quite warm, and we were happy to have gotten a

Mount Bailey near Diamond Lake is a great hike to fantastic views but it requires some effort to get those views - with a hike of about 10 miles round trip and 3200 feet elevation gain. Like so many summits, it's the site of a former fire lookout with little bits of glass and a few nails the only significant evidence that a building once stood there.

There's enough room to pull a vehicle off to the side by the gate on Heimer road.  This is an easy trek with a very gradual elevation change.  The trail is a nice groomed gravel road that leads all the way to the summit. 

 If you keep veering right at all the forks in the road, evenutally you will end up at the summit on a nice wide gravel plot perfect for setting up a decent station.  Not a whole lot of shade to be had here, unless you climb off the path.

Here's another summit in the Diamond Lake area to activate if you have a few hours. It's a drive-up, if your vehicle has moderate ground clearance and otherwise a short road hike. 

Buck Mountain is a summit with a short hike of less than half a mile that you'll want to do along with Coffin Mountain (W7O/WV-005) and Bachelor Mountain (W7O/WV-003).

Take Highway 22 east 19 miles past Detroit, Oregon and turn right onto paved FS 11. Stay on this road for about 4.2 miles then turn right on road #1168.

You'll find the trailhead near 44.60451, -122.04061 - there's a wide spot for parking just past that. This is about 0.7 miles from the Coffin Mountain trailhead - marked with a red dot on the map below.

Bates Point (Peak 2360) is a drive-up summit in the Coast Range of Oregon - specifically in the Tillamook State Forest. Roads in the Tillamook Forest are usually good - however the signage and documentation are remarkably poor. What's on the ground doesn't necessarily match your GPS map or what in Google Earth and vice versa. These roads are passable in a passenger car.

Access Info:  Take SR25 south from Randle or north from Cougar.  Head west on SR99 for 4.5 mi to the Bear Meadow Viewpoint.  Restrooms at the viewpoint parking area.  Read the interpretive signage at this viewpoint since this is where many of the iconic photographs were made of the St. Helens eruption in process by photographer Reynolds, who barely escaped with his family.

Just north of Detroit, Oregon are a nice bunch of summits - Dome Rock is especially good. The Tumble Ridge Trail takes you to Dome Rock on a pleasant forest hike of only about 1.5 miles and 500 feet total gain. The summit is a wide open former lookout site with great views.

There are several ways to get to Green Point Mountain - I choose the shortest hike, which of course required the most uncomfortable drive (i.e., high clearance and paint you don't care about). The summit has fantastic views - as do most all former fire lookouts.

Tanner Butte is perhaps the most remote SOTA summit in Oregon's Northern Cascades. Despite many resources that point out the trail length at 17 miles, measured from the GPS track it shows up as right at 20 miles round trip, with 4500 feet of elevation gain. You won't see many other hikers on these remote trails. NOTE that this area burned in the Eagle Creek Fire in 2017 and trail conditions have likely substantially changed.