Forested Summit

2023 update:  You can access North Green Mountain if you purchase a Weyerhaeuser permit https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com. You will need the “Longview – St Helens” one. If you purchased the non-motorized permit, you can walk or bike (no Ebikes allowed) up up from the “Blue Gate” at the end of China Garden Road which Weyerhaeuser appropriately calls the “Green Mtn N” Gate.  If you have the motorized permit, you can use your access key to open the gate and it is a short drive all the way up to the summit, no other gates.

New (and Improved!) Lake Butte 6260 W7O/NE-264

There are three options for getting to this peak.

Priusable road: Hike 4.2 miles RT with 900 ft elevation gain.

High clearance 4x4: Hike from a hunting camp 2.75 miles and 700 ft elevation gain.

High clearance 4x4 and willing copilot: Hike 1.75 miles and 500 ft of gain

Bald Hill (W7W/SN-183) is at the high point found at the south end of Lord Hill in Snohomish County. Most of Lord Hill is a Snohomish County park. However, the actual summit is just south of the park on a private residential property.

NC-078 is in the middle of the Tillamook State Forest, far enough away from Portland to be a hassle, but close enough to the city of Tillamook that it's a pretty easy activate if you are already out on the coast. It's in the same neighborhood of the Kilchis River as NC-103 or Stanley Peak.

Drive on hwy from Portland: approx 50 miles, 1 hour

Drive on forest roads: 8 miles

Hike: 1/2 mile, 250 ft gain

All routes described here are posted on sotamaps.org / sotlas.

It had been 4 years since I went down to do Ball Mt and I'm not sure why I don't get down here more. Ball is a great <2mi RT hike on a gated lookout road. I love the lookout on Ball. There are great views with ample space and choice of location in the AZ, exposed around LO or go down into the trees a little. Each time I have gone I have also done Willow Creek Mt and this trip added Eagle Rock also. All can be done in a day if you plan accordingly.

In the past (and for a prior writeup), this summit was off-limits as part of a leased club parcel. Maybe Weyerhaueser couldn't find any clubs to lease it, or just changed their mind about how they wanted to manage the land, but it has ceased as a lease and become open to public access. It's a bit of a drive for one point, but a unique nonetheless.

Drive: distance to Mcminnville plus 16 miles

Hike: 1.45 miles with 800' gain one-way

GPX routes uploaded to sotamaps.

This was short but very hard. Straight up off trail. Maybe there is an easier way but I doubt it. I started on the 1046B trail on the west side but it ends only about 500ft in so I just started climbing straight up. Soft, steep, forest duff that was hard to stay upright in and the I reached a outcropping of shale and boulder to carefully climb the final 150' before the AZ. Shaded. It is about 700' gain in .5 miles.No cell at all. I did decend through an open meadow which felt much safer, however, the plants started getting taller and taller and I got covered in burrs.

Getting there: from highway 12 , when you get to the town of Randle, turn South on state route 131. After about a half mile, there is a fork in the road. Stay to the right on highway 131. Do not take the left fork to Cispus road. After another half mile route 131 turns into Forest Service road 25. Drive about 10 miles down the 25 road until you get to the 2516, where you'll take a right. Here are coordinates for the turn: 46.34766, -121.97049. 

Pig Iron Mountain is a drive up good gravel forest road plus a half mile light-to-moderate bushwhack through rhododenrons. As such it's reasonably easy enough to reach, though no view at the top to particularly recommend it compared to other local peaks.

We found no pigs, iron or pig iron. Totally misleading peak name. There was just a bunch of bushes. Maybe they are pretty assuming they flower in the spring time. Dunno. YMMV.

During the 2023 W7O SOTA Campout, we had the opportunity to activate Trap Mt.

This is an easy drive, though there are spots where the manzanita closes in on the roadway.  Your vehicle's paint may not like it much.  Otherwise, it has good gravel all the way to the trailhead.  Take a left from Hwy 138 West onto NF-900, then a right onto Big Camas Rd (NF-3701).   Take another left onto NF-3704 and follow that around and turn left on NF-230 and yet another left onto NF-250 and a final left on to NF-290.  Google Maps was right this time!