Pass Required at Trailhead

Lava Butte is closed to vehicles in the winter, but open for hiking. You can park at the closed visitor center, or there's an option to pull off 97 near where the Lava Butte road passes the highway. From here there's a very short trail through the brush and you're on the road. We did this option which puts the hike at about 1.2 mi and 540' gain. 

The road was mostly clear of snow and ice, with just a handful of spots that had it. We did not need the microspikes we brought in our packs, but had the temps been colder, they would've been neccessary in some spots. 

Standard Mt. Hood disclaimer: conditions vary by the hour, experience interpreting conditions and forecasts are essential for safe alpine travel.

There are several good trip reports that outline the route and condition aspects of this trip, so I'll try to stick to what was specific about this activation.

I took my kids on a snowshoeing adventure this past weekend.  There were several SOTA activators scheduled to be out activating and we joined them for a fun time.  The distance is around 1.7miles one way but we had very nice snow conditions.

Traffic was very heavy heading up to Mt. Hood and several vehicles turned around but we persevered and it eventually improved.  It did add around 30mins to our arrival time.

Starting from the Frog Lake SNO-PARK and heading across the hwy slightly to the north is the Pacific Crest Trail crossing.

UPDATE March 2023: W7W/CN-024 has been retired and replaced by Frog Lake Buttes W7O/CN-106 ~ 1/3 mile northeast.

Here's an easy 14 points: snowshoe 3 miles up to Frog Lake Buttes (W7O/CN-024) on New Year's Eve.

The snow is usually already packed down by avid snowmobilers and, in our case this year, we didn't even need snowshoes.

This was a NYE 'double' activation, and the 2023 part of it got me to 2000 activator points! You can read WW7D's report of our adventure in the January-February-March 2023 PNWSOTA Newsletter:

http://www.pnwsota.org/content/pacific-northwest-sota-newsletters

This was my 6th time activating this summit! 3 of those activations involved using a snowmobile to get close, and then using snowshoes to get on to the summit. One of those trips involved us towing K7JRO on a dog sled behind one of the snowmobiles.

In the summer this summit is easily accessible with a high clearence vehicle (and a short hike). See K7MAS trip report for summer details. Winter access to this area is via Blewett Pass sno park, located off US 97 at Blewett Pass. A Sno Park pass is required. 

Summary - 3420 (Mount Beacon) is on Weyerhauser's Longview land northwest of Merrill Lake and is most easily accessed through a gate at the end of Kalama River Road. The highway drive is roughly eighty minutes from PDX; to the trailhead, plan on another hour or so along logging roads. The hike is roughly 1.5 miles and an eight hundred foot climb and ends in a nice operating position with views to the west.  Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. There is no ATT cell service but APRS pings get picked up.

Summary - 2466 (Amplifier Peak) is on Weyerhauser's Longview land northwest of Merrill Lake and is most easily accessed through a gate on Kalama River Road. The highway drive from PDX is roughly eighty minutes; to the trailhead, plan on another forty minutes or so along logging roads to the summit. The last part of the drive is through an active logging area and the road is often closed, so you may want to have a backup plan.  Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.

Very easy walk in all seasons. Summer is very busy.

Full trip report at https://w7mtb.blog/2022/11/activation-report-w7oce-188-lava-butte.html

Summary - Lakeview Peak is on Weyerhauser's Longview land north of Yale and is accessed through a gate on Rock Creek Road. The drive to the gate is roughly eighty minutes. From the gate  to the summit is another 2.5 miles and a 1400 foot climb along logging roads.  Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.