Here's an opportunity to do an easy summit if you are out in the Gorge for wine tasting, other summits or a hike at Catherine Creek. The road walk is short at 0.75 miles one-way and about 200 feet of gain. The road is Priusable the whole way but note that there are a number of "no turn turns" cited by our phone GPS on the way from Highway 14 to the trailhead - the directions below are general.
From the west side of Lyle, Washington on Highway 14 turn north just west of the bridge onto Old Highway 8 and go for about 1.2 miles to turn right onto Canyon Road. You'll continue on this road about 9.5 miles (mostly northbound) to turn left towards Appleton (westbound). Continue onto Sleepy Hollow Rd for about 2 miles to the gate near 45.8145, -121.309 pictured below (don't block the gate). Thankfully SDS Lumber Company is reasonable about access to their properties. The mud of winter was a feature of the road heading towards the summit. A GPS will be useful here - to find the gate and also to lead you in the general direction of the summit. We walked the road about 0.7 miles until the slope to our right was fairly open forest and not a brushy bushwack, and found a clearing within the Activation Zone less than 0.2 miles from the summit proper - which appeared to be in heavy forest. There were no views from our operating location. .No cell service was available for T-Mobile or Verizon. Spots were via Sprint Coverage. No 2m FM contacts were made.
