Marmot Butte is a rather nondescript summit just northeast of Chemult, OR. It is also about 3km northeast of Walker Mountain. The two can easily be done in one day. signage is sparse on this trek. Be sure to take map and GPS to keep on track.
On this warm late June day, the mosquitoes were hungry and numerous. Its never a good sign when you see dozens of mosquitoes lighting on your rig breaking off their blood sucking apparatus the moment you stop. 100% DEET was employed.
Marmot Butte is reached by first taking NF9755 approximately 1.2mi north of the junction of OR58 and US97. I found no sign except a large wooden sign holder that was blank.
Starting at this point, cross the railroad tracks at 1.0mi and power lines at 1.3mi. At 1.8mi stay left taking NF9756. There are numerous turnouts on this road which is mostly dirt and could be trouble in late summer with deep dust or winter when it could be very muddy.
At 3.0mi you hit a "Y", stay right on NF9756 ascending steeply. I found several trees over the road up this stretch. I had to improvise a prop for two of them to hold the trees up as the rig passed under. It wouldn't hurt to take a small chainsaw.
I've done this before to great advantage.
At 5.2mi turn left on NF9407 reaching Marmot pass just afterwards. This is marked by a quarter mile straight shot of road that changes elevation only slightly. At about 5.6mi there is a faint abandoned logging road to the left. Pull off to
the side here and park. (This could be near 43.327 -121.691.)
Take the abandoned logging road upwards. The road is marked as NF147 on forest service maps. Its very rough going at first with armpit high manzanita bush and ponderosa pine regrowth. Very brushy at first but improves slightly. Proceed about 1500m until the road begins to descend. This marks the eastern shoulder of Marmot Butte. Turn left uphill breaking brush through downed timber and manzanita. Going here is pretty tough. Brush and downed trees make for an unpleasant uphill hike.
From here, its about 400m to the summit. A GPS at this point is instrumental. The brush is so dense, its hard to keep your bearings. It took me 45 minutes from leaving the rig to reach the summit. (Appears to be about 1.2 miles OW and 600 feet gain.)
The summit has no views and is mostly, you guessed it, downed trees, big standing trees, manzanita bush and mosquitoes. A dipole could be set up in this mess once you untangled the wires from the manzanita and downed trees. I went for the EFHW as usual. Made a few contacts when I heard ZL1BYZ calling me. Sweet. Worked New Zealand. It was worth the trouble, mosquitoes, manzanita...
Oh, I forgot the ants. Big ants at the summit. Be careful where you sit. Get the picture? There is is not much to recommend this summit. Its tough to get to, has no view, takes work to find. But it was there... and I worked a ZL1. BTW, there were no sunspots either on this day. On the other hand, maybe its a secret pipeline to ZL land.