Blogs

After reading K7EEX's warning about Stimson land, I reviewed the maps and Peakbagger reports, and found that a 2.6-mile trail existed starting right from the edge of US 26, up Shields Road, and staying on Tillamook State Forest land for the majority of the trip. In fact, this summit can be activated without ever stepping foot on Stimson land, as the boundary of their land is just a little higher than the activation region, but Stimson has a permissive access policy for non-motorized, leave-no-trace day use, so read their stipulations and head right up.

A rainy weekend in Western, WA led me to look for options on the Eastern side.  Tim (KG7EJT) had done Baldy a week prior, and looked like a great option.  

Half Wave on Full Wave...barely Worked! 

On Sunday, April 28, 2019, My SOTA Buddy, Tim, KG7EJT, and I headed to Church...Mountain that is.  For SOTA purposes, this smallish peak, along the Wenatchee River, in the deep Tumwater Canyon area, is called Full Wave Mountain.  On USGS maps it is referred to as Church Mountain.

I had been looking for springtime Activations on Un-Activated peaks to venture out to, while the high country is still buried in snow, and access to trail heads is problematic.  Full Wave Mountain came up in my search.

After the North Cascades Highway opened, enjoyed taking a mid-week day to activate this summit near Winthrop, WA.  Spring is a great time as temperatures were in mid-60's, there was no snow, and some flowers were blooming.  Both WTA and AllTrails have great trail information, and links are provided below.  Trailhead is located about 15 minutes (7.8 miles) from main 4-way stop in Winthrop.  Boatlaunch & Trailhead parking is at the Northeast corner of Patterson Lake, and a Discover pass is required for parking at the boat launch.

I've been up on Whale Head a few times and it looks like it's time to write up a trip report! This has been a "near drive-up" summit, however with the growth of slide alder into the road you may park and walk earlier that the gate.

Summary: West Onion Peak is a great activation if you don't mind the 13 mile round trip hike.

While completing my activation of West Onion Mountain W7O/NC-010 I noticed that closure signs were posted that all access to Onion Peak (Summit refrence W7O/NC-011) Is closed until further notice due to it being a 'Sensative Area'.  The area is managed by EFM (which I believe is Evergreen Forest Management aka lewis and clark?). I just wanted to post this to stop anyone from making the drive to the coast hoping to activate it only to get skunked.  With that being said go check out my write up on West Onion which is accessible and is a good one!

First time activation of 2011 Good Copy Hill on April 7th.  There is no trail to the summit, but a you can drive within .25 miles, with a 4x4 you don't mind getting scratched up.  It's a narrow dirt road thru sagebrush.  Follow the game trails up to the summit.  Was able to make contacts on 20m & 40m. (SSB)

We headed to Dick Mesa via Crum Canyon Road.  It was early April, and there was still snow on the road, so we were unable to drive as far as we would have liked.  We ended up walking (post-holing) 2.5 miles to the summit.  Nice flat area for setting up.  Unfortunately we only made 2 contacts on 2m and struck out on 20m when the weather turned bad on us.  New to SOTA so wasn't really prepared to operating in windy, rainy conditions. 

Having completed an activation on Lone Ridge yesterday (22APR2019) I just wanted to post a quick update to the previous activation report on this site.  The hike from the suggested parking area to the summit can be completed 100% on logging roads at this time but the total distance is 4.6 miles.  You can significantly shorten the hike with a fairly steep/sketchy hike through a clearcut but this isnt required.  Also the activation zone is now a large cleared gravel spot with decent views.