Blogs

• FS roads may get you within 0.16 miles of summit, but could be blocked by down trees. The roads from the north, off FS 21, were generally well-maintained with many options for rerouting.

WV-117 is a long walk along a mostly exposed route to a completely exposed summit.  In fact, it was a very sunny and very warm hike that was much longer than expected.  I estimated based on what I could see with my eyes from the Santiam Canyon (and what I could see in satellite imagery) that there'd be no shade, and possibly no trees either.  I guessed about a 3/4 of a mile shorter than reality.   But I was mostly right - there was only one treed spot along the 4.5 mile route up that offered any relief from the sun, and there were none for either shade or suitable a

June 24th, 2023. Trout Creek Butte (TCB) is the site of a now defunct fire tower 7 straight line miles to Sisters, OR and 21 or so to Bend, offering great views to the south of the Three Sisters and Black and Millican Craters to the west.

Stanley Peak is a 1 pointer inland from Tillamook, Oregon. The access route weaves across Tillamook State Forest and BLM land, but the peak itself actually sits on the BLM section. It's a lot of work for one point but includes a little point that pops above the trees, giving a lovely view of the bay and ocean.

NC-069 is one of the handful of 2 pointers in the Oregon NC region, located in the Tillamook State Forest. It's fairly remote, past Cedar Butte or Triangulation depending on the route you choose to take, but it can be paired with either one in a day. It requires a short but strenuous climb with bushwhacking, and rewards you with a nice open summit area with good views of the surrounding peaks and valleys.

W7O/CE-300, aka 4420, is located in the Crooked River National Grassland just north of Smith Rock State Park. It is a moderate hike but due to the difficult access, I would qualify this as a intermediate SOTA. It could be approached via foot, off-road vehicle/motorcycle, 4x4 horse or bicycle. The hike up once off trail is off-camber but is very navigable. I would suggest trekking poles for help with footing. Once on the summit ridge, its an easy hike to the top. I rode my mountain bike and it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the top from the Skull Hollow trail head.

I attempted Three Corner Rock yesterday, but the W-1400 road is closed about 2 miles from Skaminia Lodge and about 7 miles from the Rock Creek Pass Trailhead. I also attempted to try the western access road but it too was closed prior to getting to the trailhead. I ended up driving to Coyote Wall and just doing a hike to the top of that as I it was a great day and I wanted to get a climb in regardless. I got four chaser contacts on 146.58 to several other operators but no summit myself as Coyote Wall is not a summit.

I followed the advice of Peakbagger and used a collection of their suggestions, to end up doing a decent job following this at-times hard-to-follow route. This mountain is a beautiful place to see a diversity of plants, and the trail itself is a substantial challenge to follow compared to other hikes, but it is clearly a well-loved summit by locals, despite the plants trying to take the trail back.

With the reopening of FR 45 in the Mt. Hood National Forest Clackamas Ranger District in Oregon, a set of previously closed peaks are available to activators again just in time for the summer SOTA season! I chose to activate Wanderers Peak, along with South Fork Mountain (W7O/WV-030), in a single day double. The area was previously closed due to wildfire damage from the 2020 fires.

With the reopening of FR 45 in the Mt. Hood National Forest Clackamas Ranger District in Oregon, a set of previously closed peaks are available to activators again just in time for the summer SOTA season! I chose to activate South Fork Mountain, along with Wanderer's Peak (W7O/WV-052), in a single day double. The area was previously closed due to wildfire damage from the 2020 fires.