Blogs

If you are touring anywhere near Crater Lake National Park, Garwood Butte is a quiet destination for an activation. The forest road is fairly Priusable and the hike is reasonably short, even if a bit steep in places. As for a number of other summits, one reward for making it to the top is a historic fire lookout. The "upper" trailhead is about 1 mile and 600 feet of gain - from Forest Road 3703 (Three Lakes Rd) it's about 2.3 miles and 1000 feet. 

From Roseburg, Oregon turn on OR-138 East / Northeast Diamond Lake Boulevard.

As of August 2021, access on FR-2505 is closed by the landowner due to extreme fire danger.

NOTE: as of Aug 2022, this has been reopened.  See my updated report .

Off Highway 97 between Cresent and Chemult. follow directiions like your going to Walker LO  http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7atn/2014-september-02/walker-mountain-or-august-2014. You could drive almost to the summit if you have a small SUV like a Jeep. 4WD with clearance would be needed. I parked near the main road and rode my bike the 3.8 miles to the summit. GPS on my phone worked fine for navgation to the summit. I parked here: 43.2630 -121.70111.

Grand Ronde Benchmark is on Weyerhaeuser property and requires a recreation permit for access which has a limited number avalible and has a cost (Black Rock is the permit area). You can find info here. https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com/Permits. Access via Fire Hall Rd. in Grand Ronde.

Summary - Lookout is drive up with a wide open summit, though parts of the way up aren't for the faint of heart. There is a small comm facility that doesn't generate appreciable RFI, a couple of places to set up, and when the clouds aren't in the way, excellent views.  Bring a mast if you want to put up a wire.  2M contacts are possible with a 1/2 wave whip but a yagi will make things a lot easier. APRS is easy from here, too. Drive time from SE Portland is about two hours through Stabler and out Hemlock Road (turn at 45.80838, -121.90741).  

3820 Mt. Transponder involves a long drive on forest service roads followed by a very short bushwhack to the top of a forested summit that is deep into the western part of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  This summit can be combined with nearby 3780 Top Loaded Mtn (W7W/PL-089) for an easy twofer.  The roads are easily tackled by a Subaru, but probably not a Prius.

There are thirteen mountains in the W7W association with "Lookout Mountain" in the title.  This report is about the only "Lookout Mountain" located in the Pacific-Lewis (PL) region, situated in national forest lands fairly close to the Paradise entrance to Mount Rainier National Park.  The summit is a short, easy hike up a ridge, with some spectacular views along the way.  What's the catch?  The road to the trailhead is rough and developing a washout.     

In August 2021, Josh, WU7H, and I motorbiked up to the gate of Rooster Rock.  We had high hopes for this one, because we had read Roland's (K7FOP) excellent trip report from 2019.  In fact, we had worked Roland, so we were looking forward to the SOTA Complete.

This was a summit that I have been wanting to do for quite some time.  It appears to be a drive-up summit, because well it is.  Except that there are very few areas to pull over as the summit itself is on private property.

A discussion with James, WA7JNJ, suggested he activated at 48.30379, -122.54255.  But he was not necessarily recommending it. His activation was short and he has vowed not to return to this summit.....

Summary - The trailhead for Bells Mountain (45.79834, -122.40197) is about 45 minutes from SE Portland, the hike is an easy 650' climb on a rock-and-gravel road, and 2M contacts into Portland and Vancouver are possible with a half-wave whip. The view is open; you can see downtown Portland and with trees on the bordering the clearing, it is easy to get a wire into the air. A great "first season" summit. A Northwest Discover Pass is needed to park at the trailhead.