TL;DR version - A nice four pointer and a good place to do a leisurely activation. Enough of a hike to feel like the one worked for the summit. Good APRS coverage, okay ATT data coverage. QRM on small portions of the CW frequencies (40/30/20M). Get there early or risk not finding a place to park and don't forget your WA Discover Pass.
Big Mountain is part of Whitefish Ski Area and in the summer you can take the chairlift to the top ($20) and hike, ride bikes and activate Big Mountain. The communication towers that sit atop the summit are easy to see from the top of the chairlift and it's only a short quarter mile walk up the graded road to the top.
There is a Locked Gate and currently Posted Extreme Fire Danger No Public Access Sign where the route turns left off Mountain Home Drive (see blue dot). At that point the road is gravel up to Scott Mountain summit. I came in from Highway 20 to Liberty Road to Mountain Home Drive. The Property is posted by Cascade Timber out of Sweet Home. Once the fire danger has been removed you can access the summit but it about a 2 mile hike up as no unauthorized vehicles are allowed.
There has always been a locked gate about .5 miles from the summit (Radio Site Towers) that you could park at the gate and hike up to the summit (See N7CNH report on Buck Mountain and Tom, Mount). However, it has now been Posted as No Trespassing (by both Weyerhaeuser and American Tower).
I went to Bend to visit my in-laws over the weekend and had time for one summit. Figured I would get my monies worth and go for a ten pointer I knew I could activate, Mount Bachelor.
I activated Mount Bachelor in 2018. For that activation I took the lift to the Pine Marten Lodge and hiked to the summit from there. I told myself the next time I activated this one I would start my hike from the bottom.
After failed attempts at Burnt Hill [W7W/NO-108] and Display Mountain [W7W/SO-105], I drove down Donkey Creek Road east of Highway 101 to a spot where the satellite views from Google Maps and AllTrails.com show a road splitting off to the east [47.303033, -123.834128].
I parked here and passed a gate -- no 'no tresspassing signs' or other indications I was on private land (see photo).
Any opportunity to hike the Pacific Crest Trail for SOTA is a welcome one - and this may be one of the best we've experienced of this lovely national treasure of a trail. While only a bit less than five miles round trip and 1000 feet of gain, there is a challenging steep bushwack (Mode Sanglier - On!) that takes a bit of the shine off of the trail experience. A GPS will be important to successfully identifying the edge of the AZ.
About 2 miles from the Summit there is a locked gate (see blue dot on google map) and new sign "Private Property No Trespassing" posted.
This summit is a progressively more difficult climb as you ascend. The activation is challenging but rewarding. The route I took starts with an easy well trafficked trail, but the second part of the ascent has no trail and involves navigating through the Angell Basin which consists of areas of large granite boulders.
Aldrich Mountain in Grant County has two fairly accessible summits that make a nice pair to activate as part of the same day trip. These include Aldrich Mountain (W7O/NE-054) and 6401 (W7O/NE-205). Both are 6-point and located in the far western part of the Malheur National Forest, with access from Hwy 26 and Forest Routes 21 (Field Creek Rd) and 2150. Route 21 is paved while 2150 is a well-maintained gravel road. Plan for a 15 mile drive on 2150. There are campgrounds in the area.