A short hike to Mount Defiance in Oregon is from Wahtum Lake Road and is about 3.6 miles roundtrip with 1140 ft gain. From Dee near Hood River, it's about a 10-mile drive on FR 2820 to the Upper Mount Defiance trailhead.
South Tiger Mountain is the easiest of a trio of peaks in the Tiger Mountain State Forest near Issaquah, Washington.
(Note of August 2018 - temporary closure of South Tiger Traverse - access from the north is still possible.)
I-90 Exit 25 for Highway 18 is the easiest way to reach the trailhead parking area. I've used the upper parking lot for two activations here - note that a Washington State Discovery Pass is required. There is an unattractive toilet at the upper parking lot.
Decided to kick it up a notch this time, (but only one notch) and do a 4 pointer. But feeling a bit lazy I went looking for a 4-pointer that I could reach without a really long hike. Gold Mountain, just east of Darrington, fits the bill. I headed north from downtown Darrington on SR530, and then east on Sauk Prairie Rd. After a couple miles, turned south on FS24 (pretty good gravel road), and after 4 or 5 miles turned right on FS2420 (OK gravel road with a few potholes to dodge).
This is probably the easiest summit to locate in Idaho. It is a volcanic dome that rises 2500 feet in the middle of the Snake River Lava Plain. You can't miss it. I accessed it from the ARCO approach, a drive of about 20 miles across a dusty BLM desert road which brought me to the base. Here I unloaded my ATV and rode up the summit trail which is 5 miles one way. A really fine and popular ATV trail ride. The trail ends at the very peak where there is a viewing platform and stinky outhouse.
UPDATE (as of June 18, 2017): Weyerhaeuser now requires a recreational permit in order to access this area.
After attending Dan and Taylor's (KK7DS & K7TAY) seminar at SEAPAC, I was inspired to give SOTA a try.
My Adventures in fitness and SOTA continue! This was a fun one, spur of the moment decision to do it. Hours drive to the trail head, hour up, 30 minutes operating, hour down and an hour drive home. The view from the top was really nice and there was a ledge with a really good drop off as well!
GPX and Google Earth files here.
I wanted to do an easy one on my own after my first activation with a group. This summit was one that I knew I could drive up. I hiked the last quarter mile to the actual summit and used my hand held for the activation. Had fun and Yukon and I got a bit more exercise.
Finally stopped being only a shack sloth and decided to try to be a mountain goat for once. I went with a group of friends and took my best friend and service dog Yukon with me. It was a real blast with successful activation, Yukon and I can't wait till the next summit. We decided to start small and plan on slowly working our way up to the tougher summits.
Start elev.: 4291 ft (1308 m)
Max elev.: 4881 ft (1488 m)
Total ascent: 604 ft (184 m)
Trip odometer: 2.6mi (4.184km) Up: 1.5mi (2.414km) Down: 1.1mi (1.770km)
Total time: 7h20m Up: 1h37m Down: 36m
Video