Forested Summit

Fair warning, this one is  a bit of a tricky one.  This summit doesn't have a trail to the top at all.  You could possibly access it from the Mountain lakes loop trail but it would be a very steep scramble over loose rock, it looked a bit too dicy to me when I did my scouting hike around the loop a few months earlier.  I elected, instead, to use part of the old moss creek trail which was abandonded by the forest service but is still maintained by individuals.  The old moss creek trailhead is located on land owned by green diamond and is only open to vehicle traffic

I got on  here to correct/ edit my previous blog but realized I never did a first! I've done Burton a few times and it isn't that significant in features. Just an easy stroll through the timber. Plenty of area to set up. A nice easy trek, shaded summit but no view. No established trail but the dead end road you can continue on by foot and there are other cleared out areas from logging roads many years ago. For some reason I get discombobulated easily coming down Burton and sometimes come to far left nearly missing the spur. If you are like me, keep a tracker going.

UPDATE: I loaded a partial drive and hike track. Also the road goes on through to west of the summit with a spur road that you can make this a drive up. Never bothered before. You can also exit west side (a bit rocky) to either go find your way to Grizzly Mt or get back to 66. Watch for wild horses and be aware they do not like dogs and will charge! 

NC-106 is a long drive from Portland, and a bit of a hike, all for one point operating at barely over 2000 feet. If you don't mind the green canopy though, it's one of the prettiest forests I've walked in the NC region.

WARNING: Google Maps will route you on a road that is no longer publically accessible.

After activating Tumalo Mountain (W7O/CM-011), I proceeded south to Wampus Butte (W7O/CM-095) for another activation and winter bonus.  This summit had not been activated since 2014 and significant changes have occured.

The Nestucca River Byway is a very secluded and off-the-beaten-path route through the North Coastal Range, between HW6 to the North and HW18/HW22 to the South. It's paved from Carlton at least as far West as the turnoff South to Willamina, but not maintained in the winter, so the sign says when approaching from the East from Carlton.

Previous writeups and activations have accessed Wildcat via the Stimson parcel that starts at Northwest Hayward Rd. Email communication with Stimson confirms that they have closed this parcel to public access, and activators should not use this path. Signage has been mixed, but the core issue is firearms use in the area that bothers the private neighbor. According to Stimson, "The entry point is actually on their property and we try to be accommodating with our neighbors."

All is not lost! Fortunately the summit itself, and a complete path of access, is on public state land.

7 Mar 22: Parked at the "Blanchard Hump" parking area on East Blanchard road. Ample parking, only one other car present on a weekday. I elected not to take snowshoes based on trail conditions at the parking lot. Most of the trail is exposed; almost no snow in sunlit areas. I followed the trail and track from K7DJL [available on SOTL.as] to the summit, about 2 miles. The trail is an ATV track and goes steeply up the face of the summit. There are a couple false summits and snow coverage increased approaching the final hill.

We did this summit as a winter snowmobile trip with Cooper Mtn. and Fox Peak.

See full report here:

http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/wu7h/2022-march-04/cooper-mountain-wa-feb-2022

I read Tim N7KOM's summit report from last week and decided to get while the getting was good.  Things were still pretty much as he described from the previous weekend.  The 2 trees were still blocking the road.  The good thing about that is that there is a wide spot in the road just around the previous corner to park.  There was only one other wide spot after that to park before the gate and nowhere to turn around.