Forested Summit

Summary - Peterson Ridge is a relatively easy bushwhack and an unremarkable summit, without a view or open space. The pleasant hike in on Service Trail 35 includes a modest climb and is mostly under the trees. There are trees for antennas, ATT cell service was five bars, and two way APRS messaging worked. I had no luck on 2M, even with a yagi. The drive can be done in a passenger vehicle and there is plenty of parking at the trailhead. One caution: This is a busy part of the forest and this trail is frequently used by motorbikers.

Summary - Roughly two hours from Portland, getting Mann Butte includes a steep bushwhack through heavy brush and deadfall and ends in a small, tree and brush covered summit. You can see Mt Adams through the trees but not much else. While you can drive to the base of the summit, if you value your vehicle's paint, you will hike the road in.

Squaw Butte in Washington is a good beginner bushwack hike. I met up with Tyler ND7Y at the Tillicum Campground and we parked our cars in a campsite near the trailhead. Tyler had found word of an old cattrack that leaves the Squaw Butte trail and heads to the summit. Overall this is an easy hike. The bushwack is manageable and the distance/elevation is reasonable. The trail to the cattrack is in good condition. Find the GPX track HERE. 

This summit became accessible to the public 2021 thanks to the hard work by a lot of individuals, Private Landowners, The Five Valley Land Trust, Nature Conservancy and the City of Missoula.  The summit is private property and contains numerous communications towers.  However, the new public access trail provides access to near the Activation Zone.

This was my first time up Barlow Ridge in the summer. Park at the Barlow Pass Sno-Park with a NW Forest Pass. The trail is well-marked, albeit the signs are up high due to this area's popularity during the winter. I encountered quite a few large blow down trees at the start of the hike, so be prepared for some significant tree scrambling. 

Summary - Getting 4340 into the log requires a two hour drive, a short steep, brush covered cross county hike to the summit, and HF capability. A map and compass or GPS is a really good idea, as are trekking poles and long pants. There is no trail to the summit and on the way up you will encounter a lot of very large deadfall along with stands of manzanita and poison oak.  2M contacts are difficult unless other SOTA ops are working on nearby mountains, APRS works well, and ATT messaging sometimes.

This is a near drive-up in a carefully driven Prius, or perhaps a full-on drive-up in a vehicle with some ground clearance.

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.

Full Quieting Mountain was instead fully quiet at least on 2m FM. Maybe it should be called Evil Step Sister as it lurks unattractively above Sleeping Beauty. (Did fine on HF)

Looks like there may be a shorter bushwhack from the north when examining the map. However, I was invited to hike Sleeping Beauty by some friends. Answering the question why isn’t Sleeping Beauty a SOTA summit leads you to Peak 5060, which has the required promonance. 

So I started from the official Sleeping Beauty trailhead:

This was my first of three in one day in N. CA just west of Yreka in the  Scott Bar Mountains. It was a pleasant area to activate, forested knoll with some large open spaces to set up in and look down to Scott Valley to the SE. It was still early and we were in the clouds a bit so couldn't see the distant mountains such as the Marble Mountains and Shasta too well but probably you can on a clear day, and depending which side of the summit you are on.