Good Views From Summit

South Fork Mountain can be a drive up. It is somewhat less than a mile from NF-4540 on an unmarked road. The fork off of NF-4540 is at approx. 45.101, -122.249. From here a high clearance vehicle that you don't mind getting scratched is required. The road is quite overgrown and has drainage ditches cut across it at various places. It opens up a bit before you get to the top, so you can park and make your final ascent by foot. I had to drive to the top after activation to turn around. A shorter wheel base vehicle might be able to avoid that.

Here's another summit in Crater Lake National Park that accessed with a cross-country hike. The easiest ridge for ascent is near the angle of repose with loose red pumice-like scree on the upper slopes, giving Red Cone its name. Although only about 2.5 miles round trip, half of the 600 feet of gain is in the last quarter mile.

NOTE in January 2021 there was a NO TRESPASSING sign posted on the Stimson Gate Placard. See photo below.

There are FOUR Wildcat Mountains in Oregon, so be sure you want the North Coast version south of Highway 26. The road to the trailhead is short and easy in any passenger vehicle, there's a good spot to park, and summit is in the Tillamook Forest, although the shortest access crosses private timberland. The hike is about 1.5 miles one way, and 400 vertical feet gain. This description I consider the 'no bushwack' version.

Whatatis Peak is directly North of the Hanford Reach National Monument. From Richland WA to the summit is just over 61 miles. You can drive very close to the summit, only the last little 1/4 mile kick up to the top peak is really treacherous. There is good parking at serveral locations off the access road to pull over to complete the summit on foot. I did a 2.5 mile hike to the top.

Nov 2, 2019 was the perfect day for climbing Mt. Carrie. The weather was cool and clear. Some snow up above Heart lake, but the Cat Walk (the unmaintained trail and scramble east of Heart Lake) was free of snow. That area would be very challenging with snow, and an ice axe and crampons would be a must. 

Why

With the first four peaks in Cascades North being activated, I decided I needed to hatch a plan to hit the next two. This summit is over 8 miles from the nearest trailhead and 4500 feet of gain, and it's almost 5000 feet of gain from our trailhead, so I recommend doing it as an overnight. We activated this peak in conjunction with South Cinder, W7O/CN-005, and I strongly recommend if you put in the effort to do one that you make time for the other.

Why

With the first four peaks in Cascades North being activated, I decided I needed to hatch a plan to hit the next two. This summit is over 7 miles from the nearest trailhead and 3300 feet of gain, and it's 4000 feet of gain from our trailhead, so I recommend doing it as an overnight. We activated this peak in conjunction with North Cinder, W7O/CN-006, and I strongly recommend if you put in the effort to do one that you make time for the other.

Summit 5230 is located 23 miles (as the crow flies) South of Pendleton, OR.  If you have the right vehicle and can tolerate a long bumpy ride in, this can be a drive up summit.  It would make an excellent mountain bike-based activation. I would not attempt this summit without a GPS.

Our first snow of the year. I have done all the 8 point summits in the upper Dungeness area that I can get to with a day hike except this one. It seemed like a relatively easy one, 6 miles in with a half mile off trail to the summit. It was a good day for it. About a foot of power snow at the summit, but the ground under the snow wasn't  frozen yet, so I could still get good traction without crampons. 

WW7D and I were in Skamania County for the WA state QSO party (Salmon Run). This was one of two summits we visited on Sunday of that weekend. Neither of us realized it at the time, but this was the first activation of this summit.

Termination Point is a great little summit! There is a steep boot path from the end of the road up to the summit - a little faint and bushwhacky in some spots. The hike is very short - something like 1/2 mile and ~100' of elevation gain.