If you use the 'SMS to SOTA' spotting gateway to get spotted on a summit, please note that the US number has changed as of Jan 2019! The new number is:  1-424-373-SOTA ( 1-424-373-7682 ).

If you don't currently use the SMS SOTA spotting gateway... well, you should! It just might save your activation some day.

How does one go about using this magical gateway, you ask?

First step is to register by sending an email to Andy MM0FMF (mm0fmf_sota AT intermoose.com). Subject of the email should be: "Please sign me up for your SMS to SOTA spot gateway".

West Tiger Mountain is one of W7W's most frequently activated summits. It is part of the 'Issaquah Alps', and being close to Seattle is a very popular day hiking area. Arrive early to get parking near the trailhead, and don't forget your Discover Pass!

There are a series of summits called 'West Tiger' - the one we are interested in for SOTA is known as West Tiger 1. 

I completed the first activation on Doppler Shift on 04MAR2019.  The hike is roughly 2 miles from a logging gate.  In my case this gate was open however as with all these gates they can be closed and locked at any time so pass them at your own risk.  I was able to drive about 3/4 of the way up before finding a 'Unauthorized Motor Vehicle Access Prohibited' sign.  At that point I found a spot to park and hiked the rest of the way to the activation point. 

Here's a nice 3 mile snowshoe or cross-country ski in the winter. OR...you may be able to drive within about a half mile in the summer. For a good ski experience, you might want to have at least 3 to 5 feet of snow on the ground - see the depth measure in the first photo below.

Winter activation of a "standard Idaho 2-pointer" (read: barely achievable especially during winter!).  I took advantage of a newly activated holiday at work (President's day) to activate the closest summit to Boise.  I went up the standard "hiking" summer route.  The round trip on foot is 11.5 miles and 3000 ft vertical.  The summer "4x4 drive-up" route is gated closed Nov-April and is currently under a bunch of snow.  

The activation zone for Cooper Mountain is a (very) short hike above the dog park at Winkelman Park, 10139 SW 175th Ave, Beaverton, Oregon. There is no AZ access from Cooper Mountain Nature Park to the west and the summit proper is posted "No Trespassing."

Hello SOTA Fans! You may have noticed that the PNWSOTA site was off the air for a number of weeks recently. The old server that hosted the site for the past 7 years died. Luckily KK7DS had been keeping backups and we were able to restore the site on a new server. Hooray!!

Shout out to NH6Z for hosting the site for many years. Also a HUGE thanks to Dan KK7DS - without his expertise (and backups!), PNWSOTA would no longer exist and 7 years worth of awesome trip reports and other SOTA data would now be lost!

Peak 5580 is in a cluster of 2-pointers east of Mountain Home Idaho on the north side of Hwy 20.  They lie about 1.5 hours from Boise so it makes for a nice trip to knock off a few summits.  These summits are generally considered the most achievable around Boise even know it takes a short drive to get there.  Other summits in the area require off road driving or longer hikes.  Some of the peaks in the cluster are available for year round access (SR-130 being the best), but Peak 5580 is a ways off the highway.  In the winter the road is not maintained and could be sn

This was a winter activation of Bearhead Mountain.

WW7D and I decided to give this a shot based on some WTA trip reports that indicated it was possible to drive to the trailhead. We took my 1988 Toyota 4x4 truck that has big tires and is fairly capable off road.

This was a New Year's Eve activation with WW7D. You can find a .GPX file of our route here.

We parked on the side of HWY 2, just east of the turnoff for Smithbrook. This is where everyone who is headed up to Smithbrook for winter sports parks. There were some XC skiiers, and snow mobiles unloading as we pulled in.