Grizzly Mountain is an easy drive-up summit about 9 miles west of Prineville. The views are great and the road passable in a passenger vehicle - perhaps slowly in the rocky places.
Stony Mountain Oregon
There is a sign posted at a gate that reads "No Trespassing - Private Recreation Lease." Access to the gate is along mostly graded gravel roads. I didn't pass the gate to hike to the summit for obvious reasons.
Jester Mountain, WA | May 2018
This was a joint SOTA expedition with me, Bill WA7NCL, and Rich AC7MA. See photos here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JWPaWiE5l7v0Vmwm2
Goat Mountain, MT | May, 2016
Goat Mountain: (1.1 miles, 1,100 ft)
A GPS (with land ownership) is recommended – to help stay on the unmarked public land.
A Bad Hand of Pinochle (Pinochle Peak, Oregon)
Finding myself with a rare weekday off, I worked through a handful of possible peaks. After being pushed to look at lower elevation summits by remaining spring snow, I noticed a named, unactivated, two pointer in Tillamook State Forest – Pinochle Peak. After a few hours of study, a possible path was identified. It was clear that approaching from the south off of Highway 6 would be sketchy, but with limited time, it was the chosen path.
SeaPac 2018 SOTA Gathering - June 1 6PM, Pizza Harbor, Seaside
SeaPac, the ARRL Northwest regional hamfest is June 1, 2 and 3, 2018. We are having a Friday night SOTA gathering in Seaside as we have the past few years. We have reserved the banquet room at the the same pizza place and are looking forward to seeing SOTA folks there! This year we'll have a couple very short presentations and be sure to introduce everyone. Please join us!
Place: Pizza Harbor - 15 North Edgewood St, Seaside, OR
Eight Dollar Mountain, OR. First Activation
Eight Dollar Mountain lives up to it’s notable name, somewhat unusual in an area that has may nameless mountains. On a topo map it looks like one of the nearby Cascades, a very definite cone not attached to the nearby hills, but it’s doesn’t share their volcanic origins. I was surprised it had never been activated as there is a (very steep) jeep track to the research station on the summit, and the trailhead is just a mile or so from highway 199.
Bolt Mountain, OR. First Activation
The morning after my arrival in Oregon, I was awake 2 hrs before dawn despite the extensive sampling of Oregon beer I’d engaged the night before. After verifying there was no way I was getting more sleep, I crept out of the house without breakfast or coffee to head toward the closest reference on my list: Bolt Mountain, a never-activated 1pt summit a few miles south. I posted a quick alert, commandeered the family truck and headed out.
Wagner Mountain, OR | April 2018
Update (5/18): Private Property Alert!
I received a note from Doug W7ZV letting me know that I had crossed private property on my hike to Wagner Mountain. In fact the SUMMIT of Wagner is apparently private property, owned by Young Life's Washington Family Ranch. The river map I was using did not indicate this, and there are no private property signs in this remote area. In short, I had no way of knowing that I would be entering private property on this hike.
2580, OR | April 2018
Scouted the summit while in the area. Too far into the Coast Range for 2m contacts in the valley. Might be good for S2S contacts or other bands. Summit is easy to drive to approaching from the east, less than a mile off Boundary Road between the Trask & Nestucca drainages, no low-profile vehicles but anything else should be fine. Can drive right to the top, which has decent views and might make a good place to camp out.