Summary - Lakeview Peak is on Weyerhauser's Longview land north of Yale and is accessed through a gate on Rock Creek Road. The drive to the gate is roughly eighty minutes. From the gate to the summit is another 2.5 miles and a 1400 foot climb along logging roads. Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.
Palisade Mountain, Montana | October 2022
Palisade Mountain is a popular hike east of Corvallis, MT. The trail system is well maintained to within 500’ of the summit. The summit is a large talus rock pile with a several oddly-located whitebark pine trees. Evidence of the 1930s lookout still exist as some rock work and old trails in the talus. The main trail does not go to the summit though a semi-improved travel way in the talus on the west side does.
Dome Shaped Mountain, Montana | October 2022
Dome Shaped Mountain is a scenic and lightly traveled trail near Hamilton Montana. Much of the hike overlooks a large portion of the Stony Mountain Roadless Area. Alpine larch dominate the summit with brilliant yellow fall color in early October contrasting with green whitebark pine.
Summit 7560, Idaho 27 July 2022
SOTA Summit 7560 could easily be termed “Magruder Ridge High Point”. It is located on Magruder Ridge approximately 1.0 mile south of Magruder Mountain that it dominates by a mere 138’. Magruder Mountain and Ridge are named for the massacre of Lloyd Magruder and his party of four others in 1863 near this area. See sign photo.
Mahogany Mountain, Idaho | October 2022
There is an activation report link from Doug (N7NGO) on the SotaMaps Summit summary that is basically the information for driving access and the summit hike. Since there is not a PNWSota report, I thought I'd add a few notes.
The access road(s) are very well graded and certainly Prius friendly, whether coming to the City of Rocks National Reserve from the east (Almo, Idaho) or from the north (Oakley, Idaho).
Long Tom Mountain, Idaho | September 2022
Long Tom Mountain is a long forest road drive mostly through burned forest. The current Long Tom Lookout built in 1977 is ½ mile south of the SOTA summit.
Devils Point, Idaho | July 2022
Devils Point is a mostly open snag-covered summit with excellent views of the surrounding Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the Hell’s Half Acre Lookout. Much of this area has experienced very large wildfires over the last several of decades and abundant snags exist.
birkenfeld mountain (east ridge) wa | october 2022
Summary - Birkenfeld Mountain from the east side is a steep, mostly pathless, ridge bushwhack to a brushy forested summit. The approach via CG2020, is a logging road with some very steep sections that can also be used to reach Greenleaf Peak. Drive time to the trailhead was about 90 minutes.
frog lake buttes or (via trails 530 and 484) | october 2022
Summary - Frog Lake Buttes doesn't have views but is a nice hike in the summer and a good snowshoe or ski destination in the winter. Park at the Frog Lake Sno Park and you have a choice of three routes: a 2.5 mile service road (the usual winter route), a 4.5 mile trail hike that starts on the PCT and winds around to the northwest side of the butte, or a 2.5 mile trail hike up the east side. Two meter contacts into Portland and Vancouver will be tough without a yagi or j pole, self-spotting is easy, and APRS digis ping.
big bull wa | october 2022
Summary - Big Bull is one of three peaks (LC-100, LC-091, LC-068) in the Northeast corner of Weyerhauser's Longview land. It is a drive up roughly two hours from Portland, much of it over logging roads. There is a very short hike (twenty yards) to the densely forested summit and the best operating position is in an opening a little below the top. Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.