Summary - 3860 (Mount Binary) is one of three peaks (LC-100, LC-091, LC-068) in the Northeast corner of Weyerhauser' Longview parcel. It is roughly two and a half hours from Portland, much of it over logging roads. There is a short hike (less than a mile) up an unused logging road which ends on an open ridge with nice views. Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.
Summary - 3566 (Mount Diode) is one of three peaks (LC-100, LC-091, LC-068) in the Northeast corner of Weyerhauser-owned land. It is roughly two and a half hours from Portland, much of it over logging roads that get rougher as you go higher. The summit is clear cut and covered with stumps and the best operating position is along the road. Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up. There are good views of the surrounding hills.
Access:
Rainier National Park pass required, $30 per vehicle for the day. Nisqually Entrace is closest to I-5 and reached via Elbe WA. There are a number of routes to Lane Peak depending on road closures. Stevens Pass road closes for winter (even in the hottest October ever recorded). Parking available at several points along Paradise Valley Rd. We parked at the closure which is near Ruby Falls. This leaves you with about 1 mi of road walk before descending toward Tatoosh Creek directly toward Lane from the North of the peak.
Route:
Cypress Mountain North Peak (1485) was successfully activated September 18. Four of us climbed to the summit just under 1500’. We had 12 vhf 2M contacts including one Summit-to-Summit with Mt Thompson about 98 miles away. The approach from Eagle Harbor is about 3 miles going via Cypress Lake. At the lake continue on the old road on the south side until it turns into a use trail.
This was the first activation of Middle Stack Mountain in Nevada. A huge lesson learned (again) is that map resources conflict when it comes to roads, both roads that do not exist, and roads that do not appear on maps. Even when cross referencing maps with Google Earth you can’t be certain that a geological feature that “looks” like a road actually is one! As a first activation, there was no SOTA summit access information, though there were a couple of Peakbagger trip reports.
Peak 6100, which I am calling Lemcke Peak, as the only thing near it with a name is Lemcke Spring.
Lick Benchmark is a six point summit located near John Day Oregon. It is a bit more than ½ miles round trip and 420 feet of elevation gain. So a bit steep. Trail starts at 44.5755, -118.7617. There is a wide spot to park and turn around there. There is an old jeep track that turns into a trail for a bit and then disappears. It is not a bad bushwhack though, in terms of whacking bushes. The benchmark is on a rock outcropping at the summit.
Cougar Rock is a six point peak near John Day Oregon. It is 3 miles round trip with 750 feet of elevation gain. Roads are good to the trailhead at 44.5806, -118.7918. The start of the hike is a rough road that was closed to motor vehicle travel when we were there. The road walk is about ¾ of a mile, but doesn’t gain much elevation. So enjoy that part of the walk. We turned off the road at 44.5825, -118.8026.. It’s a bushwhack from there. There are some dead fall to step over, but mostly its just steep.
Coal Pit Mountain is a six point summit near Mt. Vernon Oregon. It is a 1.5 mile hike round trip with 600 feet of elevation gain. It starts on an old jeep track/ATV trail that climbs straight up to the ridge line. From there just follow the ridge to the summit. Trail starts at 44.2991, -119.1059.
Driving directions on the Ingle Mtn write up.
Ingle Mountain is a six point summit near Mt. Vernon Oregon. It is a little over 4 miles round trip with a total elevation gain of ~1100ft, but it seems a bunch more. That is because net elevation gain is only about half of that. So one keeps seeing false summits followed by saddles followed by false summits …