Indian Mountain, north of Mount Hood, is a remote summit with great views of Mount Hood. It's quite a drive from Portland, but not too long of a hike - about 2 miles round trip and 500 feet of gain.
This summit is right across from the Cement Plant off Hwy I-84 between Baker City, OR and Farewell Bend, OR. Looked like a nice option for a quick activation when traveling Hwy I-84. However, the obvious road to the top was chained with a sign stating permission required. No contact info, so must be locals wanting to keep people off the land. There is also a radio facility near the top, so the chain and sign keep people away from that area as well.
This is a very nice hike (3.3 Miles, 2,900 ft.)
Drive west from Augusta towards Nilan Reservoir and Benchmark. Continue for 14-miles, turning right (Northerly) on the Willow Creek road towards Gibson Reservoir. Continue another 1.2 miles and turn left immediately after passing Scoutana – an old Girl Scout Camp. The turn is also signed as “USFS Administrative Site”. Follow this road and park where it is blocked by a gate.
This was my second activation of Lucky Peak. Always a good hike to test your fitness level. There are a few options to get to the top. The route we took was 11.2 miles and 3089 feet of climbing. See my previous report for more information. Lucky Peak 2015: http:/www.pnwsota.org/node/556 . You can also drive to nearly the top if you want a shorter hike. The road up (from Hwy 21) is best with a SUV or high clearance vehicle. There is a small parking lot and bathroom at the end of the road.
Peak 7057 is the first peak along the FS374 ridgeline north of the Harris Creek Summit. The second peak is Hawley Mountain (W7I/BC-069). Harris Creek Summit (saddle) can be reached from Harris Creek Rd. which connects Horseshoe Bend and Placerville, Idaho. It is a dirt road in good condition. From Harris Creek summit, FS374 is a resonably good single track road. SUV or other high clearance vehicle recommmended, but I did see a sedan parked at the base of Peak 7057!
Dead Mountain, W7O/CM-115 is an out of the way summit in a forested area. A road goes right by this 2 point summit. The mountain is an extended ridge. The SOTA summit sits on the high point. This summit is easy to get to along roads that branch off of the main road to the Huckleberry Lookout.
Huckleberry Mountain and its lookout is well known and for very good reasons. The catwalk around the elevated lookout offers wonderful, 360 degree views. All of the major snow capped peaks from Mt Hood to Thielsen and McLoughlin are visible. In addition, detailed views down into the nearby foothills are there for our enjoyment. The lookout makes a great place to do radio.
Hawley Mountain is the second peak along the FS374 ridgeline north of the Harris Creek Summit. Harris Creek Summit (saddle) can be reached from Harris Creek Rd. which connects Horseshoe Bend and Placerville, Idaho. It is a dirt road in good condition.
The easy access to this hill is off of forest road FS-6081 (you’d want a high clearance vehicle) which was not passable for us. It leads to a spur road that goes almost to the top (this is also blocked to vehicles by windfall and some erosion). Good thing we had a plan B – which was to follow the PCT - Trail #2000, south from the nearby Crest Horse Camp.