Needle Point is the lowest 10 point summit in Oregon. It is not the easiest. It is located in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in north eastern Oregon. Access to the trail head is via Union, Oregon.
It is a nineteen mile round trip hike with 5000 feet of total elevation gain.
The trail head is the Main Eagle Creek Trail head at 45.0680, -117.4068.
Proceed up the Main Eagle Creek Trail to the fork at 45.1191, -117.3520.
Mt Adams in summer is a popular climb and has variable conditions. Anyone attempting Adams should be familiar hiking with crampons and ice axe. Glissading skills will help and if you're new, you'll be an expert by the time you are down the mountain.
I hiked to Huffman Peak from Siouxon Peak ( http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/kj7eha/2022-july-24/siouxon-peak-wa-july-2022 ). The trail is very easy to follow, and traverses through a 2020 burn area. It is very wide. There was a lot of blowdown, but easy to step over and around. The summit itself has been burned and is exposed. In July 2022, the forest floor was showing signs of new growth tiny seedlings everywhere.
The activation report for Siouxon (rhymes with “Tucson”) Peak from 2013 (http://www.pnwsota.org/node/306) is still largely correct. I just put in Google maps “Siouxon Peak” as destination and “Gresham” as start. Note that you can still hike in from the Amboy side, doing it that way allows you to view waterfalls, but requires a stream crossing. I went through Carson, NF-64, NF-6403 as per the previous trip report. From trailhead to summit is 2.5 miles and 1300’ vertical climbing.
Access is gained by taking the Woodruff/Samaria exit from I-15 South of Malad ID (also see below for W7I/SI-084) and heading west on Woodruff Ln. This comes to a tee and becomes a good dirt road, you take a right (north), This continues for a bit then turns west again (no other option) and heads to the base of the mountain. You pass the last farm just before the base. Just after that you pass over a cattle guard and you will be on BLM land. Currently there is an information board and a parking area at the entry.
Also known as Samaria High Point. Access is gained by taking the Woodruff/Samaria exit from I-15 South of Malad ID and heading west on Woodruff Ln. This comes to a tee and becomes a good dirt road, you take a right (north), This continues for a bit then turns west again (no other option) and heads to the base of the mountain. You pass the last farm just before the base. Just after that you pass over a cattle guard and you will be on BLM land. Currently there is an information board and a parking area at the entry.
Monument Peak is an exposed summit. There are some stands of trees well within the activation zone, if needed. I secured my mast to a leg of a small canopy (gotta love those drive-ups). 40m and 20m netted eight contacts in quick succession and then the chasers went quiet. I’ve stopped trying VHF/UHF in this area due to the lack of chasers (sparse population). If you type “Monument Peak” into your driving software, it will direct you to the USGS Monument Peak which is not the SOTA Monument Peak. This gets you very close to the SOTA summit that is less than a mile away.
Please follow K7ATN's previous report for directions to this summit.
In 2022 the tower lookout is Michelle who has been there for 8 seasons. Very friendly and ham-radio accomodating. Like other fire tower operators, announce yourself so Michelle knows you are there. There is a public port-a-potty and a picnic table that can be used. With permission, i hung one end of my EFHW from the tower structure, actually my rope supporting the EFHW.
This summit is located approximately 16 miles North of Soda Springs Idaho. Take State Highway 34 north to Blackfoot Reservoir. You will need to turn to your left off of highway 34 when you see the Blackfoot North access road. This road is accessible to passenger cars. Travel west approximately 2.25 miles on this road. Watch for a fence line going up a ridge on your right. There is a place to park at
Great Vistas from the Termination Point summit!
Termination Point was the site of a now abandoned FS Lookout. Kreske's book says it was built in the 1930s but later abandoned. The view of Adams, Rainier, and St Helens are majestic and with a little hike to the south, Mt Hood. The summit is small, about 20' x 20' but with steep dropoffs to the east - great RF takeoff angles.