Summit has good "views"

Montana - Three Lakes Peak 27July2019

Summit

Three Lakes Peak is just within the Flathead Indian Reservation along the Reservation Divide. The summit has great views of the Confederate Salish-Kootenai Tribes land, the Flathead River, three alpine lakes, the Mission Mountains and the Ninemile Valley.  A Flathead Reservation Use Permit is required. 

Montana Mount Headley 30June2019

Summit

Mount Headley is easily accessed via a moderately climbing trail in the southern Cabinet Mountains.  It also makes an easy SOTA double when teamed up with Vermilion Peak, W7M/LO-056.  The summit is the tallest in the area and has fine views of nearby summits, lakes and distant peaks.  Be sure to stop and view Graves Creek Falls w

Gifford Peak, WA | September 2020

Summit

Summary:

Gifford Peak is a forested summit above Blue Lake in the Indian Heaven Wilderness. This area is a popular destination for day hikers and backpackers, directly on the Pacific Crest Trail, so be prepared to meet crowds any day with good weather. The lake can be approached from either Falls Creek Horse Camp or the Thomas Lake Trailhead. Once there, take Thomas Lake Trail to the northwest corner of the lake, and proceed up the ridge off-trail. The ridge is pronounced and easy to follow to the true summit.

Brundage Mountain, ID | August 2020

Summit
Keywords

Brundage Mountain SOTA brings the thought of riding a chair lift at the ski resort to the summit.  In actuality, the true summit is a mile north of the ski resort are requires a bushwhack for most of the 4 mile round trip.  The views from the summit mostly make up for bushwhack and somewhat dangerous final ascent to the summit.

Mt. Catherine, WA | September 2020

Summit

Approach: Rough gravel road in from Hyak.  Little parking and congested driving at hairpin curve ~1.7 miles before  the trail head.  Just past the hairpin curve the road is extremely steep, rocky and potholed, to the point only vehicles with good clearance can get through. (I have an Outlander PHEV that did fine going up, and scraped on one rock coming down.)  Once at the trail head it was busy, but easy to find an open parking spot on a Sunday afternoon.  

Big Mountain, Montana August 28, 2020

Summit

Big Mountain is part of Whitefish Ski Area and in the summer you can take the chairlift to the top ($20) and hike, ride bikes and activate Big Mountain.  The communication towers that sit atop the summit are easy to see from the top of the chairlift and it's only a short quarter mile walk up the graded road to the top.

Mount Bachelor, OR

Summit

I went to Bend to visit my in-laws over the weekend and had time for one summit. Figured I would get my monies worth and go for a ten pointer I knew I could activate, Mount Bachelor. 

I activated Mount Bachelor in 2018. For that activation I took the lift to the Pine Marten Lodge and hiked to the summit from there. I told myself the next time I activated this one I would start my hike from the bottom. 

Angell Peak, OR | Aug 2020

Summit

This summit is a progressively more difficult climb as you ascend. The activation is challenging but rewarding. The route I took starts with an easy well trafficked trail, but the second part of the ascent has no trail and involves navigating through the Angell Basin which consists of areas of large granite boulders.