Easy Trail

During a 12-day, Self-Guided tour through the Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy, I had the opportunity to activate a few mountains that “happened” to be right along our route.  I was with my XYL, Sharon, and 2 other couples, so my opportunities were somewhat limited by time and patience (or lack thereof) of my travelling companions.  None the less, I managed 4 Activations.  This report deals with the Activation of Monte Pic, I/AA-181.  This easy to ascend peak is 7,753 Feet / 2,363 Meters in elevation.  The reason I rep

11.3-miles, +3,828 ft; -574 ft; From N. Fork Trailhead

I activated this as the first summit on a multi-day backpacking trip.  We camped at Canyon Lake and climbed from there.  There is also camping at Lake Otatsy and Camp Pass.  The entire route, including the Lake Otatsy area was burned in the 2017 Rice Ridge fire, so care should be taken in selecting a camp to minimize the danger from standing dead trees.  Most of the area around Canyon Lake is not burnt.

Pasture Ridge is one of several SOTA summits near the Magruder Corridor.  This corridor-road divides some of the most wild-country in Idaho, the Selway Bitterroot and Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness areas. The trail access to the summit begins at the Historic Magruder Ranger Station.  The Ranger Station dates back into the 1920s and the Ranger’s Residence is now a US Forest Service Rental Cabin.

Trout Creek Hill is a near drive-up summit north of Carson, Washington. You can reasonably drive into the AZ, but you'd rather not travel the last few hundred yards to save the finish on your vehicle. So be sure and look for a good place to turn around and leave your vehicle before that last bit of road.

Bunker Hill is a nicely accessible summit a few miles north of Carson, Washington. The trailhead is an easy drive, and the hike is about 3.6 miles roundtrip and 1300 feet of gain. Note that little of the gain is on the first mile or so of the hike - it's steep later. The hike starts on the Pacific Crest Trail for the first easy half mile or so.

Short Version - Wildcat Mountain is only an hour from Portland. You can drive to the trailhead and the two-ish mile hike along a well-maintained, if not well-marked, trail gets you to a small clearing on a summit with wire-ready trees. APRS messaging and 2M FM contacts are both easy and it is a good location for working HF. You are unlikely to be alone, as the Douglas and 781 trails are quite popular; if you like solitude, get there early. And be prepared for snow, even in early November.

Between October 21 and October 30, 2020, we visited the Sunriver / Bend areas of Oregon.  The cold but clear weather allowed us to Activate 8 SOTA summits in 6 outings.  This report is one of a series, and deals with the Activation of Burma Rd HP, AKA Point 4,230, W7O/CE-304.  Prior to coming to the Bend / Sunriver area, I had contacted Ron, W6PZA, who lives in Bend, Oregon.  I had seen on-line that he had been a very consistent Activator in this area, and reached out to him to possibly arrange some joint Activations.  Happily,

Blue Nose is a US Forest Service Lookout built in 1934.  The structure still exists. From the summit are good views of the steep slopes of the Salmon River Canyon and high summits of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The final access road is a bit steep and rough.  It is an OK drive-up for a ‘high clearance’ vehicle, ATV or a mountain bike. 

The summit is on the Idaho/Montana border. There are several summits along the roads in this area for multiple summit days, provided one is camped nearby. 

This is a burned-over flat-summit on the Idaho/Montana Border.  Access is via an obscure 4x4 road that takes off to the north from FS#038.  Along this road after several hundred feet is a flatten area used as a dispersed campsite most commonly in hunting season.  Beyond this area the road becomes an ATV track weaving through a snag forest and leading to the summit. 

There are many snags to hang wire antennas. 

Lakeside Ridge is an easy to get to summit with a nice hike of about 1.5 miles one way on a dirt road.  It offers plenty of space and plenty of small trees to lean a mast against or string an antenna on.  It's a pretty nice place for an activation.  We had some pretty nice weather, the sounds of cows nearby and good DX.  I was able to log New Zealand and France.