Good Views From Summit

Cox Benchmark is a Drive up summit near Lakeview OR.

There is a small RF site on top, but we experienced no interference from it.

The last bit of road, approximately one mile and 500 feet of gain, is a bit rough and overgrown in places. We drove it in a Rav4, but you could park near the start of it at 42.39478, -120.36527. This would avoid needing higher clearance and northwest pin stripes.

To get there turn off of 395 at 42.30956, -120.3406

Turn off of 3625 onto 011 at 42.38721, -120.37900

Abert Rim is a 6-point drive-up summit in the Warner Mountains area of the Fremont-Winema National Forest. Your best access is from Lakeview, OR and environs. This summit is close to Light Peak and Drake Peak, recommended summits if in the area. 

Fish Creek Mountain is a 6.3 mile RT hike with 2300 feet of elevation gain.

Access to the trail head is on good roads, mostly paved with good gravel for the final bit.

The area was burned in 2020 and closed for several years after. As a result the trail is somewhat overgrown and hard to find in a few places. However, there is lots of marking tape and other signals such as logs that have been cut out of the way. So navigation was pretty easy. I have attached a GPX file to SOTL.AS for further help.

East Canyon Ridge is a summit in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, near Mt. Adams. The summit is along a well used multi-mode trail that sees some mountain bike and moto traffic, though very light on the day of my activation. Huckleberries were ample during my visit in late summer, as well.

Climb:                   4.6 mi, +3,170 feet

Approach:           11.8 mi., +1,102 feet, -925 feet

Getting there: I rode my mountain bike from Sherman Pass, activated Columbia Mountain, and then continued on to Wapaloosie Mountain before backtracking and descending Jungle Hill. Trails are in decent enough condition and there is nothing about the tread that would make them difficult to hike. I did drive the roads to all the trail heads and the road to this one is in good condition. I found it quite passable in my Subaru Forester.

Forbidden Peak is a ten point summit that is one of the most popular rock climbing objectives in the Cascade mountains. The summit can be approached from three ridges, with the West Ridge being the easiest and most frequently climbed. The West Ridge is famous for high-exposure, high quality 4th and easy 5th class climbing and a crux at 5.6. It is listed in the 1979 climbing guidebook "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America" by Steve Roper and Allen Steck.

3914, SE-178 is a non-prominent prominence located near nothing, well between Vale Oregon and Lake Owyhee Reservoir. For a real 4x4 it’s a drive up, but the ruts became to deep for our Rav4 (eight inches of clearance.) The road we took was not on a map and the road were looking for that was on the map wasn’t discoverable by us on the ground. As you can see from the track attached to sotl.as there is almost no elevation gain. The summit is a long ridge in a bumpy landscape. We had difficulty figuring out which lump it was. The summit is entirely open.

Frazier Point Lookout is a decommissioned lookout off of US-395 between Burns and John Day.It is a drive into the activation zone with a passenger car summit. The final push to the tower is a bit steep and rocky, but it’s not necessary to drive there.

Google maps provides accurate directions. Basically, off of US-395 turn East onto paved forest road NF-17. Follow it to NF-295 which becomes NF_1630. Then take NF-849 to the top. There are signs and everything!

I used the clothes line pole to attach my antenna pole. The stairway to the tower is blocked.

Calamity Butte is an active Lookout in the Malheur Forest. It has two lookout buildings, an historic one on the ground and a newer one on a tower. It is located off of US-395 between John Day and Burns.

To get there drive 395 to 43.9282, -118.9323 and turn west onto forest road 2840, AKA Calamity Lookout Road. Turn North on to FR-28 then immediately left onto 2860. The road is rough from here. We did it with 8” of clearance and AWD. The track is available on sotl.as.