Summit has good "views"
“Tillamook Peak”, NC-091, is now a drive up. Can't tell you how to drive up because I hiked up the ATV trail described by K7EEX .http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7eex/2018-july-07/tillamook-peak-2399-oregon However, when I reached the ridgeline the trail t-boned into a road. Short walk up the road led me to the clear cut summit. Great view of the Wilson River. Don't expect trees for help, bring your own antenna support.
Ben Smith is now a drive up. It has been clear cut and there is a good road to the top.
A gentle pitch trail terminates at Savage Ridge. Of interest to hams might be the Natural Resources and Conservation Service Snotel Site near the trail head. This is snow water content and weather measuring station is complete with snow pillows and a 40-50Mhz meteor burst telemetry station/antenna.
The radio relays the data to master stations probably in Boise Idaho or Ogden Utah on a daily basis.
The hike to Eagle Cliff on Stateline National Recreation Trail #738 has many scenic views along the route including alpine cirque basins and alpine lakes, Cliff and Diamond, and some small unnamed lakes. Wildlife encountered along the trail were mule deer, several dusky grouse and a family of Clark’s nutcrackers.
An interesting historical monument is at the summit. It is an iron post survey monument marking the Idaho/Montana State Boundary. W7LIX informed me that the monument is MP177.1 placed there in 1904.
A steep trail climb breaks onto an open grassland with scattered Rocky Mountain subalpine fir makes this summit a great operating position. Located on the Idaho/Montana border it has panoramic views of the regrown forest after the great burn of 1910. Early season wildflowers can be abundant including glacier lilies, buttercups and western pasqueflowers. Illinois Peak is an old US Forest Service Lookout site with some scattered weathered lumber and concrete footings as the only remaining evidence.
Elevation gain: 1500’
Blackrock Peak is named for the dark gray to black lichens growing on the summit boulder field. The rock itself is mostly light tan-colored and from a distance the dark lichen patterns appear like large stationary cloud shadows draped over the summit and adjoining ridges. Distance views include the rugged Mission Mountains, the Bitterroot Mountains, the Cabinet Mountains and on clear days Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park.
The Skinny:
Trail head: 44.9022, -121.7979
Trail Turn: 44.8958, -121.8424
Hike Distance : 6 miles round trip
Hike Elevation gain: 1600 ft
The Story:
Here's an easy first activation I thought. It has a write up! http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/kf7qlp/2015-may-28/sisi-butte-hour-late-and-dongle-short How often is that going to happen?
Bad Luck Mountain is an old US Forest Service Lookout site that had a structure from 1939 till about 1980. Only a few concrete blocks remain today. The summit is mostly forested now with 25-40 year-old Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine. Open grassland falls steeply from the summit to the south.
NC-066, in my head named "Souther Saddle" (even though it's not part of a saddle pair), was a nice bike ride into Stimson forest land. This peak forms the lower point of a triangle between South Saddle NC-002 and NC-065, commonly a paired activation. One could easily do both NC-065 and 066 in a day, provided enough time to hike or bike this route. There are also a number of other nearby peaks on the way in/out of the forest area that could be paired if you had time in the day.
4.8 mi, +1,870 feet, -600 feet
This is a nice hike on a good trail with great views – particularly of the Red Mountain & Caribou Mountain regions of the Scapegoat Wilderness. This hike is close enough to the Scapegoat Wilderness that it is prudent to be Bear-Aware.
