Trailhead has ample, free, accessible parking
Johnson Mountain is a 2 point summit near Powers, OR in the Rogue/Siskiyou National Forest. This site is the presumed location of a famous meteorite hoax detailed here. Due to a closure of Johnson Mountain Road out of Powers, we were advised to head south to China Flat campground which is a good route (detailed below).
Barklow Mountain is a 2 point summit in the Rogue/Siskiyou National Forest between Powers, OR and Port Orford, OR. The site is a former fire lookout (now gone), serviced by a disused road and a short trail. The summit area has a view to the west and plenty of space to set up a vertical or a wire. Some lookout foundation artifacts remain.
This summit was easy to reach and only 1.3 miles or so OW. There is an antenna farm at the top but it didn't interfere significantly.
Start at the Stevens Creek Trailhead which has a nice parking lot and no permit required. It is part of a county park a few miles south of Spokane. The trail is pretty steep and is supposed to be closed when too muddy.
There are many large rocks near the summit which can make setting up an antenna with a clear view a little more challenging.
Peak 1980 is on Washington State DNR land approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes north of the Portland Metro area and about 6 miles south of Cougar, WA. This land requires a WA Discovery Pass.
The summit is a drive-up, but the last .75 miles is rough and a mid-clearance vehicle with AWD or better is recommended. See SOTL.AS or Sota Maps for the route GPX file. The roads in this area are not well mapped on other services and are being worked on by WA State DNR.
NOTE: The historical trailhead north of the fire station on Salmon la Sac road was closed to public access during 2024. This is an alternative route that can be used when USFS roads are still snow bound.
This write up is not intended to be a complete route description for Hex Mountain. The main purpose is to highlight an alternate way to access the Hex Mountain trail that we believe does not cross private property.
See KJ7LSM's nice writeup of this summit. I'll only add that, in March 2025, the gate to the last leg of the road is closed (see the southernmost point of the hike,below, resulting in an 800 foot, 1.7 mile walk up the remaining gravel road. There's room for one or two vehicles at the Y in the road while still providing passage if someone with access wants to pass through the gate.
The hike to Bob’s has almost doubled. From just over 3 mi RT to just over 6 mi RT. Elevation gain increased 400ft from 1100 to 1500. The Washington DNR has placed a new gate at 45.64596, -122.20734. There was no signage and I am not sure if the gate will always be closed. But seems prudent to plan on the longer hike. There is plenty of parking near the gate. Hopefully this will cut down on the amount of trash on the hill, which was always the down side of doing this peak.
For my first activation in the Pacific Northwest, I chose South Tiger Mountain. It was a "suggested first summit," a short drive from home, and a relatively easy hike. It was also a 2-pointer, another first for me.
UPDATE: the instructions given by Bill WJ7WJ in A Good Hand of Pinochle are still accurate. However, when I was up there last week, there were several trees that had blown over the road and only some of them had been cleared. I had forgotten to bring the chainsaw and they were too thick to cut with my bow saw.
