Shady Trail

Just east of Mount Rainier National Park and north of Highway 12 is this bushwack activation.

 Take Highway 12 about 1.5 miles east of the turnoff for Highway 123 and go left (north) onto gravel FR45. A short 0.4 miles later, turn right (east) to continue on FR45 for 11.2 miles. The road is carefully Priusable, with the potholes increasing and the road width decreasing past the Cortright TH (which could provide access to other summits to the east). You'll find a good place to park near 46.6965, -121.5309 where FR45 starts to descend.

East Butte is a moderate hike with fairly easy access that most passenger cars would have no problem with. It has beautiful 360 views of SE Deschutes County Oregon and is very worth the drive. It would also make a great motorcycle SOTA outing when the trail to the top is open.

Full report here

New (and Improved!) Lake Butte 6260 W7O/NE-264

There are three options for getting to this peak.

Priusable road: Hike 4.2 miles RT with 900 ft elevation gain.

High clearance 4x4: Hike from a hunting camp 2.75 miles and 700 ft elevation gain.

High clearance 4x4 and willing copilot: Hike 1.75 miles and 500 ft of gain

I did Willow after Ball. It is a trek up through the timber, navigating up a ridge around the lava rock and trees. Not bad at all. See my tracks. On top it is a little tight to set up because of the steepness and rock and brush but very doable in the AZ.

Fox Butte is an easy activation IF you are equipped with HF. I wouldn't rely on 2M unless maybe you bring a yagi to help get your signal to Bend. The roads are in much better than expected shape, and other that the fact that it is a long drive, it was quite pleasant and any passenger car can make the trip.

Full report here

It was a bit surprising that this summit had not been activated. It is a fairly easy hike but it does require a back country permit for access in the Three Sisters Wilderness, which may have put some folks off. Also, Todd Lake is quite busy in the Summer tourism months and permits are limited, though we had no trouble getting one a couple days prior to our planned outing.

This was short but very hard. Straight up off trail. Maybe there is an easier way but I doubt it. I started on the 1046B trail on the west side but it ends only about 500ft in so I just started climbing straight up. Soft, steep, forest duff that was hard to stay upright in and the I reached a outcropping of shale and boulder to carefully climb the final 150' before the AZ. Shaded. It is about 700' gain in .5 miles.No cell at all. I did decend through an open meadow which felt much safer, however, the plants started getting taller and taller and I got covered in burrs.

After arriving Thursday afternoon at the W7O Campout, Ryan NN7M invited me to join him and his dog Tori for a hike to Tipsoo Peak.  This summit was recently added as a new SOTA summit in Feb 2023, and was excited to hear this would be a first activation (Mark K7MAS also activated the summit the next day...and was part of the first UTC day activation)

Directions:

Mt. Bailey is a 5 mile, 3600 ft ascent with a few tricky sections to test your hiking mettle. There are two access points, one is easily reached via any passenger car, the other would require a high clearance vehicle and possibly all wheel/4 wheel drive. Its a beautiful hike, but can be hot and buggy so bring plenty of food/water and bug spray (Ben’s 30% DEET worked well for us). I would consider this an intermediate hike due to the elevation gain and some of the exposure, but bringing a new/young hiker along is reasonable with the proper support.

Getting there: from highway 12 , when you get to the town of Randle, turn South on state route 131. After about a half mile, there is a fork in the road. Stay to the right on highway 131. Do not take the left fork to Cispus road. After another half mile route 131 turns into Forest Service road 25. Drive about 10 miles down the 25 road until you get to the 2516, where you'll take a right. Here are coordinates for the turn: 46.34766, -121.97049.