Decent tree cover for most of the trail
The weather this week was looking like it would be good, so I wanted to get in my March summit. I wanted to make it a challenge of some sort, so I decided to go for my first first activation. The Olympic Peninsula has a fair number of unactivated hills still, and a lot of them are on USFS land. I started exploring and found Peak 1620.
Due to the recent relocation of Frog Lake Buttes from one butte to the other earlier this year, I was anxious to do another double activation on New Year's Eve. See my previous report for details on the route. The only difference is you must continue on from the radio towers down to the saddle and on up the other butte. Still very worth it for 14 pts.
Nineteen Mountain is one of several two-point summits accessible from Weyerhaeuser rec permit access gate 6110. For permit information see: https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com. You will need the “Longview – St Helens” one. For this three-summit “expedition” I drove to within a few miles of each summit, parked and mountain biked to each of the summits. There is a small access road that kicks up steeply to the summit and really tested the lowest gear on my bike but once at the top of it, you are at the true summit.
A near drive-up summit in the Coast Range. From Highway 36 around Milepost 20, take BLM 17-8-31 Road, (Near 44.11999,-123.64626 and 17445 Oregon 36, Deadwood, Oregon).
Travel 4.2 miles on this Priusable gravel road and park when 0.2 miles from summit and walk up the road shown in the first photo. At the summit are remains of a fire lookout (see photos):
https://oregonlookouts.weebly.com/windy-peak.html
There are several trip reports available for Rock Peak, WA. I used: https://www.summitpost.org/rock-peak/709367 which had correct directions. It is also accurate about the hike up being a short, steep, slippery ascent with medium density forest floor brush. Peakbagger has several other reports (https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=16430)
I recently had the occasion to spend some time in Northern Idaho and while there I activated this summit.
The road up to the summit starts from Hwy 95, heading East on Hwy 54 and North on N Perimeter and East again on Bayview Rd to N Cherokee Rd and north following that up. N Cherokee Rd is also shown as FS 297 on Google Maps. The road condition is not great with many ruts down the middle. I had to straddle the ruts in many cases. A high-clearance vehicle is probably required.
This is a quite decent set of forest roads up to a peak that'll require just a little bushwhacking.
AA6XA first activated Thunder Mountain on 14 October 2017. His write-up is a great description of the area and his ascent from the east of the mountain. You can find the link to his write-up on the SOTAmaps Summit page. Ignoring his mention of “cliffs” I opted to plan a route from the west. The directions below describe the drive to the beginning of the west ascent. I knew the climb would be steep, but it would only be around a half mile (.53 to be exact). This is a total bushwhack from bottom to top.
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.
