Trail requires special care due to difficult or technical obstacles
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)
Pansy Mountain has not been activated since the 2021 fires. I originally intended to do both Pansy Mountain and Bull of the Woods, but I did not get an early enough start for a late autumn hike. Getting there is straight forward. A high clearance vehicle is helpful for a couple of sections, but it is probably not absolutely necessary. Follow the directions from the Forest Service:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mthood/recarea/?recid=52988
Getting There: DO NOT USE GOOGLE MAPS TO GET HERE!!!! Google maps will lead you straight to a gated road. Have your GPS open or a map next to you while you try to navigate this. From highway 14, turn North on Rock Creek Driver like you're headed to Skamania Lodge. Continue half a mile and then turn left on Foster Creek Road. Next turn left on Red Bluff Road which will become CG-2000. Continue a little less than a mile until you see the intersection with CG 2022 splitting up the hill to the left.
This no-name summit just East of Dog Lake was the last of of three activations during the Annular Eclipse weekend of October 2023.
Summary - A short but very steep scramble up game trails will get you to the top of this very visible summit in the Toutle Range. Combine it with 4562 and Castle Peak and hit Signal Peak on the way out to make it a four summit day.
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.
Summary - The hike (at least from the north) through the burn area is a sufferfest of deep, continuous treefall, exposure, and route finding. The trail is mostly gone and you must have a GPS and map or be very good with compass and map to avoid missing several crucial turns. As with most summits in this area, plan on HF to activate unless you know there are other SOTA ops in the area. Bottom line: skip this one, at least from the northern trailhead.
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.
I did Fish, CS-159, and Buckneck the first day of my arrival preparing for the 2023 campout. I have been working on exploring the summits along the Rogue-Umpqua Divide. They are all HARD. Fish is about 1.8mi RT with about 1000'+ per mi gain. No trail, I took tracks from a peakbagger and hiked up the NW rim. It is a combination of navigating through the forest, rocks, and climbing. Half way up you will come to a plug I did not see coming but managed to navigate around the west side of it (to the right) and find a spot to boulder climb up.
