Summary - At the end of a long drive along the ridge of the Toutle Mountains, a short hike brings you to the open summit with terrific views of Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams. Bring HF gear and assume VHF contacts will be rare. ATT service is very good, as is APRS. The roads, up to the summit drive are 2WD friendly; the last bit requires high clearance and AWD or an additional quarter-mile of hiking.
Just east of Mount Rainier National Park and north of Highway 12 is this bushwack activation.
Peak 8740 was first activated a month ago on 08 Aug 2023 by KJ7GRQ and N0DNF. This is a very straightforward “trailhead” from a rough dirt/gravel road. Definitely not Prius friendly and I wouldn’t take anything but a vehicle with more than standard clearance. Recent rains have created water channels, mud puddles and exposed rocks in places. 4WD is not required, however.
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
You can access Wilkes Hills if you purchase a Weyerhaeuser permit https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com. You will need the “Longview – St Helens” one. There is no rec permit access gate from the I5/Burma Road side. You have to go around to the East side a bit. It is about 8 miles from the intesection of Tower Road and Hwy 504.
Signal Peak is a 12.7 mile Priusable drive up with some pot holes that are easily navigated. It does not need a Weyerhaeuser permit for access. Although you traverse through Weyerhaeuser land, the road you take is designed as a “Public Access Corridor” to the state forest where the Signal Peak summit is located.
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
Bald Hill (W7W/SN-183) is at the high point found at the south end of Lord Hill in Snohomish County. Most of Lord Hill is a Snohomish County park. However, the actual summit is just south of the park on a private residential property.
I thought I should put a few pointers here based on our recent activation of Triode Mt.
The property is privately owned by Inland Empire Paper Co. They sell a per-day access permit from their web site.
K7JTO first activated this summit in June 2020 along with Peak 9335 (W7U/BO-002) and Bull Mountain (W7U/B0-001). His write-up can be found in the Resources section of the SotaMaps peak reference. He provides a very good description of all the peaks along with some great pictures. The following is additional information that may help in planning.