Standard Mt. Hood disclaimer: conditions vary by the hour, experience interpreting conditions and forecasts are essential for safe alpine travel.
There are several good trip reports that outline the route and condition aspects of this trip, so I'll try to stick to what was specific about this activation.
This is a pretty easy hike, with some elevation gain. My watch clocked 1070 ft of gain in 2.6 miles from where we parked the truck.
Bunsen Peak is an ancient volcanic cone characteristic of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is a very popular summit hike in Yellowstone Park near Mammoth Hot Springs. The trail is wide and even in October I found folks I could tag along with per the guidelines of not hiking alone in the Park.
Point 118 hosts a Missoula County communication site. It is a rocky prominence with excellent views of the distant Selway- Bitterroot Wilderness’ rugged northern mountains. Access is by foot or bicycle on a permanently gated road. The summit is approximately 200 feet from this communication site.
Turner Mountain in northwest Montana is approximately 22 miles north of Libby on Pipe Creek Road #567. Turner ski area opened in 1961. It is currently active with a mile long double chairlift with 2100’ of vertical rise. The 1.8-mile vehicle access road is closed in the summer but open to mountain bikes and foot travel. I borrowed an ebike and rode to the summit via the reasonable grade ‘jeep road’.
The Roundtop name matches well this broad round summit. It was intensely burned, twice with very few snags and live trees remaining now. Even though the hike is short, considerable downfall impedes travel over many routes.
Summit 7112 is at the head of Ninemile Creek and overlooks the Clark Fork valley to the north. It is a pleasant hike on cooler summer days. The on-trail and off-trail are currently exposed with very little tree cover.
This was my 6th time activating this summit! 3 of those activations involved using a snowmobile to get close, and then using snowshoes to get on to the summit. One of those trips involved us towing K7JRO on a dog sled behind one of the snowmobiles.
In the summer this summit is easily accessible with a high clearence vehicle (and a short hike). See K7MAS trip report for summer details. Winter access to this area is via Blewett Pass sno park, located off US 97 at Blewett Pass. A Sno Park pass is required.
This un-named summit is near US Forest Service trail #313 south from Skalkaho Pass. The trail begins in a regenerated timber harvest unit and quickly transitions to old-lodgepole pine/Rocky Mountain subalpine fir forest partly burned by a wildfire in the early 2000’s. Most of the trail is within this wildfire and is dominated by snags and windfall trees. Use caution traveling this area especially on windy days.
Summary - 3420 (Mount Beacon) is on Weyerhauser's Longview land northwest of Merrill Lake and is most easily accessed through a gate at the end of Kalama River Road. The highway drive is roughly eighty minutes from PDX; to the trailhead, plan on another hour or so along logging roads. The hike is roughly 1.5 miles and an eight hundred foot climb and ends in a nice operating position with views to the west. Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. There is no ATT cell service but APRS pings get picked up.