Calamity Peak, WA | September, 2021

Calamity Peak is a road walk or drive with a short bushwhack portion. Take Wind River Road north through Carson, WA. Turn west onto Hemlock and then north on Szydlo, which turns into NF-54. Follow NF-54 to the junction by the Soda Lakes trailhead, then go straight (rather than bearing left) to continue on 5407 to the junction with NF 324. Google Maps also gives good directions to this junction, 45.9118, -122.0982.

Either park here or drive up NF-324. I think a brave sedan could make it, but I did not try to get past the puddle at the bottom; if I had, I probably could have driven to where I left the road. Remarkably, the road improves as you go, so if the first quarter mile seems rough, the rest of it will probably go better. Any vehicle with clearance should be able to handle the road without any problem.

I left the road at 45.9140, -122.1204, and followed the ridge. This is dense, dense brush, mostly low-lying trees, but you can get through it. It's about 400 vertical feet to the summit. If you follow the ridge, you can end up at a false summit, near 45.9154, -122.1234, so skirt this on your way up, or don't be fooled by it.

The summit has okay VHF into Portland; I worked several stations in town despite activating at 7:30 AM.