Lookout Mountain, WA

For Taylor's first post-surgery activation, we were looking for a summit we could nearly drive to in order to minimize the required walking. The morning of the trip was the first time she had donned her boots since the procedure, so we weren't sure how much walking she'd be up for. We had originally planned a 2-point summit in the coast range because we knew we could get within a few hundred feet in the Jeep. However, a late tip from N7AAM on Friday had us rolling towards Lookout Mountain on the Washington side of the gorge. We owe John big time for this one as it turned out to be a fantastic spot and an easy four points.

The description of the drive to the summit basically told us to take Wind River road to Stabler, then turn left on Hemlock and go until we hit the Work Center. From there, the instructions said that gravel Forest Road 43 headed off to the right. However, this is not the case, but since we had been here before (and confused by the same instructions) we knew what to do. Right after the Work Center, paved forest road 417 (according to several maps we have) departs to the right, and is marked as road 43 on the right shortly. After driving on 43 for a while, it turns to gravel and winds through the forest. At one point you depart from the old road 43 to the left to avoid a closure. The maps we had did not show the new path, but we followed it all the way until we met up with road 41, which took us to the base of Lookout Mountain and road 501 which led to the top. Here's an overview of the path:

For clarification, here are two other detailed maps of the trip, starting from the gravel portion of road 43 (still marked as 417 on most maps).

The last bit to the top is something you'd probably want a 4WD truck or Jeep for, but other medium-clearance vehicles could make it with caution. Parking at the bottom of road 501 would provide a reasonable hike to the top.

There's a small solar/propane communications shelter at the top, but otherwise the 360-degree views are pretty fantastic. There is plenty of room to set up and even camp for the night.

We set up our usual 20 meter vertical and made quick work of the required contacts running about 50 watts from our IC-7000. We had spotted a couple other potential summits along the way that we hadn't intended to visit, so we packed it up here and headed down to see if we could score another one before the day was up.

As it turned out, the day would yield that...and more.