I had set a SOTA goal a few months ago to activate all of the summits surrounding Lake Owyhee in SE Oregon and set out to tackle my first one yesterday. 4029 is right next to 3660 (W7O/SE-188) and are both accessible by a vehicle turn-around at the end of a jeep road. To reach this vehicle turn-around you have to spend about my 70-80 mintues driving over a few jeep roads from Leslie Gulch Rd. The 4WD driving is straight forward. However, you'll definitely need a high-clearance 4WD vehicle, mediocre to decent route-finding/track-finding skills, and a lot of patience (if you like having intack leaf springs, shocks, and control arms). The drive in is absolutely GORGEOUS as you meander through golden oceans of grass and it makes up for how slow you'll be driving. The turn-around is in Three Fingers Gulch which is a canyon on the east side of Lake Owyhee that gives this part of the reservoir a spur-like shape on it's central river-right shore. 4029 is on top of the canyon rim from the turn-around parking area. The parking area sits in an ampetheatre of some amazingly impressive rock features. Part of me wants to return and establish some climbs on the rock faces.
In order to reach the canyon rim, you have to climb the draw/cut-through that is easily visible from a mile out. This climb requires some class 3 scrambling for about 150 feet in elevation followed by another 400 feet of steep hiking. Once you've made it to the top of the canyon, the summit (about a 1/2 mile away at this point) is visible and quick meander through grass and small rocks to the top. Be very weary of the hidden rocks under the grass. They're dying to surprise unsuspecting ankles. Once you're on the summit, you'll be surprised by the sheer exposure on the other sdie of the rocks considering your mellow climb from the east side. The summit is a small rocky ridge that is easily navigable. It's a safe scramble but you're only a couple of feet away from a +600 cliff. The views of the reservoir and the surrounding desert are absolutely amazing.
My activation was straight forward. For context, even at the summit, there is no cell service and the nearest APRS digipeater is 41 miles away over lots of mountainous terrain. I planned on/resorted to spoting myself via SOTAmat on my Inreach. I pulled out my KH1, tossed my homemade counter poise to straight it out, got a quick SWR match, and went to work on 20 m CW. I got 10 contacts within 16 minutes and managed to also activate the POTA entity (Three Fingers BLM Herd Management Area - US 10537). I packed up, started my descent, and was back at my truck in over an hour. The sun setting over the grassy hills is something I'll never forget. I'll probably be back out here within a week or two in order to activae 3660.