On the way over to Bend, I stopped to activate Black Butte. I came on Hwy 20 and turned at NF-11 which is also the turn for Indian Ford Campground. From there I followed north to the turn for NF-1110 (also known as Black Butte Rd) and on around the north of the mountain. After a hairpin turn, there is one more sharp turn to the right which takes you to the upper trailhead. The road up to the last turn was in good shape as of this writing. The upper portion after the last turn was not as good but still very drivable.
After parking at the trailhead (which sports a vault toilet), I headed up the trail to the summit.
It is around 2 miles and 1600' elevation. There is an actively-manned fire watch at the top.
I was able to easily raise enough contacts on 2m from the folks getting ready for the S2S Party the next day and since I needed to still find a camping spot for the night, I packed up and headed down.
