This was my first summit on the day of the Central Oregon S2S party.
I had spent the night at the Pine Mountain Observatory Campgrounds which is FCFS so get there early. If it's full, there are dispersed locations but it's hard to find one in the pitch black dark. The observatory requires no headlights (only running lights) at the top so take that into account.
In the morning, I drove back down NF-2017 to the trailhead which also double as a cattle watering station.
The gate was chained and latched but not locked. It probably would have been possible to drive almost all the way to the top but I chose to hike the 1.4 miles and around ~500' gain instead. Didn't see anyone except a couple startled cows on the way down.
At the end of the road, there is a turnaround and the trail up to the summit is just off to the left.
Once on the summit, I attached my fiberglass pole to the windsock pole (only thing around, unless you are going to pile rocks) and worked quite a few folks on 20m and 40m. There were a few earlier risers on 2m getting ready for the S2S party.
After that, I packed up and headed down.
This summit pairs well with Pine Mountain (W7O/CE-058) which is just across the valley (as the crow flies).
