Blogs

UPDATE January 2021 - Green Mtn has been posted PERMIT REQUIRED FOR ALL ACCESS by Weyerhauser. 

Here's a 1.1 mile one-way hike with 800 feet of gain just a ways south of Bend, Oregon. It's got some great views and a nice summit with a bit of lookout history.

Despite this being labeled BLM Road 27-4-14.0 this isn't public land and there is a locked gate indicating private property with access by permit only. See the photo for details and this website regarding potential recreation access: www.lonerockresources.com/recreation/.

Monday, November 23, 2015, KC8WF and I (KF7URE) hiked to Teapot Dome W7I/SR-163 to do SOTA.  Teapot Dome is a desert peak at 4,712 feet high, north of Mountain Home, Idaho.

We have some friends who relocated to White Rock, NM and over Thanksgiving we
went down to visit. My friend and I looked up local SOTA peaks and found that
the Cerro Grande trailhead was only 30 minutes from his house. In fact, a ton
of nice ten-pointers are close to White Rock.

We took NM Hwy 4 from White Rock past the "T" intersection with Hwy 501 and
ascended the southern flank of Cerro Grande. In a slightly flat area, on the
right, about a half a mile before descending down into the Valles caldera,

Nicolai Mountain is a drive-up summit west of Clatskanie in northwest Oregon. The gravel road is driveable the ENTIRE WAY in any passenger car (totally Priusable). So if your GPS is having you turn up a 4WD track you are going the wrong way. The views from the 3,028 foot summit can be awesome - the drive has views of the Columbia Estuary that's fantastic. Note that there can be of OHV activity on these roads and trails, especially on weekends.

Outerson Mountain is one of a trio of summits near Triangulation Peak located
just east of Detroit Oregon. Outerson Mountain, Timber Butte, and Triangulation Peak
are all within about 2 miles of each other and would be a good set of summits
to do in a day and more importantly, one car trip.

Outerson Mountain is reached by taking Oregon Hwy 22 east from Idanha. Just east
of Idanha, (MP 56.2) take NF2233 left. The turn here is also marked as "McCoy Park".
Mc Coy park is a popular motorized off-road vehicle recreational area. Follow NF2233

Woodpecker Hill is one of a cluster of four point peaks directly off of Oregon
Hwy 22 near the town of Detroit Oregon. Travel Oregon Hwy 22 east past Detroit
just about to milepost 62. Turn left onto NF-040 and travel for 4.8 miles till you
meet RD035 which turns off to the left. Go up RD035 for maybe a hundred yards
till you find a good wide place in the road to park.

On current topo maps, looking at the southern slope of Woodpecker Hill, you will
see a lower altitude teardrop-shaped open area with another oblong shaped open

Mount Bruno is one of a cluster of four point peaks directly off of Oregon
Hwy 22 just east of Detroit. Travel east on Oregon 22 past Marion Forks and
just past milepost 67, turn right onto NF2234. There was a sign there noting
that the road was closed ten miles ahead but you don't have to go that far,
so ignore it.

NF2234 is initially paved but turns to gravel in about 1.6 miles. The road is
easily passable with a passenger car. Continue on NF2234 7.5 miles. At this point
there is a triangle intersection, but you can't see all the corners. Turn right onto

One of the last beautiful Fall weekends of 2015, yielded an activation of Thorp Mountain and Hard Knox Mountain together with my "SOTA Buddy", KG7EJT and Dexter the SOTA Dog.  The weather was superb, a successful dual activation, including a First Activation of Hard Knox, followed by a great dinner and local "Brew" in Roslyn, Washington, made for one of the more memorable SOTA outings in my career! The views, and great access, make this a highly recommended double SOTA objective.  This report describes Hard Knox Mountain Activation.  Thorp Mountain Activation is listed under a separate report.