By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-086 Pike Mountain (6 pts): Though a ways from I-84 (46.3 miles to be exact), this is a wonderful drive up a forested canyon (Rock Creek Road/FS-515). The last 1.6 miles is on a well graded gravel road to a parking lot summit with an overlook and benches for activating.
Blogs
Pike Mountain, ID | December 2022
Peak 8762, ID | March 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-060 Peak 8762 (6 pts): This a sister peak of Mount Harrison. It is a bit lower in elevation and requires a one-mile hike (550 feet gain). The hike begins at the end of the Twin Lakes Campground, which you pass on the way to Mount Harrison.
Kimama Butte, ID | February 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-139 Kimama Butte (2 pts): Exit I-84 at Exit 201 for Kasota Road/Paul. Turn onto ID-25. Drive 2.9 miles and turn left onto S 1150 W. Follow this road for 10.0 miles. Turn left onto 900 N. In 0.7 miles, keep right toward Kimama Lookout Road. Park here and follow the road to the summit.
Cotterel Mountains HP, ID | March 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-109 Cotterel Mountains HP (4 pts): On the way to Mount Harrison, you access this peak from ID-77, 7.4 miles south of Albion. Turn east onto a maintained gravel road just south of Connor Summit. Follow this steep road to the summit and its RF facilities in 4.0 miles.
Pistol Butte, OR | June 2022
Short but challenging road hike. Summer is very accessible, winter may require longer snowshoe/ski as roads are closed in winter.
Full writeup here
Winnemucca Mountain, NV | June 2022
As we were driving through Winnemucca, NV on the way back from AZ, I seized the opportunity to activate W7N/HU-089, which is a paved, slightly potholed drive-up summit.
There are a lot of electrical wires going ever which way around the summit so I picked a somewhat open area towards the south side of the activation zone and tied my fiberglass mast to the fence surrounding the communcations towers.
I was able to quickly raise 11 QSOs on 20m and then switched to 40m for another 8 including a S2S with N6AN.
2m was pretty much dead with only 1 QSO to my dear XYL.
6742, MT| June, 2022
5.4 miles; + 2,077 feet; -608 feet; From the Petty Creek TH along Ford Creek
From the intersection of Hwy 287 and Main Street in Augusta, travel southwest on Main Street, turn right in 0.3 miles and follow the signs towards Benchmark. The trailhead is at the USFS Double Falls campground 19.3 miles from Augusta.
Mount Lewis, NV | June 2022
On a recent trip back from Arizona, we stopped overnight in Battle Mountain, NV. A 10pt summit (W7N/EL-017) was a mere 50 mins away so I made time to head up there. Previous reports indicated that it was an easy, if somewhat long, drive up to the summit and I found that the dirt road was still in excellent shape, though there are several tight switchbacks to be nagivated.