A friend from Eugene wanted to hit Mount McLoughlin in the winter and despite the drive distance from Beaverton, it looked like too beautiful a mountain to pass up. After picking up rental snowshoes from REI in Medford I made it to the Summit Sno-Park TH at sunset. Casey arrived shortly after and we made some quick dinner on our backpacking stoves then turned in for the night.
McMurray Benchmark is a 1-point summit located near I-5, just northeast of Stanwood, WA. I had driven by the entrance (where you turn north onto 12th Ave NW) in the past, but saw a no tresspassing sign and wasn't sure about driving up the road. This time, after I turned onto 12th Ave NW and drove 0.5 miles to the parking area... I was surprised at how many cars were parked at the trailhead. As long as you fill out the waiver form near the entrance, you are not tresspassing when you hike to the summit. Below is a link with more information about the area.
This was my second Winter activation attempt of this summit. The first one ended in an epic fail getting my Jeep stuck in the snow (see picture below). I had to do a self-recovery with my shovel and winch. Do not attempt to drive on the groomed "road." Though along the non-winter access road, this is a groomed "trail" for snowmobiles!
Best way to get to and hike Woodrat in my opinion is to take Sterling Creek Rd (several ways to get to Sterling depending on where you are coming from) and eventually turn on Woodrat Mt Rd 38-2-29. There is a sign and the road is paved most of the way. You will come to an intersection on the right where Bishop Cr meets Woodrat, keep going up Woodrat for another 3-4/10ths of a mile and there will be a rutty off road embankment on the left 42.22318,-122.98933. You'll have to find a pullout before or after to park.
I skied up Cooper Mountain on Feb 6, 2022 for its first-ever winter activation and my first trip up it. This looks to be a drive-up summit in the summer, but winter is a very different story unless you have a snowmobile (there is a groomed snowmobile trail all the way to the summit, so that would be quite easy). However, I do not have a snowmobile, so I made the trip on my new Altai Hok 125 cm skis.
We were down in Philomath, OR and decided to check out Marys Peak while we were in the area. I know Marys is thought of as a mostly drive up, but I found a popular hike from lower down on the mountain. The East Ridge trailhead "Connor's Camp" has nice parking and a pit toilet. It is a fee site, so you'll need your forest pass or $5 to fill out a permit.
I read Tim N7KOM's summit report from last week and decided to get while the getting was good. Things were still pretty much as he described from the previous weekend. The 2 trees were still blocking the road. The good thing about that is that there is a wide spot in the road just around the previous corner to park. There was only one other wide spot after that to park before the gate and nowhere to turn around.
Treefall has been cleared!
When I did this activation there was treefall at 45.64442, -123.54488. This added approx. 1.5-2mile-ish round trip to the hike.
Wind Mountain is a popular summit on the Washington side of the Columbia river gorge near Carson WA with wonderful views of the river and Mt. St. Helens I was a little worried about access given the recent snowstorms the area has had, but decided to take the chance. The trail was pretty icy, and for lack of crampons I found myself relying heavily on my trekking poles with ice tips.
Yesterday morning I climbed Mt. Hood (W7O/CN-001) for a sunrise SOTA. I think this was my 6th ascent of Hood. Conditions on the mountain change daily & weekly. This was one of the more difficult ascents & descents.
My friends and I left the climbers lot at Timberline just before 2am. We took our time and made the top of Palmer around 3:40am. After a quick breakfast we continued up the mountain on good solid snow. We were hit with sulfur from Devils Kitchen throughout the hike up.