Williams Peak is a good trail hike with a short off-trail hike and a short rock scramble. The summit has good views but little room for operating. A good alternative is to hunker-in just below the summit and tie off to one of the few snags or live trees on the south side.
Blogs
Sexton Mountain, OR 2020
Most everyone who has driven to or from southern Oregon has driven over the Sexton summit, one of the main monitored passes during the winter. I never paid attention to the actual mountain until now. It was a nice day drive from my home QTH and we hit one additional summit on the drive back. Unfortunately it was really foggy so there was no view but I think on a clear day it would be nice.
Ginsberg Point, OR | December 2020
Summary - A long drive then a short, steep hike up to a nice meadow with a view. Good hiking shoes and trekking poles will be handy, as will GPS. Easy to make 2M contacts and APRS spots. Lots of trees for holding up wires and not a bad place to hang out for a few hours. Finding the trailhead can be a little challenging because of the unmapped roads in the vicinity and the Weyerhauser gates. Given the drive and the gates, plan on doing Ginsberg as part of a multi-summit day.
2646, OR | December 2020
Summary - Drive up summit. A long drive, so do it with other hills in the area. Easy to make 2M contacts and APRS spots. Not a good spot for an extended stay, I'd leave the HF gear in the truck. 2646 is on Weyerhauser land and there are gates to navigate. See my entry on Trask (NC-003) for more info.
Trask Mountain, OR | December 2020
Summary - An easy, if not terribly scenic drive to the trailhead and a short hike to the summit. Travel time to the trailhead was almost two hours. VHF contacts were easy, as was APRS spotting. Trask is on public land but the route I followed goes through a Weyerhauser gate.
Wolf Point, OR (South Access) Nov 2020
K7EEX trip report for Wolfe Point (http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7eex/2018-january-13/wolf-point-oregon) mentioned a possible south trail. This report confirms a south access to Wolfe Point.
If coming from Cedar Butte activation, turn off of the road at: N45.57747° W123.63990°. Park at N45.57731° W123.61891° the trail looks like a small drainage (see pic). It is not maintained and hard to follow in places but you can get to the top from this south access.
Underwood Mountain OR | Dec 2020
Underwood Mountain is a 2 pt summit Northwest of Underwood, WA across the river Northwest from Hood River Oregon. The start point is about 4.5 miles off of highway 14. It is an easy 3 mile hike to the summit with 1400 ft elevation gain on forest roads closed to motor vehicles. There is a short 250 foot doable bushwack to the summit. It would be a very feasible mountain bike activation.
Oreana Ridge - Montana 14July2020
Oreana Ridge is a picturesque summit with scattered trees, grass/forb land, an old US Forest Service L-4 Lookout and a log garage. There are fine views of high peaks in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the steep slopes of Salmon River breaks. The lookout built in
Tincup Hill - Idaho 13July2020
Tincup Hill summit is a large flat area covered by a regenerated old clearcut of 15-30’ tall lodgepole pine. There are also some mining exploration shallow-trenches cut into the summit area and access ridge. The hike is through easy terrain lacking in downfall or high brush. Trees are available to attach wire antennas.
Wilcox Peak, OR Dec 2020
Looking at maps, I took off for a morning hike to Wilcox Peak figuring there would be a gate part way down the hill. Surprisingly you can drive pretty much just into the AZ. The road finishes at a turnaround/shooting area, unfortunately with a lot of trash. Wish I took some large bags with me, putting it on my list as trash really bothers me in the woods!