The route I took to 2700 – Circuit Peak was 3.6 miles round trip with 1100’ vertical. It was a combination of forest road walking and moderate bushwhacking. I think it may take a few activators summiting to get the best route to the top identified. There are smaller ridgelines and drainages not shown on the topo maps, and it may be possible to follow the old roadbed nearly all the way to the summit.
K7AGL's blog
Summit 4420, OR | Jan 2023
This is an alternate summit route to what W6PZA wrote up here: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/w6pza/2020-november-30/summit-4420-or-november-2020 . You can take the Cole Loop Trail 854 that crosses the road near the second gate on the road going up to Gray Butte.
5140, OR | January 2023
The 5140 summit is a pleasant one mile hike from FR-2610 in the Ochoco National Forest. The turnoff to FR-2610 is right off of Hwy 26 and about 22 miles East of Prineville. I activated in the winter on snow shoes, I found a road bed for the hike up that may allow a near drive up in the summer.
Peak 2340, OR | November, 2022
When I read Etienne’s trip report ( http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7atn/2016-march-21/peak-2340-or-march-2016 ), I made a small error in planning my approach to 2340. Instead of “just west of Highway 26 Rest Area” I planned for Olson Road, which is just *east* the Hwy 26 rest area.
East Crater, WA (From East Side) | Sept 2022
East Crater Summit can be accessed from the Northwest via PCT (See http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7ahr/2020-october-10/east-crater-wa-september-2020 ) or from the east side via East Crater Trail #48 (https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/giffordpinchot/recarea/?recid=31748). This report is for the east side access.
Huffman Peak, WA | July 2022
I hiked to Huffman Peak from Siouxon Peak ( http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/kj7eha/2022-july-24/siouxon-peak-wa-july-2022 ). The trail is very easy to follow, and traverses through a 2020 burn area. It is very wide. There was a lot of blowdown, but easy to step over and around. The summit itself has been burned and is exposed. In July 2022, the forest floor was showing signs of new growth tiny seedlings everywhere.
Siouxon Peak, WA | July 2022
The activation report for Siouxon (rhymes with “Tucson”) Peak from 2013 (http://www.pnwsota.org/node/306) is still largely correct. I just put in Google maps “Siouxon Peak” as destination and “Gresham” as start. Note that you can still hike in from the Amboy side, doing it that way allows you to view waterfalls, but requires a stream crossing. I went through Carson, NF-64, NF-6403 as per the previous trip report.
Huckleberry Mountain, OR (Bonanza Trail) | Sept 2021
In addition to the two routes to Huckleberry Mountain K7ATN describes, there is a third trail up, the Bonanza Trail. I chose this option for three reasons: I was intrigued by the fact that there was a mine shaft off the trail, it looked like it was a bit shorter than the Boulder Ridge Trail route and I thought that there would be fewer hikers taking this route on this busy Labor Day weekend Sunday.
Here is information about the hike that I used:
Multorpor Mountain, OR | July 2021
K7ATN provided a good winter access trip report, but there is a very easy trail to the summit of Multorpor mountain that bypasses having to deal with any Ski Bowl access. This activation would be good for new SOTA activators. It is easy to get to and is an easy summit trail under the shade of a forest canopy on the way up. My hike was under 3 miles and under 800 feet of climbing, you could shorten it by parking closer on the road, see below.
ZigZag Mountain, OR | July 2021
K7ATN reported poor road/driving conditions when attempting to get to the Zig Zag Mountain trailhead on the south side of Zig Zag Mountain. This report shares activation information for the north approach from Riley Horse Campground. The drive can easily be done in a passenger car (recreation permit to park). There are two options from this point, I took Cast Creek trail, and it was 12.8 miles RT with 3900 ft vertical climbing total.