Easy Trail

Lava Butte is closed to vehicles in the winter, but open for hiking. You can park at the closed visitor center, or there's an option to pull off 97 near where the Lava Butte road passes the highway. From here there's a very short trail through the brush and you're on the road. We did this option which puts the hike at about 1.2 mi and 540' gain. 

The road was mostly clear of snow and ice, with just a handful of spots that had it. We did not need the microspikes we brought in our packs, but had the temps been colder, they would've been neccessary in some spots. 

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.

This is a pretty easy hike, with some elevation gain. My watch clocked 1070 ft of gain in 2.6 miles from where we parked the truck.

I took my kids on a snowshoeing adventure this past weekend.  There were several SOTA activators scheduled to be out activating and we joined them for a fun time.  The distance is around 1.7miles one way but we had very nice snow conditions.

Traffic was very heavy heading up to Mt. Hood and several vehicles turned around but we persevered and it eventually improved.  It did add around 30mins to our arrival time.

Starting from the Frog Lake SNO-PARK and heading across the hwy slightly to the north is the Pacific Crest Trail crossing.

Bunsen Peak is an ancient volcanic cone characteristic of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is a very popular summit hike in Yellowstone Park near Mammoth Hot Springs. The trail is wide and even in October I found folks I could tag along with per the guidelines of not hiking alone in the Park.

Point 118 hosts a Missoula County communication site.  It is a rocky prominence with excellent views of the distant Selway- Bitterroot Wilderness’ rugged northern mountains.  Access is by foot or bicycle on a permanently gated road.  The summit is approximately 200 feet from this communication site.

Turner Mountain in northwest Montana is approximately 22 miles north of Libby on Pipe Creek Road #567.  Turner ski area opened in 1961. It is currently active with a mile long double chairlift with 2100’ of vertical rise. The 1.8-mile vehicle access road is closed in the summer but open to mountain bikes and foot travel. I borrowed an ebike and rode to the summit via the reasonable grade ‘jeep road’.

UPDATE March 2023: W7W/CN-024 has been retired and replaced by Frog Lake Buttes 

Canuck Peak is a forested summit in far northwestern Montana. The summit is identified only by three summit trails all heading downhill, a sign pointing to American Peak and a recently burned cabin. The trail to Canuck Peak is part of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail system Congressionally designated in 2009. The one-mile trail portion to Canuck Peak is a well-maintained easy grade.

Summit 7112 is at the head of Ninemile Creek and overlooks the Clark Fork valley to the north. It is a pleasant hike on cooler summer days.  The on-trail and off-trail are currently exposed with very little tree cover.