UPDATE March 2023: W7O/WV-069 has been retired.
Blowout Benchmark is a short hike and cross-country summit near Detroit, Oregon. There are no views but you get to enjoy the quiet of a second-growth forest.
Peak 3700 is a bit of an adventure, but certainly do-able summit near Detroit, Oregon. You'll follow a long-abandoned logging road and head cross-country for the final ascent into the Activation Zone. There are no views and the final ascent is very rough, but you get to enjoy the quiet of a second-growth forest.
Zero Butte is just west of Condon, Oregon and is an easy drive-up summit. Take Highway 206 4.5 miles west from Condon and turn (left) west onto Richmond Road. Continue 1.5 miles to an unmarked dirt road heading off to the left. This is about where the unexpected subdivision ends and where what looks like a former military installation begins. The dirt road was easily passible in a passenger car for the 0.9 miles to a fence and a gate where the high point is located.
Grizzly Mountain is an easy drive-up summit about 9 miles west of Prineville. The views are great and the road passable in a passenger vehicle - perhaps slowly in the rocky places.
Goat Mountain: (1.1 miles, 1,100 ft)
A GPS (with land ownership) is recommended – to help stay on the unmarked public land.
Eight Dollar Mountain lives up to it’s notable name, somewhat unusual in an area that has may nameless mountains. On a topo map it looks like one of the nearby Cascades, a very definite cone not attached to the nearby hills, but it’s doesn’t share their volcanic origins. I was surprised it had never been activated as there is a (very steep) jeep track to the research station on the summit, and the trailhead is just a mile or so from highway 199.
An easily accessed summit, that's easily access from the Nestucca River byway. A bunch of different roads will lead you into the area from nearly any direction. Probably the easiest is up Fan Creek Road from the Nestucca River. It is near enough to Boudary road to access several other nearby summits along the same ridgeline.
I was in Spokane with my wife, who was presenting some research at a conference (I'm retired, she's the "breadwinner" now) and had some time to kill. I brought my KX2 along, with a QRPGuys 40m-10m UnUnTenna. This is a fairly simple antenna, with wire mated to a 9:1 unun, and takes a bnc coax jumper from the KX2. After a hike up from the parking area, I found a good place to set up, and threw a messenger line up into a tree.
A one point summit that you might want to do along with close by Cedar Butte, Triangulation Point, Blue Ridge or Peak 2300.
Good parking along the road in a pullout (during winter). Note for winter ascents, stay left of the track at the bottom so you keep high. Do not go right into the quarry as you will need to climb out. We had to snowshoe up mud! We stayed high on the descent. On your climb up, work your way to the left hand summit ridge. No trail and steep, but doable. Metal posts at the top to strap antenna to. Great views
In the summer you may be able to drive into the gravel quarry and take other ridgelines.