Pass Required at Trailhead

Adrian, Patrick and I headed up for some backpacking/activating on Friday. We drove to South Breitenbush Trailhead with the intent of camping 2 miles in then attempting a first activation of Dinah-Mo Peak and heading back down the next day. Well, with what I thought was an hour of slack time, we encountered first some downed trees on NF46 (Clackamas River Hwy - Breitenbush River Road) and then were stopped by downed trees a mile and a half from the trailhead. No big deal, we have a little time, right?

Another nice little peak in the Snoqualmie Forest, located in the Campbell Global logging property. The "trail" to the summit has been re-done recently, making it far easier to find than my last trip there 2 years ago - Thanks to whoever did this!  This trip is best done as "bike-n-hike". Easy 2 mile bike ride along loggin roads to the "trailhead".

It's about time I wrote this one up, almost a year after.

This peak stood out as one of the remaining peaks on private or questionably accessible land at the beginning of 2019, in the Portland metro area.

On March 4, 2020, I accomplished the first SOTA Activation of Park Benchmark, Utah.  While researching the vicinity of Park City, Utah, for a downhill ski trip, I was very surprised to learn that this easy to climb peak had not been Activated before.  Park Benchmark, W7U/SM-042, has an elevation of 9,363 feet, and fantastic 360 degree views of the mighty Wasatch and Western Uinta Mountain Ranges.

I was looking for a reasonably tough snowshoe that could be accomplished in a day, and with few bonus point opportunities, and only so many sno parks, I kept coming back to my favorite mountains from last year. I decided to give this a try, and all things considered it went very well.

Here's another summit in Crater Lake National Park that accessed with a cross-country hike. The easiest ridge for ascent is near the angle of repose with loose red pumice-like scree on the upper slopes, giving Red Cone its name. Although only about 2.5 miles round trip, half of the 600 feet of gain is in the last quarter mile.

The gate with access to Boiler Ridge from near Camp 18 on Highway 26 (mp 18) is now posted "Permit Required" for all access. These permits may be expensive ($300 motorized and $75 non-motorized) and challenging to obtain (appears to sell out quickly). https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com/Permits

Nov 2, 2019 was the perfect day for climbing Mt. Carrie. The weather was cool and clear. Some snow up above Heart lake, but the Cat Walk (the unmaintained trail and scramble east of Heart Lake) was free of snow. That area would be very challenging with snow, and an ice axe and crampons would be a must. 

Why

With the first four peaks in Cascades North being activated, I decided I needed to hatch a plan to hit the next two. This summit is over 8 miles from the nearest trailhead and 4500 feet of gain, and it's almost 5000 feet of gain from our trailhead, so I recommend doing it as an overnight. We activated this peak in conjunction with South Cinder, W7O/CN-005, and I strongly recommend if you put in the effort to do one that you make time for the other.

Why

With the first four peaks in Cascades North being activated, I decided I needed to hatch a plan to hit the next two. This summit is over 7 miles from the nearest trailhead and 3300 feet of gain, and it's 4000 feet of gain from our trailhead, so I recommend doing it as an overnight. We activated this peak in conjunction with North Cinder, W7O/CN-006, and I strongly recommend if you put in the effort to do one that you make time for the other.