Shady Trail

Activated Quartz Creek Ridge with Bill (K7WXW) this last weekend. This summit is easily doable with North Quartz Creek Ridge in the same day. Access for both summits is in the middle on a sometimes-not-mapped trail, TH at 46.24186, -121.72969 . This trail system is mixed-use. We saw ultramarathon runners (Dark Divide Ultra), mountain bikers, and dirtbikes. Prepare your ankles accordingly, the trail is often a narrow rut through the dirt because of the motorcycle traffic.

Fuji Mountain, gem of the central Cascades, and well-loved hike, is a fantastic choice if you're in the area. Only half an hour from the highway, and with a very pleasant and well-worn trail to the top, this is the easiest hiking of any of the SOTA peaks in the area that aren't drive-ups.

I headed out to do this one as a combo with W7O/CM-050; I did not due to heat and a boulder, but I recommend attempting it if you're in the area.

Depending on how much you like the paint on your vehicle, Quilcene Ridge might be a drive-up. Even so, where the slide alder starts significantly encroaching on the road it's only a quarter mile to the summit. So walking is an option.

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.

This is the fourth summit I activated with my Dad while visiting Lemolo Lake KOA.

From the KOA, we drove across the dam on NF-2610 and right onto NF-2612.  Then left onto NF-700 and again left onto NF-920.

A third summit I worked with my Dad while at Lemolo Lake KOA.

This summit is a careful drive-up with a nice turnaround at the top.

I put up the mast and EFHW antenna and proceeded to work a nice combination of 40/20m stations.

No 2m stations were heard.

We packed up and headed on to Bunker Hill (W7O/CS-090).

These 4 Lemolo Lake summits could be easily done in a day if you have the time.

I split them into 2 mornings as we were visiting Crater Lake during this trip.

This was another summit I activated with my Dad while staying at Lemolo Lake KOA.

NOTE: This one has a final section that could be hazardous to your vehicle's paint job.  The last segment after the turn off is a bit overgrown. 

To start with we turned off NF-2610 from the KOA and went up NF-200 until the unnamed logging road at (43.298183, -122.229812) and continued west on to the spur road.

NOTE: did I mention how many mosquitos this summit has?

I worked this summit with my Dad while staying at Lemolo Lake KOA.

The climb is very straightforward but I would bring a bug screen as they were alerted to our presence and followed us up the whole way.  Once we killed off all the brave ones and we cooled off, it settled down to a reasonable experience.

Round Top is a nice mostly drive up activation. Being me, I had to do it the hard way: Mountainbiking from Gale's Creek Campground. It is an 18 mile round trip ride with ~3000' elevation gain. 

I recommend doing some stretches or warmups before heading out because the hardest part of this ride is the first few miles: steep trail that gets the blood moving. Overall the trail is a singletrack and mostly follows the creek through the forest. Not much for views, but there are the occasional waterfall and views of Gale's Creek.