Mount Bailey near Diamond Lake is a great hike to fantastic views but it requires some effort to get those views - with a hike of about 10 miles round trip 

There's enough room to pull a vehicle off to the side by the gate on Heimer road.  This is an easy trek with a very gradual elevation change.  The trail is a nice groomed gravel road that leads all the way to the summit. 

 If you keep veering right at all the forks in the road, evenutally you will end up at the summit on a nice wide gravel plot perfect for setting up a decent station.  Not a whole lot of shade to be had here, unless you climb off the path.

Bill/WA7NCL and Guy/N7UN will be on a SOTA campout for a few days next week starting the 12th-14th. We've got a number of SOTA activations planned in the Randle/Packwood area, just south of RNP and SR12. We will be tent camping at local State Parks.

 Fox Butte is a 6 point summit with a retired lookout tower.  The butte can be found by taking US 20 to a turnoff to the right (south) that is just east of the closed Millican Store (about 25-30 miles east of Bend, OR). The road to the butte is about 25 miles of rough gravel.  It will take an hour or so.

This nice and easy activation was suggested by K7ATN. It is reached by driving east from Bend, OR on US 20 for about 60 miles. Turn north onto Lizard Creek Rd a short distance west of Hampton, OR and follow the main gravel road about 7 miles to the top. Ignore the side spurs that are posted and often gated.

Access Info:  There may be other routes for this summit but I choose to park at the Stavebolt Creek gate off Logan Rd.  Gated parking for about 4 cars at 46.0828, -123.8339.  

The hike on good logging roads is about 3.5 miles to 46.0724, -123.8095.  Then a well-traveled game trail begins a bushwhack of about 200 vertical feet to the summit.  The AZ is all undergrowth with no real clear areas.  Ugly, really.

Cruising through Chemult Oregon at 6:40am, the dashboard said the outside temperature
was 29 degrees. This was far cooler than we anticipated for our attempt on Mt. Thielsen.
A few years ago, my son Andrew and I tried this summit but were driven off by mosquitoes
and our lack of DEET. I actually inhaled two of the beasts and slapped my glasses off my
face several times before we literally ran back to the safety of our car. The Diamond Lake
area is legendary for mosquitoes.

This morning was different. It was a brisk 36 degrees at the Mt. Thielsen trailhead. Seeing

Here's another summit in the Diamond Lake area to activate if you have a few hours. It's a drive-up, if your vehicle has moderate ground clearance and otherwise a short road hike. 

Here's another summit in the Diamond Lake area to activate if you have a few hours to spare - it's a short hike, but there's no trail. And note that there are three Oregon summits with this same name.

Buck Mountain is a summit with a short hike of less than half a mile that you'll want to do along with Coffin Mountain (W7O/WV-005) and Bachelor Mountain (W7O/WV-003).

Take Highway 22 east 19 miles past Detroit, Oregon and turn right onto paved FS 11.