This is a steep but easily accessed 8 point peak near the town of Mazama, WA.  If you're in the Twisp, Winthrop or Mazama area, it's a must do.  It contains a fire lookout tower and great views of the Methow valley and North Cascade peaks.  It's only 2.5 miles long, has a fire lookout tower at the top but some sections are very steep.  Call ahead to the ranger's office and see if Lighting Bill will be in the fire lookout.  If so, be sure to bring him a cold beer!

2012-06-27 W7W/MC-008 CN96jt26

I leave Seattle with grandiose plans. Three days, three eight pointer on the east side of the Cascades. This side is not that wet, as in theory Rainier blocks most of the moisture. Rainer rain shadow. Thus, trails melt out much more quicker over less snow. Forecast is quite bad for the first day, but all sunny for the rest. Again things turn out little different than planned originally.

This easy 1 point summit is just off I-5 and can be quickly accomplished if you're passing through the scenic Skagit Valley.

The road is paved all the way to the top but there is also a network of trails.  The road is gated at the bottom but is open from 10am to dusk.  This is a city of Mt. Vernon park.  It's common to find cars parallel parked along the road near the gate for those that want to walk to the top.

If you're visiting the scenic mariner town of Anacortes, or passing through on your way to the San Juan Island ferry, Mt. Erie is a quick easy 1 pointer with great views.

This summit can be reached via a paved road all the way to the top, or park at the bottom and utilitze the extensive network of trails to reach the summit.  Once there, I set up on the south side of the hill, a rocky area looking at Whidbey Island and Lake Campbell.  Tall fir trees lie just behind the rocks, perfect for wire antenna deployment. 

Directions:

2012-06-17 Sawmill Ridge CN97gd86

The weather did not improve at all. It got worse actually. When I started from Kelly Butte trailhead started to drizzle. On the summit I got some sleet with strong wind. Luckily twenty meter was much better, but still in bad condition.

2012-06-17 Kelly Butte CN97ge10

After my failure on Ararat, where I only made 3 Qs with my handheld radio on 144 MHz, I am looking for some easy summit. I can only blame myself, as I was too tired to assemble the Buddipole. If it is easy, then let’s do 3 or 4 summits straight away. As always, despite the long and thorough intelligence, things did not work out as planned at the first place. However, I bagged two summits out of the four, but let’s see the details.

The goats and I made a last minute decision on Friday night to get a SOTA fix. Saturday morning we hiked Little Baldy, near Alger, WA.  If you're heading north on I-5 towards Canada or Bellingham, this is right off the freeway.  Take Exit 242, turn Right (East) and the trailhead/parking lot will be clearly visible on your left in about 1/2 mile.

K7ATN and N7LKL activated Washington's Larch Mountain on Saturday, 2/2/13.  We hiked in on the forest service road from the west side, starting near the Larch Corrections Center (directions below and find the eastside approach here: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/larch-mountain-silver-star.)  We were able to drive up the service road quite a ways but hiked the last 1.5 miles with approximately 1200 feet gain.  Weather conditions were excellent - sunny and not too cold.

First Activation of Mount Rose, Washoe County, Nevada - Ace Number 1.

The reference to Aces is because of this mountain's proximity to Reno / Lake Tahoe (Nevada side) proximity to gambling casino's.

This is a trail hike up to summit of Mount Rose, 10,766 feet elevation.  Trail is about 10.6 miles round trip., with 2,000 feet +/- elevation gain.

The views are amazing!: Reno, Nevada; Carson Valley; Lake Tahoe region and northern Sierra Nevada mountain range.

UPDATE Dec 2021 - Badger Butte (and other summits in the area) are not accessible by regular motor vehicle from Dec 1 to April 1 due to closure of NF-2610 and other routes to vehicles more than 50 inches wide. A hike, snowshoe, ski, bike, snowmobile or dog sled would be the way to go. See the photo below.