I had hiked into the Independence Lakes area a few days earlier and was blown away with the beauty of the ancient glacier bowl where the lakes are located. From the lakes you can see Cache Peak to the south dominating the skyline, thus my interest was piqued. From summitost.org:
This nice 1-pointer summit is in 'The Knoll' greenspace with several miles of trails leading to 'God's Thumb' on the bluff overlooking the beach. Park at the end of Northeast Devil's Lake Blvd in Lincoln City, 45.01082, -123.99773. Procced toward the summit of Trail 'T1' until you cross a small creek crossing 45.01966, -123.99568. From there find the game trail up the hill toward the summit. CAUTION: Long pants recommended from this point on. Plan on some bushwhack hiking to an occluded summit. Forrested summit has ample shade and tall trees from a throw line for EFHW, etc.
Long Mountain is on the Weyerhaeuser recreational permit area for Columbia - Washington Counties. It was previously activated via a 12 mile hike, but this is not the only route. As it turns out, there's a straightforward access trail via BLM land to the southeast of the peak, which only requires about 1.5 miles of hiking each way.
This was a first-time activation of the summit. There are two summits very close to each other with a shallow saddle. I ignored my GPS and arrived at the false summit and had to scurry over to the actual summit. This was a 400-foot (only 20-foot elevation) mistake.
July 12th, 2023. This no-name peak, first activated by ND7PA in 2015 (thanks for the article), is found by taking Big Lake Rd (BLR - aka NF-2690) south from US 20 at the Santiam Pass, across from Santiam Sno-Park, approx. 90 minutes east of Salem and 60 minutes northwest of Bend.
Lovely mostly shady hike to a peak with a good view of mt hood. Highly recommended activation.
There are a few routes to get to Mount Defiance. We took the hike from Warren lake described here on Oregon Hikers (different from 2012 trip report).
Frog Lake Buttes is a popular SOTA destination that was moved slightly from its old high point in March of 2023. The old summit plays host to a cell tower and is accessible via both road and trail.
Black Butte is a moderate hike, with phenomenal views of the Central Oregon Cascade range. There is an active fire tower that should be avoided, as the public is not allowed near the tower during fire season. The hike is a 2.1 mile, steady pitch that ascends 1600ft from the parking area. Getting to the trailhead can be done in any passenger car, though the last mile is a bit rough due to a lot of runoff from the heavy snows this past winter. From US Highway 20 turn South on FS-11, then take a left on FS-1110 to the parking area.
