Standard Mt. Hood disclaimer: conditions vary by the hour, experience interpreting conditions and forecasts are essential for safe alpine travel.
There are several good trip reports that outline the route and condition aspects of this trip, so I'll try to stick to what was specific about this activation.
The 5140 summit is a pleasant one mile hike from FR-2610 in the Ochoco National Forest. The turnoff to FR-2610 is right off of Hwy 26 and about 22 miles East of Prineville. I activated in the winter on snow shoes, I found a road bed for the hike up that may allow a near drive up in the summer.
This is my 3rd winter activation this year on W7I/ER-054, Red Mountain. It was a great ski tour and a successful activation. I made a short video to show what it's like to do a ski tour activation in the winter in Teton Valley Idaho. Lesson Learned: The skiing is much better in January than in March.
This is a pretty easy hike, with some elevation gain. My watch clocked 1070 ft of gain in 2.6 miles from where we parked the truck.
I called Mt Hood Clackamas District Ranger Station and they said NF-45 is closed to vehicle traffic but open to hikers, so have at it, intrepid hikers!
An update to operating in the Activation Zone of the urban summit, Skyline Ridge. This location describe here (about 705 feet elevation) is about one-eighth of a mile from the summit proper (761 feet elevation). An address for navagation is 860 Skyland Drive, West Linn, Oregon.
I took my kids on a snowshoeing adventure this past weekend. There were several SOTA activators scheduled to be out activating and we joined them for a fun time. The distance is around 1.7miles one way but we had very nice snow conditions.
Traffic was very heavy heading up to Mt. Hood and several vehicles turned around but we persevered and it eventually improved. It did add around 30mins to our arrival time.
Starting from the Frog Lake SNO-PARK and heading across the hwy slightly to the north is the Pacific Crest Trail crossing.
Bunsen Peak is an ancient volcanic cone characteristic of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is a very popular summit hike in Yellowstone Park near Mammoth Hot Springs. The trail is wide and even in October I found folks I could tag along with per the guidelines of not hiking alone in the Park.
Point 118 hosts a Missoula County communication site. It is a rocky prominence with excellent views of the distant Selway- Bitterroot Wilderness’ rugged northern mountains. Access is by foot or bicycle on a permanently gated road. The summit is approximately 200 feet from this communication site.
Turner Mountain in northwest Montana is approximately 22 miles north of Libby on Pipe Creek Road #567. Turner ski area opened in 1961. It is currently active with a mile long double chairlift with 2100’ of vertical rise. The 1.8-mile vehicle access road is closed in the summer but open to mountain bikes and foot travel. I borrowed an ebike and rode to the summit via the reasonable grade ‘jeep road’.