I got on here to correct/ edit my previous blog but realized I never did a first! I've done Burton a few times and it isn't that significant in features. Just an easy stroll through the timber. Plenty of area to set up. A nice easy trek, shaded summit but no view. No established trail but the dead end road you can continue on by foot and there are other cleared out areas from logging roads many years ago. For some reason I get discombobulated easily coming down Burton and sometimes come to far left nearly missing the spur. If you are like me, keep a tracker going.
Wildhorse Lookout
Great location and good access from FS Rd 33- Agnes Rd. Road paved for several miles then a wide, well-maintained gravel road. Ample parking across from the road gate. Easy 1/2-mi hike to the summit. Old fire lookout is decommissioned but easy to hang one end of your EFHW and sit at the picnic table. 360-deg view from the bald summit.
Pike Mountain, ID | December 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-086 Pike Mountain (6 pts): Though a ways from I-84 (46.3 miles to be exact), this is a wonderful drive up a forested canyon (Rock Creek Road/FS-515). The last 1.6 miles is on a well graded gravel road to a parking lot summit with an overlook and benches for activating.
Peak 8762, ID | March 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-060 Peak 8762 (6 pts): This a sister peak of Mount Harrison. It is a bit lower in elevation and requires a one-mile hike (550 feet gain). The hike begins at the end of the Twin Lakes Campground, which you pass on the way to Mount Harrison.
Kimama Butte, ID | February 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-139 Kimama Butte (2 pts): Exit I-84 at Exit 201 for Kasota Road/Paul. Turn onto ID-25. Drive 2.9 miles and turn left onto S 1150 W. Follow this road for 10.0 miles. Turn left onto 900 N. In 0.7 miles, keep right toward Kimama Lookout Road. Park here and follow the road to the summit.
Cotterel Mountains HP, ID | March 2022
By Scott-KI7EMX
W7I/CI-109 Cotterel Mountains HP (4 pts): On the way to Mount Harrison, you access this peak from ID-77, 7.4 miles south of Albion. Turn east onto a maintained gravel road just south of Connor Summit. Follow this steep road to the summit and its RF facilities in 4.0 miles.
Pistol Butte, OR | June 2022
Short but challenging road hike. Summer is very accessible, winter may require longer snowshoe/ski as roads are closed in winter.
Full writeup here
Winnemucca Mountain, NV | June 2022
As we were driving through Winnemucca, NV on the way back from AZ, I seized the opportunity to activate W7N/HU-089, which is a paved, slightly potholed drive-up summit.
There are a lot of electrical wires going ever which way around the summit so I picked a somewhat open area towards the south side of the activation zone and tied my fiberglass mast to the fence surrounding the communcations towers.
I was able to quickly raise 11 QSOs on 20m and then switched to 40m for another 8 including a S2S with N6AN.
2m was pretty much dead with only 1 QSO to my dear XYL.