Activation Reports

Summary - Birkenfeld Mountain from the east side is a steep, mostly pathless, ridge bushwhack to a brushy forested summit.   The approach via CG2020, is a logging road with some very steep sections that can also be used to reach Greenleaf Peak.  Drive time to the trailhead was about 90 minutes.

Summary - Frog Lake Buttes doesn't have views but is a nice hike in the summer and a good snowshoe or ski destination in the winter.  Park at the Frog Lake Sno Park and you have a choice of three routes: a 2.5 mile service road (the usual winter route), a 4.5 mile trail hike that starts on the PCT and winds around to the northwest side of the butte, or a 2.5 mile trail hike up the east side.  Two meter contacts into Portland and Vancouver will be tough without a yagi or j pole, self-spotting is easy, and APRS digis ping.

Summary - Big Bull is one of three peaks (LC-100, LC-091, LC-068) in the Northeast corner of Weyerhauser's Longview land. It is a drive up roughly two hours from Portland, much of it over logging roads. There is a very short hike (twenty yards)  to the densely forested summit and the best operating position is in an opening a little below the top.  Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.

Summary - 3860 (Mount Binary) is one of three peaks (LC-100, LC-091, LC-068) in the Northeast corner of Weyerhauser' Longview parcel. It is roughly two and a half hours from Portland, much of it over logging roads. There is a short hike (less than a mile) up an unused logging road which ends on an open ridge with nice views.  Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up.

Summary - 3566 (Mount Diode) is one of three peaks (LC-100, LC-091, LC-068) in the Northeast corner of Weyerhauser-owned land. It is roughly two and a half hours from Portland, much of it over logging roads that get rougher as you go higher. The summit is clear cut and covered with stumps and the best operating position is along the road.  Don't count on two meters to make your four QSOs. Cell phone service is marginal, and APRS pings get picked up. There are good views of the surrounding hills.

Access:

Rainier National Park pass required, $30 per vehicle for the day. Nisqually Entrace is closest to I-5 and reached via Elbe WA. There are a number of routes to Lane Peak depending on road closures. Stevens Pass road closes for winter (even in the hottest October ever recorded). Parking available at several points along Paradise Valley Rd. We parked at the closure which is near Ruby Falls. This leaves you with about 1 mi of road walk before descending toward Tatoosh Creek directly toward Lane from the North of the peak.

Route:

Cypress Mountain North Peak (1485) was successfully activated September 18. Four of us climbed to the summit just under 1500’. We had 12 vhf 2M contacts including one Summit-to-Summit with Mt Thompson about 98 miles away. The approach from Eagle Harbor is about 3 miles going via Cypress Lake. At the lake continue on the old road on the south side until it turns into a use trail. About 300’ below the summit bushwhack up some rocky outcrops to a clear area and setup. You can see to the east south west as you move around.

This was the first activation of Middle Stack Mountain in Nevada.  A huge lesson learned (again) is that map resources conflict when it comes to roads, both roads that do not exist, and roads that do not appear on maps. Even when cross referencing maps with Google Earth you can’t be certain that a geological feature that “looks” like a road actually is one!  As a first activation, there was no SOTA summit access information, though there were a couple of Peakbagger trip reports. These were somewhat helpful, but they provided no detailed information.

Peak 6100, which I am calling Lemcke Peak, as the only thing near it with a name is Lemcke Spring.

Lick Benchmark is a six point summit located near John Day Oregon. It is a bit more than ½ miles round trip and 420 feet of elevation gain. So a bit steep. Trail starts at 44.5755, -118.7617. There is a wide spot to park and turn around there. There is an old jeep track that turns into a trail for a bit and then disappears. It is not a bad bushwhack though, in terms of whacking bushes. The benchmark is on a rock outcropping at the summit. Outcropping is low enough that one does not have to operate on it, although there was a good spot.