Activation Reports

We headed up to Tropo after getting some excellent pointers from Etienne K7ATN.  He and Darryl WW7D were also up here a few days ago.

The route we took started from Morton, WA on Hwy 7 northbound.  Unfortunately, Google Maps wants to route through private gated property.  So we continued on north until NF-74 and turned off there.  We followed NF-74 to the crossing with NF-295.  Beyond that point, you will need to disregard your vehicle's paint job.  The scrub brush is very ingrown on the next section of NF-74.

I was camping at nearby Middle Thompson Lake and decided to get out for an activation. I was able to drive most of the way to the summit to the gate within 1 mile. There is a nice fire lookout at the top. The lookout was not manned while I was there. I approached off of the ACM Road South to National Forest Development Road 1045. Road was great all the way up to the parking area. I have been to this area many times and Road 1045 is known to have a locked gate at the bottom at times...this would make for a long walk or bike to the summit. 

Calimus is a drive up summit with manned lookout that was built in 1920. Very cute little lookout and great views of course. When I went Sharon was working and was very welcoming and we had a great tour and visit. She couldn't join me for the activation because she was on extreme fire watch, unable to leave her upstairs and radios. She knew some other hams including a neighboring lookout worker at Spodue.

Went to Little Applegate after Applegate. It was a jeep road the last bit on RD 4513-300, off of road 4518. I started the hike up at 42.68112, -121.70485.  There is a bit of an open path up to the summit using an old grown over road. Easy trek, about 1mi RT. The mountains around here are some of my favorite to hike because of the ground. Most everywhere is a layer of pine needles over pumice so it is like walking on a soft cushioned ground. Great for hips, knees, and back!

Applegate Butte is a drive up summit with equipment on top. There are a couple nice flats to set up in between two areas of equipment. I had zero issue with RFI doing hf. We came here from Soloman Butte so not a typical route, taking some of the east side roads from Soloman over to Applegate. Most roads were ok other than on Soloman. Probably the easiest access is from Road 600 east of Chiloquin and then take RD 4510 north.

de AG7GP

Solomon Butte on a map looks like it has roads going everywhere but it really doesn't. To get to a good start you will want to get to RD 4504 that somewhat circles the summit part way up. This is a jeep road with some tight pin striping opportunity in some areas and soft pumice your tires will sink in in other portions. We camped at 42.70679, -121.80856 with the idea we would go up a well used road FS4502-400 up the south corner but this road was being used as the exit road for logging trucks early morning and just too dangerous to go against them.

This was my second time to visit Huffraker.  Last year, the property owner had closed the area due to fire danger.  This year, it was reopened.  However, last year I was able to drive all the way to the edge of Gifford-Pinchot NF and park.  This year, there was an incredible amount of blowdown that had not been cleared which added another 4 miles to this hike bringing it to overall 6.3 miles RT.  It may be that, due to the late season snow, once the mushroom pickers get busy some of the blowdown will get cleared.

6.0 Miles, +2,400 ft, - 120 ft

These instructions are from the trailhead that is open to full-sized vehicles July-1 to October-14.  OHV’s that are less than 50-inches wide can drive to the summit from July-1 to September-7.  The full-sized vehicle trailhead is suitable for must vehicles.

WTA has a good Trail Report at https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2015-03-26.4118740807 with good general directions to PCT parking off the paved FS-5603 road. 

This was the first activation of the summit.  This was a straight-up bushwhack climb of around 500 feet and a ½ mile. Just before the summit there is a 15-foot vertical rock scramble.  After searching around I found a route that I felt safe attempting.  My fears far outweighed the reality. I tried to find a USGS marker but failed.  What I did, however, was disturb a flying ant colony.  The ants swarmed me but never bit.  I moved away from the area and luckily the wind picked up and they dispersed.