Activation Reports

Dry Mountain is a drive up summit near the Burns-Hines area with a lookout tower and cabin. To get there I recommend this route: 

Turn north off of US-20 at 43.5467, -119.0847 onto NF-47, aka Hines Logging Road.

At 43.64275, -119.2629 turn west onto US-41, aka Donelly Road.

At 43.7038, -119.3953 turn onto US-4120, aka Beaver Slide Road.

Stay on this road until you find a lookout tower.

The road is very good to good until the last half mile or so where it gets a bit rough. Possibly not Priusable, but easy in a Rav4 or higher clearance vehicle.

Years ago I tried to get to Bieberstedt but was stopped by no trespassing signs on an eastside road. Recently I tried to reach out to what Onx had as owner but no luck with a response.  I decided to go up on the westside to see if it had signs. I heard it was a better road and the owner was different than 2020 owner. Sure enough, lots of no trespassing and keep out signs at entry. I called a number on the sign. No luck-wrong number. Emailed timber company, immediate response-they no longer own it and its an old sign, but he would forward my info to the owner. 

Summary - This traverse starts from the Silver Star trailhead (45.78080, -122.24362) and links Silver Star Mountain with 3977 (Discriminator). Covering roughly 8.5 miles and 2800 ft of elevation gain, it has amazing views, some steep sections, and a bit of scrambling. Do 3977 first to get the toughest part of the hike behind you, enjoy the big views on Silverstar and have a mostly downhill walk back to the trailhead.  From SE Portland to the trailhead is about ninety minutes. Caution advised when planning the drive: FR41 is not Prius-friendly.

Zigzag Mountain Road, aka Road 27, aka FR2627 is the access road to the Zigzag, West Zigzag, and other trailheads west of Mount Hood. The Forest Service road crosses two parcels of privately owned land  and the owner has put a locked gate and no trespassing signs up at (45.32085, -121.89377), blocking accesss. Below you will find a couple of things you can do about this gate. Here is a map showing the location: 

Have your recent SOTA activations been way too easy? Does walking on trails bore you? Do you want to earn the Most Calories Burned Per SOTA Point award*? Then have I got the peak for you!

I was surprised to find an accessible peak in CM that the Bend SOTA folks had not yet activated. I did the activation as a snowshoe, but you can drive up a lot closer to the summit if there is no snow.  As you ascend, the forest growth increasingly closes in, so basically, just park when you can't take any more scratching up of your paint.  It is a very pleasant 2.8 mile hike from the main road.  I've posted a GPX track you can download. I posted summit pics to SOTA Atlas.

The "easy to reach" Grassy Knob near Port Orford, Oregon is not a summit. Elevation: 2,342'  Rise: 442' While the Grassy Knob Wilderness HP about four miles east is W7O/SC-302 and looks like a daunting wilderness bushwhack. Elevation: 2,620'  Rise: 880' 

This summit is a drive-up.  The summit is a fantastically beautiful flower-covered meadow with views in all directions.  The road is suitable for a Rav4, Subaru, etc., but one may have to go slowly due to some full-width potholes.  With a higher clearance vehicle (e.g. 4-Runner), it is fast and easy.  The potholes were full of water in late May, but none were muddy or super deep.

0.5 Miles, +363 feet; Off-Trail Bushwack

Summary - This is another one of my traverse hikes, linking 4180 (LC-071) and Big Huckleberry (LC-069) over the Pacific Crest Trail in the GPNF.  After a ninety minute drive (with a toll bridge) from Portland to the trailhead, you'll find both an easy forest road hike and bushwhack to the summit of 4180 and a PCT hike over to Big Huckleberry. You will cover about eleven miles with 1700 feet of gain, do an easy if steep bushwhack on 4180 bushwhack, and collect big views on Big Huck.