Forested Summit

Mount Bruno is one of a cluster of four point peaks directly off of Oregon
Hwy 22 just east of Detroit. Travel east on Oregon 22 past Marion Forks and
just past milepost 67, turn right onto NF2234. There was a sign there noting
that the road was closed ten miles ahead but you don't have to go that far,
so ignore it.

NF2234 is initially paved but turns to gravel in about 1.6 miles. The road is
easily passable with a passenger car. Continue on NF2234 7.5 miles. At this point
there is a triangle intersection, but you can't see all the corners. Turn right onto

Sheridan Peak is on the east side of the coast range, about 23 miles from Carlton, Oregon. Carlton itself is quite out of the way, being about 12 miles east of Newberg. But it's a nice short hike of about half a mile through some nice second growth woods, and the road is paved the whole way! (I.e.: if your GPS takes you to gravel, it's not the right way...)

Katsuk Butte is a nice little peak near both South Sister and Devil's Hill
in the Deschutes National Park near the Mt. Bachelor ski area. It's easily
reached from the Devil's Lake campground parking area. You will need to be
comfortable with cross country travel via map/compass/GPS as there are no
trails to this summit.

Katsuk Butte can be conveniently coupled with an activation of South Sister. I
spent the night in the very nice campground on the banks of Devil's Lake,
activated Katsuk Butte late in the afternoon, and left for South Sister early

Home is Tacoma, WA, but since I acquired lightweight QRP gear a couple of years ago, I’ve been tempted to take it with me when I travel. I finally did so, on a trip to visit family in New England.

Middle Mountain Oregon W7O/CN-075 is a pretty easy activation.  From Hwy 26 travel approximately 28 miles north on Hwy 35 towards the town of Hood River.  At 28 miles turn left (west) on Gilhauly Road.  Shortly after turning on to Gilhauly Road there is a forest service gate that is normally open but just be aware of its existance.  Travel 1.6 miles on Gilhauly Road.  At 1.6 miles you will come to a fairly wide delta shaped "Y" intersection.  Keep right at this intersection.

We spent the weekend climbing and camping at the nearby Spring Mountain climbing area.  This is a great climbing area with nearby camping.  Just a short distance away is Sugarloaf Mountain.  It looked much forested and the road/trail access was questionable, but a previous activation said it was doable.

A four (4) point SOTA Summit, close in to Seattle Metro area.  This makes a great first Activation objective.  A quick return trip outing, just before the weather turned bad.  We still ended the Activation early, as it started raining.  Accompanied by my wife Sharon and our Labrador Retriever Dexter the SOTA Dog.

Trout Creek Butte is a convenient activation site from the town of
Sisters, Oregon. Its only about 12 miles from the town center. This
summit could probably be considered a drive-up, provided the gate
near the top was open and you had a suitable vehicle.

From the west side of the town of Sisters, take Oregon 242 west. Just
after passing Sisters High School, NF-15 will head south on your left.
My description begins here (mile-point zero) at the junction of NF-15
and Oregon 242.

Take NF-15, heading south initially on blacktop. The blacktop turns to

K7MK and I headed out late in the morning on July 24 to accomplish a double -- Boise Peak - W7I/BC-079 and this summit 6624 - W7I/BC-077. We were thwarted on our access to Boise Peak by an impassible section of road. See a separate activation report on Boise Peak for that story. This wasted well over an hour of time as we drove up the road to Boise Peak and then came back down again. If there was one silver lining is this cloud is that during the round trip we noticed that K7MK's APRS system was not working.

Cowan Lookout is an abandoned fire lookout site that sits at 1,955' on top of a ridge that, at the other end, hosts an antenna site. Locally, the place is known as "Radar Hill." It is located in the hills that overlook the town of Naselle, WA, and the Naselle Valley, due west of the intersection of U.S. 101 and WA 4. You can drive to within a short distance of the activation zone, but the final 100' of ascent is a bushwhack.