Summit has good "views"
Depending on how far you choose to drive, Gray Butte will be a 1.4 mile road hike (OW) with about 1200 feet gain. There's another summit that could add another two points with 1.8 miles of hiking. Although I was thinking that the road might require high clearance, a Prius drove up after me - so know your vehicle.
Pine Ridge is a steep hike of a little less than one mile (OW) and 800' vertical, close to Gray Butte-W7O/CE-180 and Grizzly Mountain-W7O/CE-135 so you might consider doing other peaks in the area. Do not confuse this "Pine Ridge" with the W7O/CE-157 "Pine Ridge" about 50 miles to the south.
Lookout Mountain is a lovely hike of about 1.75 miles (OW), close to Round Mountain-W7O/CE-045 so you might consider doing both of those peaks. Note that there are MANY Lookout Mountains - this one is east of Prineville.
Round Mountain is a road hike of about 2 miles one-way and 1000 feet of gain. It's close to Lookout Mountain-W7O/CE-039 so you might consider doing both of those peaks.Note that there are FIVE Round Mountains in Oregon, with one in CE near Lakeview. This is the Round Mountain east of Prineville.
My son and I did this activation. The starting point for our hike was the intersection of FR 5603 and the Pacific Crest Trail. We parked at this location and started walking down the PCT which was adjacent. We found no trail to the summit so we started bush whacking. It was not too hard. After about an hour, we made the summit.
Oregon Butte is the highest peak in the Blue Mountain Range of southeast Washington State. There is a lookout up there which should be staffed by early July. Beautiful spot, great views, and ample room to set up radio gear just about anywhere along the gently sloped ridge. I was there in late June and took advantage of the handy metal flagpole next to the lookout building to hoist up my antenna. Probably best to ask permission to do that when somebody official is around.
One of our favorite summits in France, you can visit the winery and then hike up the road to the chapel and play radio! You can even stay overnight in accommodations at the winery. The hike is all of 1km with about 90m of rise. At the chapel there's a bench and some shade - a perfect spot to activate after wine!
It's perhaps easiest to find the summit by finding the winery: Chemin Notre Dame des Anges, 84570 Mormoiron. That's about an hour east of Avigion.
Quick notes: I have Google Fi, which uses T-Mobile and Sprint. Cell service is great, if you have a view to the northeast. Otherwise, it dies, and quickly. This was obvious when I was trying to stay in contact with people throughout the hike, leading to cutting in and out throughout the trip. I got it into my head to try a 4-pointer with no activations, and I saw a prime candidate, of only .7 miles with a gain of only a few hundred feet! What a find! Only problem is, there's no trail. Well, that's no problem!
It was great to meet club members at SEA-PAC. I came back motivated to earn my first point! WV-095 (https://www.sota.org.uk/Summit/W7O/WV-095) is Mt Scott and has been frequently activated. It looked pretty straightforward and I had already cycled to the top a few years ago.
Flagg Mountain is a great 4 point short hike (or drive-up) summit located west of Winthrop, WA. For a day trip, it could be combined with Goat Peak Lookout summit W7W/OK-107.
Directions/Access:
