Good Views From Summit

Buck Mountain is a summit with a short hike of less than half a mile that you'll want to do along with Coffin Mountain (W7O/WV-005) and Bachelor Mountain (W7O/WV-003).

Take Highway 22 east 19 miles past Detroit, Oregon and turn right onto paved FS 11. Stay on this road for about 4.2 miles then turn right on road #1168.

You'll find the trailhead near 44.60451, -122.04061 - there's a wide spot for parking just past that. This is about 0.7 miles from the Coffin Mountain trailhead - marked with a red dot on the map below.

Access Info:  Take SR25 south from Randle or north from Cougar.  Head west on SR99 for 4.5 mi to the Bear Meadow Viewpoint.  Restrooms at the viewpoint parking area.  Read the interpretive signage at this viewpoint since this is where many of the iconic photographs were made of the St. Helens eruption in process by photographer Reynolds, who barely escaped with his family.

Access:  Since SR26 is closed from the north due to a washout, you must come in on SR26 from the south. Take SR25 south out of Randle then SR99 west towards Windy Ridge.  At approx 11 mi in, take SR26 north for about 1 mi to the Norway Pass TH parking area.  Restrooms are available.

Note:  The Independance Ridge trail is closed due to a washout.

Just north of Detroit, Oregon are a nice bunch of summits - Dome Rock is especially good. The Tumble Ridge Trail takes you to Dome Rock on a pleasant forest hike of only about 1.5 miles and 500 feet total gain. The summit is a wide open former lookout site with great views.

There are several ways to get to Green Point Mountain - I choose the shortest hike, which of course required the most uncomfortable drive (i.e., high clearance and paint you don't care about). The summit has fantastic views - as do most all former fire lookouts.

Just north of Detroit, Oregon are a nice bunch of summits - Peak 4740 is more of an...let's say...adventure. From where I parked it's less than a mile to the top - some on a rough road and some "cross-country" travel. The summit does have good views, even if it's a little challenging to get there.

Access:  Since SR26 is closed from the north due to a washout, you must come in on SR26 from the south. Take SR25 south out of Randle then SR99 west towards Windy Ridge.  At approx 7 mi in, take SR25 north to 1/4 mi past the Ryan Lake Interpretive Site road.  Take the TH road west for about 1/2 mi.

Tanner Butte is perhaps the most remote SOTA summit in Oregon's Northern Cascades. Despite many resources that point out the trail length at 17 miles, measured from the GPS track it shows up as right at 20 miles round trip, with 4500 feet of elevation gain. You won't see many other hikers on these remote trails. NOTE that this area burned in the Eagle Creek Fire in 2017 and trail conditions have likely substantially changed.

I echo AK5SD's comments.  Don't go thru the gate but park in nearby areas at the gate.  This road is frequented by fire crews and other Rangers who may be only visiting the lookout for a few minutes.  Don't get caught behind a locked gate!   And the lookout road is mostly a one-way which would create problems if you met traffic.  It's only about a mile hike (750 ft elev gain) from the gate to the lookout.

This is a very easy drive up 6 pointer. On highway 97 go 3 miles north of Chemult and turn right at the Walker Mt LO turn-off (fr94). After a couple miles turn left onto fr9402. There is a sign with nothing on it nailed to a tree at the turn-off. This road will take you all the way to the lookout. It is dusty and bumpy, but most 4x4 suv's should make it no problem. I had to walk around at the summit to get in the required yardage but that was easy as there is alot to explore and views to see.  Lots of antenna support at the top and not many bugs for this time of the year.