Summit has good "views"
Boulder Mountain is one of prominent mountains to the East of McCall Idaho. It is just north of the very recognizable Jughandle Mountain. Boulder Reservoir, Boulder lake and Louie Lake (at the base of Jughandle Mountain) are fairly popular summer day hikes in the McCall Area. Boulder Mountain itself is probably rarely visited as it quite a bit farther than the popular lake destinations.
A nice hike through second growth forest will get you to the former fire lookout site on top of Stormy Mountain. You might consider activating Slide Peak, W7W/CH-202 as you'll be passing right by the trailhead for that summit.
A short, steep and rough climb will get you to the summit of Slide Peak. This is a good second activation for those heading to Stormy Mountain, W7W/CH-132.
W7M/CL-023 may be climbed easily climbed from the Scapegoat Plateau. The approach is 17 to 21 miles – depending upon which route one chooses to access the plateau. The southeast ridge of the mountain is a good approach and offers great views of the plateau. The Plateau is prime grizzly bear habitat – so be “Bear Aware”!
Walk up the relatively gentle northwest ridge from the Scapegoat Plateau to attain the summit. The approach is 17 to 21 miles – depending upon the route that one chooses to access the plateau. The summit ridge has an interesting and fragile rock outcropping that is decaying to become talus. The summit offers incredible views of the surrounding mountains and the magnificent Scapegoat Plateau. The Plateau is prime grizzly bear habitat and the grassy meadows at the base of this summit are a favorite foraging area – so be “Bear Aware”!
Flint Mountain may be easily climbed up its southeast sloping ramp from the Scapegoat Plateau. The approach is 17 to 21 miles – depending upon which route one chooses to access the plateau. The cliff band that guards the eastern side of the mountain slopes downwards to the left (south) and can easily be topped towards the left. After topping the cliff band, walk along the bench northwards until you reach a trail (visible in photo) that ascends the steep side-slope towards the summit ramp. Follow the grassy ramp to the summit.
Tumala (or Squaw) Mountain in the Clackamas River drainage is a nice walk through the woods of about 2.5 miles RT and about 800 feet of net gain. It can be done in conjunction with Githens Mountain from the same trailhead - Old Baldy Trail #502.
This was first dip into the SOTA adventure, and it was big fun! Although this is a super easy almost urban summit it was a good way to start and see how things worked. I used my new KX2 and Alexloop and everything worked great considering propogation. In about 2 hours I worked 24 Q's;14 states and ZL! Not bad for 5W to the loop.I did miss one station calling me on SSB-a cross mode contact if I could've figured out how to undo the 'LSB' mode; somehow the KX2 was set that way on 20 when obviously it should've been set at USB. I did figure it out at home later..sorry to whoever was calling.
On Saturday 25 June we were once again heading back from Eastern Washington. It had been almost 2 years to the day since I had been on Red Top lookout. The days are long so we had plenty of time to head up. It was an amazing hike and amazing views.
The directions at WTA are perfect for getting to the Trailhead: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/red-top-lookout. The WTA site says round trip 1.5 miles. My GPS said it was right at 1 mile and 345 ft of elevation hike.
