Good Parking At Trailhead

Williams Peak is a good trail hike with a short off-trail hike and a short rock scramble. The summit has good views but little room for operating. A good alternative is to hunker-in just below the summit and tie off to one of the few snags or live trees on the south side. 

Williams Peak is also an ideal hike for a double activation with Rhodes Peak, W7I/NI-001.  Both are just off the well-maintained US Forest Service Trail # 508.  Both summits are an easy access up grassy/rocky ridges

Summary - A long drive then a short, steep hike up to a nice meadow with a view. Good hiking shoes and trekking poles will be handy, as will GPS. Easy to make 2M contacts and APRS spots. Lots of trees for holding up wires and not a bad place to hang out for a few hours. Finding the trailhead can be a little challenging because of the unmapped roads in the vicinity and the Weyerhauser gates. Given the drive and the gates, plan on doing Ginsberg as part of a multi-summit day.

Summary - Drive up summit. A long drive, so do it with other hills in the area. Easy to make 2M contacts and APRS spots. Not a good spot for an extended stay, I'd leave the HF gear in the truck. 2646 is on Weyerhauser land and there are gates to navigate. See my entry on Trask (NC-003) for more info.  

Summary - An easy, if not terribly scenic drive to the trailhead and a short hike to the summit. Travel time to the trailhead was almost two hours.  VHF contacts were easy, as was APRS spotting. Trask is on public land but the route I followed goes through a Weyerhauser gate. Plan ahead (see below)!  Best done as one of three or four summit activations in this area.

K7EEX trip report for Wolfe Point (http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7eex/2018-january-13/wolf-point-oregon) mentioned a possible south trail.  This report confirms a south access to Wolfe Point.

If coming from Cedar Butte activation, turn off of the road at: N45.57747° W123.63990°.  Park at N45.57731° W123.61891° the trail looks like a small drainage (see pic).  It is not maintained and hard to follow in places but you can get to the top from this south access.

Oreana Ridge is a picturesque summit with scattered trees, grass/forb land, an old US Forest Service L-4 Lookout and a log garage.  There are fine views of high peaks in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the steep slopes of Salmon River breaks.   The lookout built in 1934 has been abandoned and is in very poor shape.  Though the stairs look inviting, the decking is rotten and hazardous to walk on. Trees are available to string wire antennas. 

Tincup Hill summit is a large flat area covered by a regenerated old clearcut of 15-30’ tall lodgepole pine.  There are also some mining exploration shallow-trenches cut into the summit area and access ridge.  The hike is through easy terrain lacking in downfall or high brush. Trees are available to attach wire antennas. 

Looking at maps, I took off for a morning hike to Wilcox Peak figuring there would be a gate part way down the hill. Surprisingly you can drive pretty much just into the AZ. The road finishes at a turnaround/shooting area, unfortunately with a lot of trash. Wish I took some large bags with me, putting it on my list as trash really bothers me in the woods!

I had planned a vacation with my son in Gilbert, Arizona the first week of November 2020 and asked if he could find a few  SOTA summits we could activate together. I also flew my daughter in from out-of-state to join us.  This is how it actually turned out:

Tuesday, November 3rd - Pinal Peak (W7A/AW-009) gravel road drive-up:  8 Contacts

Wednesday, November 4th - Christopher Mountain (W7A/AW-024) very rough access road & .5 mile hike: 13 Contacts

During a 12-day, Self-Guided tour through the Dolomite Mountains of Northern Italy, I had the opportunity to activate a few mountains that “happened” to be right along our route.  I was with my XYL, Sharon, and 2 other couples, so my opportunities were somewhat limited by time and patience (or lack thereof) of my travelling companions.  None the less, I managed 4 Activations.  This report deals with the Activation of Monte Pic, I/AA-181.  This easy to ascend peak is 7,753 Feet / 2,363 Meters in elevation.  The reason I rep