Good Parking At Trailhead

Blackrock Peak is named for the dark gray to black lichens growing on the summit boulder field.  The rock itself is mostly light tan-colored and from a distance the dark lichen patterns appear like large stationary cloud shadows draped over the summit and adjoining ridges. Distance views include the rugged Mission Mountains, the Bitterroot Mountains, the Cabinet Mountains and on clear days Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park.

Bad Luck Mountain is an old US Forest Service Lookout site that had a structure from 1939 till about 1980.  Only a few concrete blocks remain today.  The summit is mostly forested now with 25-40 year-old Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine.  Open grassland falls steeply from the summit to the south.

2.8 mi, +1,200 feet, -200 feet

The hike to this summit is off-trail through a thick lodgepole and fir forest.  Although the undergrowth is only calf high, there is a moderate amount of deadfall through most of the hike, which makes for slower going.

4.8 mi, +1,870 feet, -600 feet

This is a nice hike on a good trail with great views – particularly of the Red Mountain & Caribou Mountain regions of the Scapegoat Wilderness.  This hike is close enough to the Scapegoat Wilderness that it is prudent to be Bear-Aware.

2.9 mi, +1,800 feet, -200 feet

This was my first summit, and I want to thank pnwSOTA.org for the recommendation for it as a first summit.  It was a blast!

I reached 18 stations, including the famous WG0AT in Colorado and OK2PDT in the Czech Republic -- all with a SOTABeams linked dipole on a fiberglass mast with 5 watts out from my KX3!  Amazing what CW can do.

I sat on a wet tree limb, fumbled with a pad to log QSOs while swatting away mosquitoes but it was perhaps the most fun I've had in ham radio.  I recommend it highly to anyone who hasn't tried it. 

An easy road walk of a half-mile will take you to this summit. Of course, the road to get to the road walk is only suitable for vehicles with above average clearance.  

This is a bushwack - not too long - but through a cluttered forest floor with lots of vines, branches and logs to trip you up - so that you might wish it were shorter. Out of the way on the South Coast near Port Orford, it will not likely see much traffic as the relatively close by Humbug Mountain W7O/SC-192 features a nice trail all the way to the top. The forest road to Father Mountain will probably accommodate a thoughtfully-driven passenger car, but I wouldn't say it was Priusable.

The hike up Mount Teneriffe is not an easy one - in my opinion, it's the most strenuous summit one can find for 4 points. There are 2 main routes to the summit; the new trail / road walk, which is about 13+ miles round trip, or, the more direct route; Kamikaze Falls then up Serendepity Ridge.  I've done both routes multiple times - I prefer the much shorter Kamikaze Falls / Serendepity Ridge as it's only about 7.5 miles round trip. As this route is about half the length of the new trail / road walk, it's obviously steeper - really steep!

Adrian, Patrick and I headed up for some backpacking/activating on Friday. We drove to South Breitenbush Trailhead with the intent of camping 2 miles in then attempting a first activation of Dinah-Mo Peak and heading back down the next day. Well, with what I thought was an hour of slack time, we encountered first some downed trees on NF46 (Clackamas River Hwy - Breitenbush River Road) and then were stopped by downed trees a mile and a half from the trailhead. No big deal, we have a little time, right?