Good Parking At Trailhead

Katsuk Butte is a nice little peak near both South Sister and Devil's Hill
in the Deschutes National Park near the Mt. Bachelor ski area. It's easily
reached from the Devil's Lake campground parking area. You will need to be
comfortable with cross country travel via map/compass/GPS as there are no
trails to this summit.

Katsuk Butte can be conveniently coupled with an activation of South Sister. I
spent the night in the very nice campground on the banks of Devil's Lake,
activated Katsuk Butte late in the afternoon, and left for South Sister early

This is a fabulous hike on a nice trail that climbs to the Patrol Mountain Lookout on the edge of the Scapegoat Wilderness.  The top offers stupendous views of the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall Wilderness areas.  Snow drifts may present difficulties into the first week of July during heavy snow years.  Drive West from Augusta and follow the signs to Benchmark.  Watch for the airport on the left as you approach Benchmark.  Turn left after passing the airport at the well marked intersection towards the Straight Creek trailhead.  Park here and walk 2-miles south on t

Home is Tacoma, WA, but since I acquired lightweight QRP gear a couple of years ago, I’ve been tempted to take it with me when I travel. I finally did so, on a trip to visit family in New England.

A nice fall day, good company of Tim, KG7EJT and Dexter the SOTA Dog, a successful joint First Actvation of Cowboy Mountain (including a S2S contact with VA7JBE/7 on the summit of Mount Baker) and nobody else anywhere near the summit itself, made for a very nice outing.

OK, so it seems that I jumped into this SOTA thing a little too quickly and made a couple of mistakes.  Thankfully, there are several people who have contacted me with some great advice for getting on track to doing things right.  Hopefully I will have better luck going forward.

A crisp Fall-like day, sparse crowds and a successful activation made for a pleasant, if short day.  The route to the summit, and the Activation itself were changed, and cut short, by a large heard of mountain goats which were straddling the ridge running between the SE Summit (incorrectly labeled as Mount Fremont) and the Middle Summit, (True Summit).

This second day of the NA SOTA Weekend dawned wet and misty, but with the promise (unfulfilled, as it turned out) of clearing at some point, and it wasn't really raining.  So Joe K7ZG drove us to Green Mountain, where we intended to find the road that allows a drive-up to a parking area somewhat below the summit.  I thought this road was north of the Gold Creek Trail trailhead parking area, but I wasn't sure how far or how it would be marked. We turned around before we got to it (as we learned later, see below), and decided to just do the entire hike.

On this Saturday of the NA SOTA Weekend, at about 10:45am, our party of four set out from Sunrise on Mt. Rainier to walk the Mt. Fremont Lookout trail.  The Lookout promises spectacular northward views of the Grand Park meadows, and the entire trail is hugely scenic.  More to the point, about ½ mile before the Lookout, the trail passes a few hundred feet below the summit of Mt. Fremont, and that was, of course, the real destination for the hams in the group:  myself and Al N7OMS.

Doug (KY7S) and I activated this summit as part of NA SOTA weekend. We had a blast up there and enjoyed the great day in western WA. Important to have a plan for spotting up there. Cell phone was not that great...APRS worked Awesome. A lot of 2m S2S activity. More then expected. Cant wait to get on the next one.

Full Blog Link:

http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2015/09/kelly-butte-w7wkg-060-sota.html

I was negligent in posting my Mount Catherine activation here but wanted to get it up for all to enjoy and use. We had a great early start on our way across Washington state on the 24th of August and had a great hike up this summit. This is a highly recommended SOTA for anyone heading through the Snoqualmie Pass area. 

Here is a link to the full blog with more pics and information: 

KF7PXT MOUNT CATHERINE BLOG