Shady Trail

All of our trips to Lopez Island seem to involve a bike ride, and today was no exception. After a brisk ride in this year's annual Tour de Lopez, KG7JEH and I left the latex-clad crowd at the finish line for some SOTA de Lopez action. As it turned out, that action didn't last too long before my battery was down to 10 volts and I called it a day.

After taking the ferry ride from Anacortes to Lopez Island, getting to the trailhead is easy, and directions can be found with Google Maps - search for "Lopez Hill Trailhead". 

An early ferry ride out of Anacortes took me to Orcas Island and, after a short drive, I arrived at the Cascade Falls trailhead by about 7 AM. My plans included biking in about 3 miles and hiking up the last 3/4 mile to the summit. Wrong. I was 1/2 hour into the ride when 2 facts became clear: 1. My hybrid bike was not up to the task of handling that muddy, rocky, slippery road - no matter how much air I let out of the tires. 2. My lungs, legs, and nerves weren't up to the task either. I took the bike back down to the truck and began again.

There are at least four trails that approach the summit of Big Huckleberry Mountain - we choose the Pacific Crest Trail from the south for about 8.6 miles round trip and 1400 feet of net elevation gain (1900 total).

Here's a six point summit to tackle on a nice summer day - we tried it with lots of snow and found a blizzard at the top in mid-April. The trail is on a road of about 7 miles round trip and about 1800 feet of gain. 

I did this summit on 26 March as it was close to where I was staying. It poured rain on me the whole time but I came out with 14 quick contacts including a S2S with Etienne K7ATN on 146.52. I drove up the road and until my truck would not make it any further (4WD) and then hiked up the rest of the way. If you look at my everytrail tracks the "GO" marker is where the dirt road starts and the "END" marker is where I parked the truck. You could drive further then this if it was a dry day or if you had a jeep or 4 wheeler.

Check out my blog at http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2014/03/larch-mountain-w7wlc-103-sota.html for additional information.

Here is my everytrail post with downloadable GPX tracks - http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2713566

Tom, Dick & Harry Mountain is a nice late season snowshoe near Mount Hood. It's about 4 miles one-way and 1850 feet of gain to bag this four-point summit with iconic views of Mount Hood. It's a bit of work with some route-finding on snowshoes, but hopefully this trip report will help you get there. A Forest Pass is required from May 15 to October 1 - a SnoPark is required November 1 to April 30. 
 

Peak 3534 is a near drive up in the Tillamook State Forest west of Portland off Highway 6. It would be a good combination activation with South Saddle Mountain, W7O/NC-002.

If you are tackling Peak 3534 on its own or to start first on South Saddle, use the directions here http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7nit/2013-august-13/south-saddle-mtn-or-ju… to find the "major triangle intersection" and consider using a GPS and a good map while in the Tillamook State Forest.

These eleven miles (RT) seem much farther when you are on snowshoes - take that into account if you should decide to try this winter activation. If you have 4WD, very high clearance and nerves of steel, you you might consider driving a bad road in the summer - see the other trip report below.

The trail starts from Highway 35 - the trailhead coordinates: 45.3395  -121.5703. See the trailhead photo below with an unsigned post just north of a bridge over the Hood River East Fork.

Along Highway 22 between Salem and Detroit there is a near drive-up summit. In 2013 the road was passable (with some care) in a passenger car. (It may be a bit overgrown now.) This summit could be a  back up plan when nearby Rocky Top can't be accessed due to snow. In fact,