Activation Reports

Have your recent SOTA activations been way too easy? Does walking on trails bore you? Do you want to earn the Most Calories Burned Per SOTA Point award*? Then have I got the peak for you!

I was surprised to find an accessible peak in CM that the Bend SOTA folks had not yet activated. I did the activation as a snowshoe, but you can drive up a lot closer to the summit if there is no snow.  As you ascend, the forest growth increasingly closes in, so basically, just park when you can't take any more scratching up of your paint.  It is a very pleasant 2.8 mile hike from the main road.  I've posted a GPX track you can download. I posted summit pics to SOTA Atlas.

The "easy to reach" Grassy Knob near Port Orford, Oregon is not a summit. Elevation: 2,342'  Rise: 442' While the Grassy Knob Wilderness HP about four miles east is W7O/SC-302 and looks like a daunting wilderness bushwhack. Elevation: 2,620'  Rise: 880' 

This summit is a drive-up.  The summit is a fantastically beautiful flower-covered meadow with views in all directions.  The road is suitable for a Rav4, Subaru, etc., but one may have to go slowly due to some full-width potholes.  With a higher clearance vehicle (e.g. 4-Runner), it is fast and easy.  The potholes were full of water in late May, but none were muddy or super deep.

0.5 Miles, +363 feet; Off-Trail Bushwack

Summary - This is another one of my traverse hikes, linking 4180 (LC-071) and Big Huckleberry (LC-069) over the Pacific Crest Trail in the GPNF.  After a ninety minute drive (with a toll bridge) from Portland to the trailhead, you'll find both an easy forest road hike and bushwhack to the summit of 4180 and a PCT hike over to Big Huckleberry. You will cover about eleven miles with 1700 feet of gain, do an easy if steep bushwhack on 4180 bushwhack, and collect big views on Big Huck.

NOTE: This area may have burned in July 2025. If anyone has intel, please post. I believe it may have just been the western approach side of the mountain.

Aubrey Mountain is 2 point summit near Oakridge, OR in the Willamette National Forest. The summit can be accessed either from a neighborhood at the edge of town or from a higher trailhead on the northeast side. I took the high road as described below:

Johnson Mountain is a 2 point summit near Powers, OR in the Rogue/Siskiyou National Forest. This site is the presumed location of a famous meteorite hoax detailed here. Due to a closure of Johnson Mountain Road out of Powers, we were advised to head south to China Flat campground which is a good route (detailed below).

Summary - Hiking Three Corner Rock (W7W/LC-101) and Birkenfeld (W7W/LC-094) together combines good views, no views, an open summit, a forested summit, a long hike, a stiff bushwhack and decent elevation gain. You can do this TRC first or Birkenfeld first. Starting at the Rock Creek Pass trailhead (45.74910, -122.04310) follow the PCT east to (45.71410, -122.00700). From here you have a short steep bushwhack up the ridge to the summit of Birkenfeld. Come back down the same way and return to the way you came, turning off the PCT to the Three Corners Rock trail.

Barklow Mountain is a 2 point summit in the Rogue/Siskiyou National Forest between Powers, OR and Port Orford, OR. The site is a former fire lookout (now gone), serviced by a disused road and a short trail. The summit area has a view to the west and plenty of space to set up a vertical or a wire. Some lookout foundation artifacts remain.