Trail Characteristics
APRS Coverage
Don't know
Voice Cellular Coverage
Don't know
Data Cellular Coverage
Good, very usable
Cellular Provider
Verizon

This summit is a long ridge located between Vernonia, Oregon and Saddle Mountain. Here are the directions to get there.

Travel on US 26 to Oregon Highway 103, also called Fishhawk Falls Highway. Go North on 103, note that you have to turn south to go north on 103 as it loops around under the Nehalem River Bridge. After a few miles (oops, sorry I didn’t record that) turn east on Mullenbach Road. The pavement ends in 0.8 miles but keep going. This becomes Grand Rapids Road.You will cross a creek at 2.7 miles. Then bear right at 3.5 miles onto Buster Creek Road. Cross a bridge at 4.1 and continue straight. Cross a bridge at 6.2 and turn right onto Wage Road. At 7.9 go right still on Wage Road. Then at  8.9 miles right turn on Military Creek/Green Mt Road. At 10.9 miles turn right onto a jeep road. There is good parking right away on left. A half mile walk up ~300 vertical feet to the highest part of the road will get you to within 10 vertical feet of the summit. The summit itself is an overgrown brushy affair so I operated on the road. There are trees to anchor or hang stuff. A 4x4 could drive the entire road. There is a camp and pile of trash at the end of the road. People!

 

Note that if you are coming from the east it is tempting to drive Rock Creek Mainline or Military Creek road from US 26. This would be good as you wouldn’t lose all that elevation getting to 103. However, both roads are gated. One by Weyerhauser and I did not get close enough to the other one to assign blame.

 

I tried to activate this peak twice. Once in the middle of the week and once on a Sunday. Since I could not get into the Portland area, I made only two 2M contacts midweek. One was a camper at Fort Stevens State Park, the other an operator in Vancouver. I made a partial 20M contact to Wyoming, but the bands were dead or no one was playing on them, as I could raise no one on 20, 40, or 17M, despite being able to self spot.

 

Activation Sunday was quite different, Nine 2M contacts, including seven S2S. Five 20M contacts, including one S2S into the Dakota Badlands.