On August 19 I activated Tidbits Mountain, W7O/CM-089 - or so I thought. First let me tell you about the hike, because it’s a nice trek.

Old Scab 2012-07-15 CN96jv34

A very pleasant hike in the middle of summer. With lots of QSOs, nice weather and strong wind. As usual, I gathered information from Beckey’s book and of from the Internet for this summit too. The forest road opens from state route 410 and the upper section might require higher clearance. I think this summit is not visited very often, today I have not met with anyone.

Snipes Mountain is a fairly easy one-pointer just a short distance off I-82 east of Sunnyside, Washington. Access is by a rental car "suitable" dirt track about 1.3 miles from the West Sunnyside exit.

This not-so-epic activation took place Saturday, on probably the busiest peak in the area. The constant flow of hikers up and down the trail didn't slow down until early evening. Be prepared for lots of company on this one. 

For the NASOTA weekend, I took the easy way out and went to a peak that I'd already been on, Black Butte, near Sisters, Oregon. It was just me and the sotadog "Cooper" this time so we got a 5am start to head towards central Oregon.

This was my first activation, and we had a perfect day for it on Sunday. The peak is in the Olympic National Forest and the Colonel Bob Wilderness area North of Aberdeen, WA near Quinault Lake. Two trails go to the top - the Colonel Bob Trail, and the shorter Petes Creek Trail that we used. The roads in to the trailhead were in great shape.

Triangulation peak is a great SOTA activation site. The trail (#3373) comes off
of FS road 2233. FS road 2233 intersects Hwy22 just east of Idanha. See any of
the hiker websites to find exact directions. The trailhead did not indicate what
trail it was but from the map its obvious.

The road to the trailhead is somewhat rugged. 4WD is not necessary, but I wouldn't
take a prized sports car up there. This road becomes gated later when snow starts
falling as this area is a mecca for snowmobile folks.

I'd had an idea for a while to treat my wife with a combo SOTA/romance trip
to Mt. Bachelor. During the summer, they have what they call "Sunset Dinners"
at the Pine Marten Lodge. This lodge is at the terminus of the Pine Martin chair
lift at 7775ft. My idea was to take the lift to the lodge in the morning, summit
and do SOTA stuff, then hike back to the lodge for a nice dinner. Well, things
got busy and I decided to do it next year. But my better half secretly booked
the restaurant reservation for my birthday (9/1) and thus this trip began.

Trail starts at the east end of the Johnston Ridge Visitors Center parking lot. Need a USFS permit to park there. Trail is good most of the way and there is information on the hike here. You can actually see the peak from the trailhead and the majority of the trail is out in the open so make sure you bring sunscreen. Bring plenty of water as there is none along the trail. The hardest part is the last 3/4 mile which is steep climbing with switchbacks. Ran into lots of people along the trail but only 3-4 back towards the peak.

Elephant Mountain - interesting name for a small peak in central Washington, not too far from Yakima. For the right vehicle it might be a drive up - our rental car found the steep road to be a bit much and we hiked the rest of the way to the summit.

We climbed a little less than a mile and 500 feet to the top and then perhaps 50 yards farther east. The views once past the repeater sites are excellent and if you are thoughtful about supporting your antenna using a small shrub, you are set.