Trail contains no technical obstacles
In my continuing series on easier/shorter approaches to summits, I found a back-side social trail to Barlow Ridge summit.
Originally I was just going to bushwack it (0.6 mile and 400' elevation gain) but upon arrival I discovered this path.
Puffer Butte is located in Washington’s Field Springs State Park in the very southeast corner of the state. The hike is less than a mile and 400 feet. There are plenty of Trees on the summit for hanging wires. I had spotty Verizon coverage. For more:
https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/puffer-butte#hike-full-description
Columbia Mountain is easily my favorite hike in the Sherman Pass area. This 3.2 mile climb is not steep, almost always shaded and well maintained. The spring at the junction of trail 24 and the Kettle Crest trail still had a trickle in early September. There is a cabin at the top and several benches to set up. One of the few activations where I've been able to sit on a bench in the shade. I plan to return and camp at some point. Fun hike.
Runt Mountain is a SOTA peak at the top of the chairlift at Lookout Pass Ski area. Lookout Pass Ski area is on Interstate 90 at the Idaho/Montana border.
From Idaho, take exit 0 on Interstate 90 and turn right into the parking lot of the ski area. You will have to purchase a lift ticket ($13) for the ride up the main chair. I activated this in the summer as they open the area up to hikers and mountain bikers. You might be able to activate this in the winter but with much more difficulty with skiiers buzzing by you.
On a recent camping trip to Riffe Lake, I activated this summit after activating Burley Mountain (W7W/PL-039). See my other trip report for directions to get there.
The route we took after Burley was to continue on NF-77 from the junction with NF-7605 and follow it until the junction with NF-202 at (46.344296, -121.927806) There is a spur at this junction (NF-7700201 that heads north a short 1/4 mile to the summit.
The activation zone is a small clearing surrounded by trees with no view.
On the way over to Bend, I stopped to activate Black Butte. I came on Hwy 20 and turned at NF-11 which is also the turn for Indian Ford Campground. From there I followed north to the turn for NF-1110 (also known as Black Butte Rd) and on around the north of the mountain. After a hairpin turn, there is one more sharp turn to the right which takes you to the upper trailhead. The road up to the last turn was in good shape as of this writing. The upper portion after the last turn was not as good but still very drivable.
This was my first summit on the day of the Central Oregon S2S party.
I had spent the night at the Pine Mountain Observatory Campgrounds which is FCFS so get there early. If it's full, there are dispersed locations but it's hard to find one in the pitch black dark. The observatory requires no headlights (only running lights) at the top so take that into account.
In the morning, I drove back down NF-2017 to the trailhead which also double as a cattle watering station.
This was my second summit for the day of the Central Oregon S2S party.
I had spent the night at the Pine Mountain Observatory Campgrounds which is FCFS so get there early. If it's full, there are dispersed locations but it's hard to find one in the pitch black dark. The observatory requires no headlights (only running lights) at the top so take that into account.
This was my 3rd summit while over in Bend area for Central Oregon S2S party.
I had activated Pine Benchmark and Pine Mountain earlier in the day and I drove from there. I took NF-2017 from the Observatory down to the valley. However, that road is in very poor shape and high clearance is needed if you go that way. (If starting at the Observatory, travel time going back to Highway 30 to Road 23 is likely similar to taking rocky NF-2017 south).
