Summit is forested and/or has ample tree cover.
Captain Grey Mountain is a road walk of a few miles gravel through a mix of forest and clear cuts. The road is within the activation zone. It’s on land owned by Lewis & Clark Timberlands, and as such there is no driving up but non-motorized access is free with a Required Annual Permit, link below. **
Just east of Mount Rainier National Park and north of Highway 12 is this bushwack activation.
Take Highway 12 about 1.5 miles east of the turnoff for Highway 123 and go left (north) onto gravel FR45. A short 0.4 miles later, turn right (east) to continue on FR45 for 11.2 miles. The road is carefully Priusable, with the potholes increasing and the road width decreasing past the Cortright TH (which could provide access to other summits to the east). You'll find a good place to park near 46.6965, -121.5309 where FR45 starts to descend.
2023 update: You can access North Green Mountain if you purchase a Weyerhaeuser permit https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com. You will need the “Longview – St Helens” one. If you purchased the non-motorized permit, you can walk or bike (no Ebikes allowed) up up from the “Blue Gate” at the end of China Garden Road which Weyerhaeuser appropriately calls the “Green Mtn N” Gate. If you have the motorized permit, you can use your access key to open the gate and it is a short drive all the way up to the summit, no other gates.
New (and Improved!) Lake Butte 6260 W7O/NE-264
There are three options for getting to this peak.
Priusable road: Hike 4.2 miles RT with 900 ft elevation gain.
High clearance 4x4: Hike from a hunting camp 2.75 miles and 700 ft elevation gain.
High clearance 4x4 and willing copilot: Hike 1.75 miles and 500 ft of gain
Bald Hill (W7W/SN-183) is at the high point found at the south end of Lord Hill in Snohomish County. Most of Lord Hill is a Snohomish County park. However, the actual summit is just south of the park on a private residential property.
NC-078 is in the middle of the Tillamook State Forest, far enough away from Portland to be a hassle, but close enough to the city of Tillamook that it's a pretty easy activate if you are already out on the coast. It's in the same neighborhood of the Kilchis River as NC-103 or Stanley Peak.
Drive on hwy from Portland: approx 50 miles, 1 hour
Drive on forest roads: 8 miles
Hike: 1/2 mile, 250 ft gain
All routes described here are posted on sotamaps.org / sotlas.
It had been 4 years since I went down to do Ball Mt and I'm not sure why I don't get down here more. Ball is a great <2mi RT hike on a gated lookout road. I love the lookout on Ball. There are great views with ample space and choice of location in the AZ, exposed around LO or go down into the trees a little. Each time I have gone I have also done Willow Creek Mt and this trip added Eagle Rock also. All can be done in a day if you plan accordingly.
In the past (and for a prior writeup), this summit was off-limits as part of a leased club parcel. Maybe Weyerhaueser couldn't find any clubs to lease it, or just changed their mind about how they wanted to manage the land, but it has ceased as a lease and become open to public access. It's a bit of a drive for one point, but a unique nonetheless.
Drive: distance to Mcminnville plus 16 miles
Hike: 1.45 miles with 800' gain one-way
GPX routes uploaded to sotamaps.
This was short but very hard. Straight up off trail. Maybe there is an easier way but I doubt it. I started on the 1046B trail on the west side but it ends only about 500ft in so I just started climbing straight up. Soft, steep, forest duff that was hard to stay upright in and the I reached a outcropping of shale and boulder to carefully climb the final 150' before the AZ. Shaded. It is about 700' gain in .5 miles.No cell at all. I did decend through an open meadow which felt much safer, however, the plants started getting taller and taller and I got covered in burrs.
