Summit has good "views"
This is an alternate summit route to what W6PZA wrote up here: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/w6pza/2020-november-30/summit-4420-or-november-2020 . You can take the Cole Loop Trail 854 that crosses the road near the second gate on the road going up to Gray Butte. From the intersection of the road and Cole Loop Trail and back to that point is about 4.5 miles and 1500 vertical feet.
Standard Mt. Hood disclaimer: conditions vary by the hour, experience interpreting conditions and forecasts are essential for safe alpine travel.
There are several good trip reports that outline the route and condition aspects of this trip, so I'll try to stick to what was specific about this activation.
This is a pretty easy hike, with some elevation gain. My watch clocked 1070 ft of gain in 2.6 miles from where we parked the truck. The primary access road is pretty good dirt that turns into a pretty ok jeep track. It would be possible to drive up the ok-ish jeep track to a point where there is a barbed wire fence gate and the road turns into a true jeep road.
See a detailed report here
Bunsen Peak is an ancient volcanic cone characteristic of Yellowstone National Park. The peak is a very popular summit hike in Yellowstone Park near Mammoth Hot Springs. The trail is wide and even in October I found folks I could tag along with per the guidelines of not hiking alone in the Park. When I begin to lag, a young woman from Israel with her American boyfriend returned to check up on me and over my macho-objection she kept with me at my slow pace to the summit. She also reminded me to not hike alone. Makes an old duffer feel quite good.
Point 118 hosts a Missoula County communication site. It is a rocky prominence with excellent views of the distant Selway- Bitterroot Wilderness’ rugged northern mountains. Access is by foot or bicycle on a permanently gated road. The summit is approximately 200 feet from this communication site. I experienced no RF interference or desense from the communications site at the summit. There are various sized trees available for hanging antennas or attaching antenna poles.
Hike or Bike miles roundtrip: 4
Elevation gain: 475’
Turner Mountain in northwest Montana is approximately 22 miles north of Libby on Pipe Creek Road #567. Turner ski area opened in 1961. It is currently active with a mile long double chairlift with 2100’ of vertical rise. The 1.8-mile vehicle access road is closed in the summer but open to mountain bikes and foot travel. I borrowed an ebike and rode to the summit via the reasonable grade ‘jeep road’. The ride is 2.68 miles from the chair lift base to the summit, a rise of 1380’. Stops along the way were necessary to view the scenery, think ‘panting rest-stops’.
The Roundtop name matches well this broad round summit. It was intensely burned, twice with very few snags and live trees remaining now. Even though the hike is short, considerable downfall impedes travel over many routes. Google Earth is a good resource here to identify areas with less snags and stringers of unburned forest. I traveled in a lightly burned forest stringer due west of the summit breaking into the open brush and grass area near the summit.
Summit 7112 is at the head of Ninemile Creek and overlooks the Clark Fork valley to the north. It is a pleasant hike on cooler summer days. The on-trail and off-trail are currently exposed with very little tree cover. It will remain open until lodgepole pine regeneration grows for another decade or two. The summit offers good views of the Mission Mountains and summits of the Reservation Divide. Snags are abundant so exercise caution especially on windy days.
Hike miles roundtrip: 1 on-trail #98 and 1 mile off-trail
This was my 6th time activating this summit! 3 of those activations involved using a snowmobile to get close, and then using snowshoes to get on to the summit. One of those trips involved us towing K7JRO on a dog sled behind one of the snowmobiles.
In the summer this summit is easily accessible with a high clearence vehicle (and a short hike). See K7MAS trip report for summer details. Winter access to this area is via Blewett Pass sno park, located off US 97 at Blewett Pass. A Sno Park pass is required.
This un-named summit is near US Forest Service trail #313 south from Skalkaho Pass. The trail begins in a regenerated timber harvest unit and quickly transitions to old-lodgepole pine/Rocky Mountain subalpine fir forest partly burned by a wildfire in the early 2000’s. Most of the trail is within this wildfire and is dominated by snags and windfall trees. Use caution traveling this area especially on windy days. In approximately one mile the trail enters a moist unburned large wet area dominated by large spruce.
