Trailhead parking or use of the trail requires a permit, pass or other for-pay document
Access is via the Klootchy Creek County Park off of HW26 just 2 miles east of Hwy 101 near Seaside. There's plenty of parking. And a pit toilet.
The summit and access are on Nuveen Natural Capital (private) property, previously Lewis and Clark Timberland. A (free, as of 2025) access permit is required from https://nncpermits.com/ Get the one for NNC_OR_25.
I attempted to activate South Mountain (and Summit "1540") in the South Olympic Region. The land is owned by Green Diamond Resource Company. It looks like they have taken a page from Weyerhauser's play book and require permits for entry into this restricted use area of Mason County. See: https://nwpermits.greendiamond.com/ At the time of this writing, annual permits started on Sept 1 and Motorized permits cost $425 Ouch!
Forbidden Peak is a ten point summit that is one of the most popular rock climbing objectives in the Cascade mountains. The summit can be approached from three ridges, with the West Ridge being the easiest and most frequently climbed. The West Ridge is famous for high-exposure, high quality 4th and easy 5th class climbing and a crux at 5.6. It is listed in the 1979 climbing guidebook "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America" by Steve Roper and Allen Steck.
For the most part all of K7ATN's blog post here(http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7atn/2019-september-06/eagle-cap-or-septem…) is current and probably some of the best info you're going to get. One thing to note earlier in the summer is the possibility of snow. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the more direct approach, which I labelled 1 in the map, but much of the trail was under steep snow field.
Sleeping Bear Dunes Naional Lakeshore has a number of SOTA summits - Shauger Hill might be considered to be in the heart of the Lakeshore. Note That the official NPS map shows "Shauger Hill" (E on the map) quite a distance from the USGS coordinates used by SOTA.
Take M-109 off of M-22 and check in at the entrance station - this is a fee park. I recommend getting a copy of the Lakeshore map to follow the one-way Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive and the numbered features.
Summary - This traverse starts from the Silver Star trailhead (45.78080, -122.24362) and links Silver Star Mountain with 3977 (Discriminator). Covering roughly 8.5 miles and 2800 ft of elevation gain, it has amazing views, some steep sections, and a bit of scrambling. Do 3977 first to get the toughest part of the hike behind you, enjoy the big views on Silverstar and have a mostly downhill walk back to the trailhead. From SE Portland to the trailhead is about ninety minutes. Caution advised when planning the drive: FR41 is not Prius-friendly.
Summary - Hiking Three Corner Rock (W7W/LC-101) and Birkenfeld (W7W/LC-094) together combines good views, no views, an open summit, a forested summit, a long hike, a stiff bushwhack and decent elevation gain. You can do this TRC first or Birkenfeld first. Starting at the Rock Creek Pass trailhead (45.74910, -122.04310) follow the PCT east to (45.71410, -122.00700). From here you have a short steep bushwhack up the ridge to the summit of Birkenfeld. Come back down the same way and return to the way you came, turning off the PCT to the Three Corners Rock trail.
Peak 1980 is on Washington State DNR land approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes north of the Portland Metro area and about 6 miles south of Cougar, WA. This land requires a WA Discovery Pass.
The summit is a drive-up, but the last .75 miles is rough and a mid-clearance vehicle with AWD or better is recommended. See SOTL.AS or Sota Maps for the route GPX file. The roads in this area are not well mapped on other services and are being worked on by WA State DNR.
After sleuthing some maps in Gaia GPS, a means of access was determined for Green Mountain. It should be noted that most mapping sites do not have good or accurate maps for this area. Prior reports cast some doubt but the route provided is all on public land, Washington DNR to be specific. On my trip, the outer gate was locked but the land is not signed as prohibited for access, so i hoofed it in. If you park at the gate, don't block it and bring your Discover Pass.
