Shady Trail

Gold Hill is a short steep BW off of US-395 between John Day and Burns. To get there turn west on NF-31 a mostly paved road at 43.8136, -118.9831. turn right at 43.9528, -119.0760 on to FR 3765. then right again at 43.9710, -119.0594. onto NF 62. Arrive at 43.97597, -119.03468 and BW up to the summit. Note that it is a bit steep, but there is a cat track most of the way and it is open forest in any case. Forested top with no views, but plenty of shade which was welcome in August.

There is no poison oak on this summit, at least not that I was able to identify, and it is my mortal enemy, so I've gotten pretty good at predicting where I'll find it and identifying it from an appreciable distance. I just wanted to clarify that as a previous post claimed to have encountered poison oak. 

This summit is a horrible bushwhack, and like many of the summits in this part of the Gifford Pinchot, it's barely worth the points considering the effort it takes to climb it. It's steep and brushy and about the only nice thing I can say about it is there's no devil's club to contend with. You would think, upon finally obtaining the activation zone, that the return trip would be easier, but it is not. It's worse because you can't see where you're putting your feet. 

Sawtooth is a glorious peak; nice hike, interesting rocky summit and great 360 views.

There are multiple hikes to reach Sawtooth. I took a route from the west, following the High Divide trail to the Windy Pass trail. This was the approach with both the shortest drive time and hike (from Diamond lake). It was 4 miles and 1700ft one way. It does seem to be a less commonly followed route, though the trails are maintained.

Moderate bushwhack with almost 500ft of gain over 0.6 miles. It might be light bushwhack if you pick the right path, as I found the way down easier through more open forest when one could see it. There is *almost* a view peaking through the trees at the top. Enough space for an activator on the true summit, but multiple could potentially spread out a bit off to the side still in the AZ. 

Here is a shortcut to Big Huckleberry relative to that described here: http://www.pnwsota.org/node/371

Here is one of eight Lookout Mountains in Oregon (10 if you count Big Lookout Mountain and Little Lookout Mountain). This is a short hike of one mile RT with 600 feet of elevation gain. The trail is mostly good, but a bit overgrown in places. The drive is easy and can be accomplished with moderate clearance. You can get to within a mile of the summit with most other vehicles. Here are the directions:

Find the North Umpqua Highway (AKA OR-138) and travel to Panther Creek Road (AKA NF-4741) near Apple Creek Campground, 43.3060, -122.6772 .

Summary - This is another one of my traverse hikes, linking 4180 (LC-071) and Big Huckleberry (LC-069) over the Pacific Crest Trail in the GPNF.  After a ninety minute drive (with a toll bridge) from Portland to the trailhead, you'll find both an easy forest road hike and bushwhack to the summit of 4180 and a PCT hike over to Big Huckleberry. You will cover about eleven miles with 1700 feet of gain, do an easy if steep bushwhack on 4180 bushwhack, and collect big views on Big Huck.

NOTE: This area may have burned in July 2025. If anyone has intel, please post. I believe it may have just been the western approach side of the mountain.

Aubrey Mountain is 2 point summit near Oakridge, OR in the Willamette National Forest. The summit can be accessed either from a neighborhood at the edge of town or from a higher trailhead on the northeast side. I took the high road as described below:

This summit was easy to reach and only 1.3 miles or so OW.  There is an antenna farm at the top but it didn't interfere significantly.

Start at the Stevens Creek Trailhead which has a nice parking lot and no permit required.  It is part of a county park a few miles south of Spokane.  The trail is pretty steep and is supposed to be closed when too muddy.

There are many large rocks near the summit which can make setting up an antenna with a clear view a little more challenging.