Decent tree cover for most of the trail
Tiger Mountain is in about the middle of the Tiger Mountain State Forest southeast of Issaquah. Access is via a gravel forest road and you may want to use a GPS or track your mileage as any signs may not lead you clearly to the summit. You'll need a Washington State Discover Pass for this location.
McCulloch Peak is another great peak to actiavte if you are in the Corvallis area. It is reached by taking OR Hwy 99W north from Corvallis and turning left about 3 miles from town on Lewisburg Rd. Take Lewisburg road 1.3 miles and bear right onto Sulfur Springs Road. Proceed to the top of Lewisburg Saddle and head back down the hill. Near the bottom of the hill, which is Soap Creek valley, the road will take a 180 degree right turn. This point is 3.9 miles from Hwy99. Stay straight turning onto the gravel road.
The summit near "Dimple Hill" (W7O/CC-118) in McDonald forest near Corvallis
is a nice first summit or a good summit if you are in the area but don't have
much time to spare. To get there, travel north about 4 miles on OR 99W from
Corvallis until Lewisburg Road crosses 99w at the "City Limits Store". Turn
left on Lewisburg Road and travel 1.3 miles where Sulfur Springs Road heads
off to the right. Take Sulfur Springs road for 1.5 miles to the Lewisburg
Saddle (at the top of the grade) where there is ample parking for the trailheads
The Pack Forest is operated by the University of Washington, a bit south of Eatonville, Washington. www.packforest.org. Pack Forest High Point is not particularly well marked on the trail map and you may find that signage is a bit confusing, but it's a nice hike on a good forest road - about six miles round trip and 1100 feet elevation gain.
Arrived at the trailhead at about 9:30AM, and only 3 other vehicles - on a sunny summer day, there are usually 100+ vehicles! It was a very wet and windy day, right from the trailhead. About 1.5 miles up the trail, my wife decided it wasn't that much fun hiking in the high winds and rain, for no views at the summit. I pressed on while she returned to our vehicle at the trailhead. I made good time to the summit and the lookout. While there were some icy patches, I was able to navigate around them and as such never bothered to put on my "micro-spikes".
Quck activation of my "Neigborhood SOTA Summit". It takes me less than 10 minutes to arrive at TH from home. On a very warm day for nearly the end of January (60+ degrees F), we set out from Anti Aircraft TH, Cougar Mountain Regional Park. Our route was abot 7 miles circuit of the upper reaches of the Park. Wilderness Peak is about 1,600 foot in elevation and a 1 point SOTA summit.
A fun evening activation. Here is the blog to the activation: http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2014/12/w7wso-081-sota-activation-and-other…
I made an attempt at this summit on 13 December 2014. I was hoping to get a few bonus points along with an activation of an unactivated summit. Steep Climb and a short day prevented me from making it all the way to the summit.
See my blog here for the whole writeup:
http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2014/12/copper-mountain-w7wso-009-attempted…
Pearls On A Necklace – SOTA Adventures in W6/CT. Strung along the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2, Los Angeles County, California), which runs through the San Gabriel Mountains, on the stretch between the Pasadena / Glendale area the south, and the Apple Valley / Victorville area to the north, lie more than 20 SOTA listed summits. Most are 6 to 8 point summits.
Pearls On A Necklace – SOTA Adventures in W6/CT. Strung along the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2, Los Angeles County, California), which runs through the San Gabriel Mountains, on the stretch between the Pasadena / Glendale area the south, and the Apple Valley / Victorville area to the north, lie more than 20 SOTA listed summits. Most are 6 to 8 point summits.
