Date: April 3, 2024
Overview:
On a glorious day filled with exceptional weather and remarkable views, I embarked on a SOTA activation of Mount Erie (W7W/SK-169). This report chronicles my journey, equipment used, band conditions encountered, and memorable experiences during the activation.
Weather and Wildlife Encounters:
Summary - Mud Creek Ridge is a good winter cross country snowshoe hike with an open summit, peekaboo views of Mount Hood and places to hang a wire. The drive from Portland is about ninety minutes on a traffic free Friday. ATT digital service and APRS were both good. The hike starts on the road out of the Trillium Sno Park but soon veers off to pick up the nose of Mud Creek Ridge. GPS or a compass are required as the ridge is broad, and it is easy to wander off course on the way up.
This is a burned-over scattered forest summit with few live trees. Parking at the trailhead is limited but several places within 200’ exist. Finding a place without snags limited parking to a couple of areas west of the trailhead at the curve in the road. The one above the road is near an Idaho/Montana boundary post. That post was placed in 1905 at mile 393.121 per information received from W7LIX.
Goble Mountain is one of several two-point summits accessible from Weyerhaeuser rec permit access gate 6110. For permit information see: https://recreation.weyerhaeuser.com. You will need the “Longview – St Helens” one. For this three-summit “expedition” I drove to within a few miles of each summit, parked and mountain biked to each of the summits.
4.4 Miles, +1,233 feet, -30 feet
Winter Access Directions to TH:
From I-15 north of Helena – Exit at Lincoln Road (Exit-200) – Head West on Hwy-279 for 22.3 miles
Turn Left (west) towards Stemple Pass – drive 8.3 miles to the Pass (Pass is plowed in winter)
Park in the parking area on the left (west) side of the road at the pass.
As I mentioned in my previous report from Rattler Benchmark, my Dad and I followed that activation with a trip up to Cleman Mountain. If you are coming down Game Department Rd from Rattler, you need to drive south back towards town for a while on N Wenas Rd until you reach the entrance.
Unfortunately, the map shows many roads leading up the mountain but we were only able to find one that was passable at (46.833565, -120.711814). The signs at the gate read "Closed from Dec 9th thru May 15th."
For Thanksgiving this year, we drove to Yakima to visit with family and the day after my Dad and I drove up to Rattler Benchmark. Starting in Selah, we took N Wenas Rd turning right on Sheep Company Rd up to where it turns (46.778909, -120.563142) to become Bell Telephone Rd (going straight eventually leads you to Gracie Pt aka W7W/CW-096, see my report here). This is a goat trail with many ruts and requires steady nerves and high clearance. Fortunately, my Dad has both. This ro
Beartrap Ridge is a sparsely treed summit having spectacular views of the steep landscape into Owl Creek and the Salmon River. Adding to the view are large wildfire patterns of the mid- 2000’s and exposed geology.
Summary - Termination Point, near Old Man Pass Sno Park (west of Indian Heaven Wilderness) is an easy drive from Portland by way of Carson. If you don't want much of a hike, you can drive up most of the way after turning from NF31. Just stop along the way wherever you decide that the giant mudholes or the sound of paint being scratched is more than you can bear. The final summit hike is very steep (trekking poles are a good idea) if short. ATT cell service is servicable, APRS is good, two meter contacts unlikely.