Shady Trail

This was short but very hard. Straight up off trail. Maybe there is an easier way but I doubt it. I started on the 1046B trail on the west side but it ends only about 500ft in so I just started climbing straight up. Soft, steep, forest duff that was hard to stay upright in and the I reached a outcropping of shale and boulder to carefully climb the final 150' before the AZ. Shaded. It is about 700' gain in .5 miles.No cell at all. I did decend through an open meadow which felt much safer, however, the plants started getting taller and taller and I got covered in burrs.

After arriving Thursday afternoon at the W7O Campout, Ryan NN7M invited me to join him and his dog Tori for a hike to Tipsoo Peak.  This summit was recently added as a new SOTA summit in Feb 2023, and was excited to hear this would be a first activation (Mark K7MAS also activated the summit the next day...and was part of the first UTC day activation)

Directions:

Mt. Bailey is a 5 mile, 3600 ft ascent with a few tricky sections to test your hiking mettle. There are two access points, one is easily reached via any passenger car, the other would require a high clearance vehicle and possibly all wheel/4 wheel drive. Its a beautiful hike, but can be hot and buggy so bring plenty of food/water and bug spray (Ben’s 30% DEET worked well for us). I would consider this an intermediate hike due to the elevation gain and some of the exposure, but bringing a new/young hiker along is reasonable with the proper support.

Getting there: from highway 12 , when you get to the town of Randle, turn South on state route 131. After about a half mile, there is a fork in the road. Stay to the right on highway 131. Do not take the left fork to Cispus road. After another half mile route 131 turns into Forest Service road 25. Drive about 10 miles down the 25 road until you get to the 2516, where you'll take a right. Here are coordinates for the turn: 46.34766, -121.97049. 

Pig Iron Mountain is a drive up good gravel forest road plus a half mile light-to-moderate bushwhack through rhododenrons. As such it's reasonably easy enough to reach, though no view at the top to particularly recommend it compared to other local peaks.

We found no pigs, iron or pig iron. Totally misleading peak name. There was just a bunch of bushes. Maybe they are pretty assuming they flower in the spring time. Dunno. YMMV.

During the 2023 W7O SOTA Campout, we had the opportunity to activate Trap Mt.

This is an easy drive, though there are spots where the manzanita closes in on the roadway.  Your vehicle's paint may not like it much.  Otherwise, it has good gravel all the way to the trailhead.  Take a left from Hwy 138 West onto NF-900, then a right onto Big Camas Rd (NF-3701).   Take another left onto NF-3704 and follow that around and turn left on NF-230 and yet another left onto NF-250 and a final left on to NF-290.  Google Maps was right this time!

Tumalo Mountain is a shield volcano

Lovely mostly shady hike to a peak with a good view of mt hood. Highly recommended activation.

There are a few routes to get to Mount Defiance. We took the hike from Warren lake described here on Oregon Hikers (different from 2012 trip report). 

I was surprised to find what looked like an un-activated drive up summit only an hour drive (to the base) from Bend, OR. From Bend, head South on 97 and take the exit for South Century Drive. Head through Sun River on Spring River Rd, which turns into Conklin Rd. Hang a left on Upper Deschutes Road aka NF 40. Follow this and it crosses Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway afterwich it becomes NF 4630. Hang a right on NF 640 and follow past Little Cultus Lake. I parked at the pullout at 43.81061, -121.88230.

Summary - There are two routes up from Zigzag Mountain Road (Road 27 from HWY 26).  The longer route follows the West Zigzag and Zigzag Mountain trail and ends in a bushwhack up the northwest ridge of Zigzag Mountain (about 5.5mi OW). The shorter route follows Burnt Lake trail to Devils Tie to Zigzag Mountain trail and ends in a bushwhack up the north side of the summit. (about 3.5mi OW).  I recommend the longer route, which meanders along the mountain ridge, and is less used. ATT digital service was spotty, APRS was full strength, 2M contacts aren't difficult.