Decent tree cover for most of the trail
Bunker Hill is a nicely accessible summit a few miles north of Carson, Washington. The trailhead is an easy drive, and the hike is about 3.6 miles roundtrip and 1300 feet of gain. Note that little of the gain is on the first mile or so of the hike - it's steep later. The hike starts on the Pacific Crest Trail for the first easy half mile or so.
Short Version - Wildcat Mountain is only an hour from Portland. You can drive to the trailhead and the two-ish mile hike along a well-maintained, if not well-marked, trail gets you to a small clearing on a summit with wire-ready trees. APRS messaging and 2M FM contacts are both easy and it is a good location for working HF. You are unlikely to be alone, as the Douglas and 781 trails are quite popular; if you like solitude, get there early. And be prepared for snow, even in early November.
UPDATE: last trip I walked the bermed road. A bit longer but much easier and safer. Tracks on sotamap.
Blue Nose is a US Forest Service Lookout built in 1934. The structure still exists. From the summit are good views of the steep slopes of the Salmon River Canyon and high summits of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The final access road is a bit steep and rough. It is an OK drive-up for a ‘high clearance’ vehicle, ATV or a mountain bike.
The summit is on the Idaho/Montana border. There are several summits along the roads in this area for multiple summit days, provided one is camped nearby.
Miller Peak is a large commercial communications site. Given that, the road accessible to the public is narrow, brushy and with few places to pass on coming vehicles. The road can become a bit crowded in later summer if a huckleberry crop along the road entices pickers.
East Tonga Ridge is best paired with nearby Mt. Sawyer (KG-052). It is quite a bushwhack to get to the summit of East Tonga, but worth it!
The drive in from HWY 2 is very straightforward. I recommend you read WW7D's report for a good description:
http://www.pnwsota.org/node/610
This summary is for two summits...Joell, KJ7GFN and I started our SOTA trip about 1.5 hrs before daylight, I was hoping to get to the first summit, Smith Rock (also Sky Lakes Wilderness for WWFF), while dx was still happening to EU. We dressed preparing for a freezing morning, forecast was at 20-25f low in the area, figured even cooler at 6000'. I wore the warmest of everything I had since I get cold very easily. But we were fooled! Some sort of an inversion in the mountains was happening and I am guessing it was more around 50-55!
A 'sorta' near drive-up in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest north of Carson. You can drive within a mile of this unremarkable peak and likely have a nice quiet time playing radio.
The SOTA peak database has the name of this peak incorrect as "Cardwell Hills HP", it is actually a well known peak called "McCulloch Peak" in the McDonald State Forest and all signs leading there, plus the marker on top, uses that name.
You are entering bighorn sheep range in this summit’s area. Two trail options are available. Both are great trail hikes all the way to the summit. The dry environment of this area makes it a good early Spring or late Fall season hike. Wind can be challenging on the upper grassland ridges and summit, but there are groups of trees to shelter behind.
