Exposed Trail

K7JTO first activated this summit in June 2020 along with George Peak (W7U/NU-045) and Bull Mountain (W7U/B0-001). His write-up can be found in the Resources section of the SotaMaps peak reference.  He provides a very good description of all the peaks along with some great pictures.  The following is additional information that may help in planning.

Summary - The hike (at least from the north) through the burn area is a sufferfest of deep, continuous treefall, exposure, and route finding. The trail is mostly gone and you must have a GPS and map or be very good with compass and map to avoid missing several crucial turns. As with most summits in this area, plan on HF to activate unless you know there are other SOTA ops in the area. Bottom line: skip this one, at least from the northern trailhead.

Fox Butte is an easy activation IF you are equipped with HF. I wouldn't rely on 2M unless maybe you bring a yagi to help get your signal to Bend. The roads are in much better than expected shape, and other that the fact that it is a long drive, it was quite pleasant and any passenger car can make the trip.

Full report here

There is already some written on Red Cone. I find a lot of the CLNP hikes difficult in the soft pumice which this is, most of the way. I am putting my 2c in on the AZ. I went alone and was told the first summit is in the AZ. When I arrived it sure didn't look like it so I walked the saddle, checked the low point in the saddle, and it seemed about 110' below the true summit according to all my GPS and topo lines on the map. I also used N6ARA's AZ app and it too says the first peak is not in the AZ.

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.

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.

Bald Mountain, above Sun Valley, Idaho, is one of the most interesting and picturesque activations I’ve ever done.  There is no need to describe access due to the myriad of information available on-line (i.e., hike/snowshoe, mountain bike, drive, etc.) If you choose to hike, there is a foot traffic permit required.  Though it costs to ride the gondola/chair lift up, there is no cost to ride them down.  We decided to make the activation a family affair and took the gondola to the Roundhouse restaurant, transferred to the Christmas chair lift, and then hiked the .44 miles along

I had hiked into the Independence Lakes area a few days earlier and was blown away with the beauty of the ancient glacier bowl where the lakes are located. From the lakes you can see Cache Peak to the south dominating the skyline, thus my interest was piqued.  From summitost.org:

Long Mountain is on the Weyerhaeuser recreational permit area for Columbia - Washington Counties. It was previously activated via a 12 mile hike, but this is not the only route. As it turns out, there's a straightforward access trail via BLM land to the southeast of the peak, which only requires about 1.5 miles of hiking each way.

Driving route and hiking route GPX posted to sotamaps/SOTLAS.