Driveway Butte is an old cattle or sheep drive way, hence it's name. Washington Trails Association (WTA.org) describes this as "a stiff climb to an old lookout site". It really isn't that stiff...about 4.25 miles and 3000 ft elevation gain but a large amount of the gain is right in the beginning. This hike does indeed take you to an old lookout site. The lookout site was a slant-walled cupola cabin built in 1931. A second structure, a 30' treated timber L-4 tower was added in 1938. Both were removed in 1953 but rusty nails and old pilings from the first building, and cement anchors from the 2nd building are still on the summit. Or so I read, the summit was under a fair amount of snow when I was up there!
The trail starts across from the Klipchuck Campground and there is a large parking area, Discovery pass required. You will head up through a meadow with the aid of a few switchbacks. In 2003, there was a fire, so at the top of the meadows you will enter the burn zone. While the trail was on my map on my unit (Switchbacks.com), I can not tell you it's condition. At this point I hit consistant snow 2-4 ft deep. I did not get started until later in the day so that snow was nice and soft. However it did make it easy since I did not have to worry about following a trail, I just went my own way through the burn zone toward the butte which is visible at this point. To reach the summit, I chose to go up the snowfield to the right of the butte while the official trail goes up the left shoulder. This is a great trail because it is accessible early in the season and you can reach a 6000 ft summit with awesome views.
The cache is an ammo can about 400 ft away from the summit at the base of an old gnarly tree. I placed it here rather than at the summit because it is the only place that was melted out. The cache is located at the base of the tree covered by rocks and branches, please make sure you recover it well. You will find a large pile of rocks at the summit, I didn't think to check for a summit log.
Please note, to reach this cache, you will be hiking up a trail to 6000 ft. If you do this in snow, you will need to be comfortable with route finding and as always, be prepared and carry gear. I like to carry enough (including an emergancy bivy) so that if need be I could spend the night. You carry what you like but be aware that you are responsible for you own safety. I saw no other people yesterday, it is entirely possible you will be alone on that butte.