W6/CT-025 – Josephine Peak

Another day off work means another SOTA activation. I had Josephine Peak on my radar because there is a fire road all the way to the top, which means I could ride a bike up to the summit. I made it a bit over a mile up the road before I needed to stop and walk. After that it was intermittent riding/ pushing. There are several switchbacks which make the grade a bit easier, but these obviously add quite a bit of distance to the route – something I didn’t think about when starting this activation. At the top of the summit there is evidence of a fire lookout tower, and a small shelter for radio equipment. I made a surprising amount of contacts on 2M given it was a Tuesday; 20M and 40M felt quiet but I still managed a few contacts on each. It got cold and dark quickly, so I tore the station down and headed to my car which was parked on highway 2. The downhill ride was fast; I was on both brakes hard the entire way to maintain a reasonable speed. Overall, this was a fun activation.

2020 activation report here.

https://summits.sota.org.uk/summit/W6/CT-025

(Update 05-09-2022 – a server migration, plugin and php update revealed the timestamps on this .gpx file are broken. I’ve added fake times so this page renders correctly)

Total distance: 4.05 mi
Max elevation: 5555 ft
Total climbing: 2056 ft
Total time: 00:12:02
Download file: Josephine.gpx

Date:10/Dec/2019 Summit:W6/CT-025 (Josephine Peak) 

TimeCallBandModeNotes
22:40zKM6CJK433MHzFM 
22:53zKJ6MCO144MHzFM 
22:55zAD6JK144MHzFM 
22:56zKD6UTC144MHzFM 
22:57zAI6ZV144MHzFM 
22:58zKM6RKK144MHzFM 
22:59zK6LDQ144MHzFM 
23:02zKG6MDH144MHzFM 
23:05zKN6EIE144MHzFM 
23:07zKI6NAZ144MHzFM 
23:11zKM6TNT144MHzFM 
23:19zZL2IFB14MHzSSB 
23:20zW0MA14MHzSSB 
23:21zW0ERI14MHzSSB 
23:35zWU7H7MHzSSB 
23:39zNW7E7MHzSSB 

Trails leading up to the top
Looking up at the summit
Small shelter and some microwave equipment
Strawberry Peak and Mount Lawlor from the summit
My ride up to the top

Edit – December 5th, 2022. Description and photos of the lookout tower from firetower.org, used without permission.

http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/josephine-peak-lookout-site/

Description

Josephine Peak Lookout was constructed in 1935, a California Region 5 Plan BC-301 on a short, open timber tower.

Some stories suggest the structure was moved from Mount Lukens but the photos of that lookout suggest an earlier design, Plan 4AR.

The lookout was burned in the 1975 Big Tujunga Fire and not replaced.

W6/CT-019 – San Gabriel Peak

https://summits.sota.org.uk/summit/W6/CT-019

Date:10/Dec/2019 Summit:W6/CT-019 (San Gabriel Peak) 

TimeCallBandModeNotes
00:06zWD6FOE144MHzFM
00:08zKI6NAZ144MHzFM
00:10zKR6RG144MHzFMSan Diego/ TJ border
00:12zKM6AVH144MHzFM
00:13zWC6Q144MHzFM
00:16zK6BNN144MHzFM
00:17zKB0J144MHzFM
00:18zWB2WIK144MHzFM
00:26zKI6NAZ7MHzSSB
00:27zNG6R7MHzSSB
00:28zN7MQ7MHzSSB
00:29zK8TE7MHzSSB

Total distance: 1.63 mi
Max elevation: 6176 ft
Total climbing: 1239 ft
Total time: 00:42:43
Download file: San Gabriel Peak - W6:CT-019.GPX

Edit – December 5th, 2022. A few photos and some info from firetower.org below, used without permission. When up on the summit, you can easily find metal beams used in the X-brace tower.

http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/san-gabriel-peak-lookout-site/

Description

San Gabriel Peak Lookout was a California Region 5 Plan 4A cabin on a 10 foot X-Brace open steel tower constructed as early as 1922 and may have later been replaced by a BC-301 design.

Beefore and after

The cabin on Burke was full of killer bees which made it risky to clean up the property. I contacted the High Desert Bee Keeping Society asking if anyone wanted to take the mean bees, but they informed me Landers bees were extremely aggressive, and they should be exterminated. At first, I thought it would be easy enough to buy a $30 Amazon prime bee suit and spray the hives down with bug spray, and call it a day. Kel wouldn’t let me do that so we called a local pest control company. After the first treatment, the bees seemed more pissed off than before. A second treatment didn’t take them out either. Finally, after the third visit, the pest control company said they just need to remove the hive (something I wanted to do to save money) because there were still pissed off bees everywhere. I happily obliged. The pest control company ripped out the wall from the inside of the cabin and the hive was bigger than I imagined! Photos below.

After the hives were pulled out from the wall.