W6/CT-048 – Ontario Peak

Ontario Peak was my 100th activation in the logbook, but really only my 97th or 98th activation as I’ve stayed on a couple summits past 00:00z a few times and worked chasers a second time so they could get double points. All that being said, I wanted my 100th activation to be a long hike, in addition, I wanted to hike to a summit I’ve never been to. Ontario Peak fit that description, and having hiked Ice House Canyon twice before I knew what I was getting into. Originally I was only going to bring an HT for UHF/ VHF to save weight, but at the last moment the FT817 kit found it’s way into my pack, however, I omitted the antenna mast and Bioenno battery and just brought some twine to support my vertical antenna from a tree, and some AA batteries to run the rig.

The hike up is somewhat popular, and about 6 miles to the summit with a bunch of elevation gain. Once at the top I was surprised to find how small the actual summit is. I ate a burrito and relaxed a bit before calling CQ on my HT. This immediately got me 4 contacts, 1 S2S. Feeling pretty exhausted from the hike up, I wasn’t feeling motivated to set up the HF station. Good trees to support a wire are all kinda off the edge of ridge and likely outside of the activation zone. Since I hauled the equipment up there, I figured I would just lay the vertical over the chaparral and see what happened. I sent a spot on 20m CW and to my surprise, made several contacts. Moving to 30m, the AA batteries in my radio were acting up and the rig shutdown several times while calling CQ, so I gave up. While packing up the rig, I heard 3 S2S stations on 2m. Whoooohoo! After working the S2S stations, I finished packing up for the 6 mile hike back to the trailhead.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-048

Total distance: 12.78 mi
Max elevation: 8717 ft
Total climbing: 6111 ft
Total time: 07:26:16
Download file: Ontario.gpx

Date:05/11/2021 | Summit:W6/CT-048 (Ontario Peak)

TimeCallsignBandModeNotes
20:23KN6CQX144MHzFMS55 R59 S2S W6/CT-086
20:39K6LDQ144MHzFMS59 R59
20:41WA6WV144MHzFMS59 R59
20:41KI6SLA144MHzFMS59 R59
21:05K7EA14MHzCWS599 R599
21:06WB6POT14MHzCWS599 R599
21:07W0MNA14MHzCWS559 R559
21:08W0ERI14MHzCWS55N R55N
21:09K6PB14MHzCWS55N R55N
21:17K6QCB10MHzCWS55N R599
21:34K6STR144MHzFMS55 R52 S2S W6/CT-240
21:35W6LOR144MHzFMS55 R52 S2S W6/CT-240
21:42KN6CQX144MHzFMS55 R57 S2S W6/CT-013
Fall colors!
Icehouse Canyon
Past the saddle, on the way to Ontario Peak
Lots of dead trees near the summit
First view of the top!
Made it to the top!
One last photo of the summit on the way down.