This peak is north east of Beatty, NV. I left Death Valley National Park after a day of driving around and headed to the ghost town of Rhyolite. Not much there as the name suggests. After checking out the ruins I went to buy gas in town and look up nearby SOTA opportunities. Burton Mountain was close and previously activated so, I knew it was accessible. I got as close to the summit as I could and parked where the two track road disappeared in the desert. From there I hustled up to the top. This was going to be a quick activation as I was running out of daylight. I don’t have a light and I don’t like hiking down hills in the dark. At the top there is a rock cairn and summit register. I quickly setup a Yaesu 817 with 10M EFHW and got to work. Made 8 QSOs in around 10 minutes, half of those being Japan DX. I relaxed for about 5 minutes and watched the sun disappear below the western mountain range, then started my descent. I got back to the truck just before it got dark and returned to Beatty, where I booked a cheap hotel room that advertised a hot tub. After checking in and navigating to the pool area, I found the hot tub was broken. Bummer.

https://sotl.as/summits/W7N/NS-217

Date:09/11/2024 |  Summit:W7N/NS-217 (Burton Mountain) 

I made a trip out to Death Valley to activate some peaks in November. One the way there wanted to swing through the town of Darwin and look around as I’ve been curious about this place since watching a short documentary years ago. Near the town is Darwin Benchmark. Turn off Olancha Dawrin Road on a two track trail and follow it as far as you feel comfortable. The hike to the summit was pretty short, kinda steep, maybe half a mile. At the top was a rock cairn and summit register. I setup the antenna for 10M and got to work, having about 10 minutes before UTC. This only got me two contacts before 00:00. I then setup on 15M which got me another 5 QSOs after UTC. With the summit activated twice I started heading down. It was getting dark and I wanted to get off the mountain and two track trail before it got completely dark. Once on the paved road, it was completely dark, and I wasn’t sure where I was spending the night. Instead of heading to Darwin to look around, I went to the national park to find a place to camp. I’ll need to visit Darwin another day.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-126

Date:07/11/2024 |  Summit:W6/ND-126 (Darwin Benchmark)

Date:08/11/2024 |  Summit:W6/ND-126 (Darwin Benchmark)

This was the first summit climbed on a trip out to Tonopah, NV with Kel. I was planning on climbing more hills in the immediate area but things don’t always go as planned. This was a a 1st activation of the summit in addition to being my 300th total, so kinda special for me. There is no trail. We parked the car off a decent 2-track desert road and started hiking up. The photos lie, it was pretty steep in some parts. At the top was a rock cairn which I used as a mast support. A register was hidden within. Worked 20, 30, and 40M CW. On the way down I met a rattle snake who I apparently got too close to. Even though I could clearly hear the snake, I never actually saw it even though I looked for a good minute.

https://sotl.as/summits/W7N/EM-112

Date:04/10/2024 |  Summit:W7N/EM-112 (Douglas Benchmark) 

This summit is just outside the town of Manhattan, NV. I was last in Manhattan 8 years prior on a motorcycle trip and was surprised to find a functioning bar full of customers, including a 90 year old guy who told stories about motorcycling through Mexico in the 1950’s. I was excited to return to this fine establishment, but it was unfortunately closed.

We continued down Main Street until it turned into East Manhattan Road. From there, a right turn on an old mining trail, heading into the hills. There is no trail to the top of Salisbury, so it was a bushwhack up and across a ridge. Once there I could see rain heading my direction. I quickly setup the station and worked 20M, and 40M. It started sprinkling so I packed everything up and quickly headed down the way I came.

On the way down I noticed some old steel buildings along the road the car was parked on. The rain had stopped, so we continued down the road to find an old mining operation. This site was pretty intact, complete with ore cart rails and a large air compressor. We found some interesting quartz in the mine unlike what you would find in California.

After exploring the mine, we continued east on East Manhattan Road, locating a small trickle of a spring alongside the road, then, continuing on to the town of Belmont. This town has loads of old buildings, including an impressive courthouse. We stopped at the saloon, Dirty Dick’s for a beer. This was a awkward experience because as we walked in, everyone got quiet. There was a long moment before my wife said, “Are we allowed to be here?”.

Sorry for the upside down video!

https://sotl.as/summits/W7N/NN-149

Date:04/10/2024 |  Summit:W7N/NN-149 (Salisbury Peak) 

Kel and I headed over to Booker Mountain after visiting nearby 7130 and discovering the activation zone of that summit is not really accessible. The top of Booker is an active RF installation and an easy drive up a dirt road from Tonopah, NV. I setup my station along a chain link fence at the high-point and noticed the hillside was littered with vacuum tubes. Worked 40, 30 and 20M CW with several S2S QSOs mixed in. On the way back down we hiked by an abandoned AT&T Long Lines Tower which was still mostly intact.

https://sotl.as/summits/W7N/NS-117

Date:05/10/2024 |  Summit:W7N/NS-117 (Booker Mountain) 

My pal organized a camping trip at Little Harbor on Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles. To get there, we took the ferry from San Pedro to Two Harbors, then hiked the Trans Catalina Trail to our reserved campground. The hike was a little over 6 miles one way, with the summit somewhere roughly in the middle. At the top, a single pavilion with a picnic table stands. I setup my KH1 here with an EFHW and worked 15, 17, and 20M CW. Bands felt kinda dead but ended up with 11 contacts. Made an 2 FM QSOs – one back to the mainland, and another to a guy on his boat on the east side of the island. I kinda assumed 2M would work better here? Once the activation was done I continued on to Little Harbor for the weekend. I never really liked Catalina because I’ve only ever been to Avalon, but this trip changed my views. I’m now looking forward to activation more summits on the island.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-281

Date:26/07/2024 |  Summit:W6/CT-281 (1236) 

I’m not sure why I didn’t activate Onyx Peak earlier. I’ve driven by it several times, and even activated W6/CT-041just to the west. This would be an easy summit to mountain bike. It’s a bit under 6 miles round trip, but less than 1000′ of elevation gain on a maintained fire road. Kel and I parked at the locked gate off CA 38 and hiked up Pipes Canyon Road to the summit, which hosts several large communication installations – including a few amateur repeaters. Once there I was able to check into the Coffee Talk net on a 2M repeater in Yucca Valley while setting up my MTR4B with an EFHW antenna. I then heard several other SOTA ops hiking up to San Gorgonio. No S2S with them though. Worked 40m, 30m, and 20m CW. Talked to another hiker who was interested in amateur radio and explained the SOTA program. We hiked down the way we came, but considered a cross-country route down to make it a loop. Overall, easy summit, easy hike.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-044

Date:24/08/2024 |  Summit:W6/CT-044 (Onyx Peak)