I camped at Stovepipe Wells for the night after driving in the dark from an earlier activation in Darwin, CA. I don’t recommend camping here. It’s a large RV lot near a gas station. There was LTE internet which was nice since I didn’t really plan my trip all that well. Had I known the vibe at Stovepipe, I would have much preferred to camp elsewhere, but it was too dark and the landscape is too vast to change plans. Anyways, at the first light of morning, I left camp and headed out to Skidoo to summit 6140. The trek out there is far and washboard dirt roads will fatigue you. From Skidoo road, I turned at 36.43317,-117.13375 and headed up a two track road to the summit, stopping at a large clearing right below the peak. I made some hot tea and walked the remainder of the elevation. I should have camped here! Maybe next time. Worked 10M and 15M CW with some good DX. After a successful activation I headed down to look for the old stamp mill and mine I saw in photographs, but never found it. You could spend all day out here looking around, but I hoped to activate another peak before the short November day was over.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-114

Date:08/11/2024 |  Summit:W6/ND-114 (6140)

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
16:14	ND0C	28MHz	CW	S599 R55N
16:15	F4WBN	28MHz	CW	S57N R599
16:16	N4MJ	28MHz	CW	S58N R57N
16:17	W4GO	28MHz	CW	S57N R41N
16:18	WK2S	28MHz	CW	S56N R55N
16:20	W2WC	28MHz	CW	S55N R55N
16:21	WB8BHN	28MHz	CW	S51N R52N
16:23	G3VXJ	28MHz	CW	S55N R53N
16:25	S57S	28MHz	CW	S57N R51N
16:26	G8LJG	28MHz	CW	S55N R22N
16:28	W4JKC	28MHz	CW	S57N R55N
16:29	W5WMQ	28MHz	CW	S53N R44N
16:47	EA7GV	21MHz	CW	S55N R33N
16:49	AC7P	21MHz	CW	S57N R55N
16:50	NU7A	21MHz	CW	S57N R55N
16:52	GI4OSF	21MHz	CW	S51N R44N QSB
16:53	KC1NDQ	21MHz	CW	S55N R51N

This is a pretty easy summit to bag, I’m kinda surprised nobody activated it before. From daylight pass road, turn off onto a dirt road at 36.75049,-116.9366. You could probably start the hike from here. I went a bit down the road and found an area to park that was out of the way, and started my hike from there. I didn’t find a register or any benchmarks at the top. Worked 10m, and 17m CW. On the way down I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t follow the track I took on the way up. This lead me to hike the ridge line almost all the way back to the paved road, and from there backtracked to the truck. It made a nice loop which I enjoyed.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-250

Download file: 4403.gpx

Date:09/11/2024 |  Summit:W6/ND-250 (4403) 

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
20:01	N0TA	28MHz	CW	S58N R599
20:06	K9WO	28MHz	CW	S56N R44N
20:08	W4GO	28MHz	CW	S56N R52N
20:08	KF6SH	28MHz	CW	S52N R52N
20:10	AA4AI	28MHz	CW	S57N R33N
20:23	N0DNF	18MHz	CW	S57N R44N
20:24	F4WBN	18MHz	CW	S55N R5NN
20:25	K7SO	18MHz	CW	S57N R57N
20:26	WB8BHN	18MHz	CW	S57N R42N
20:28	WW7D	18MHz	CW	S55N R56N
20:28	WU7H	18MHz	CW	S53N R54N
20:30	KK2B	18MHz	CW	S31N R22N
20:31	WB7ULD	18MHz	CW	S45N R51N
20:32	NU7A	18MHz	CW	S56N R53N
20:33	N0DET	18MHz	CW	S53N R54N
20:34	AK5SD	18MHz	CW	S55N R52N
20:35	AC7P	18MHz	CW	S55N R55N

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

Download file: Burton.gpx

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

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
00:27	WB8BHN	28MHz	CW	S57N R51N
00:29	WD4CFN	28MHz	CW	S58N R57N
00:30	W4JKC	28MHz	CW	S58N R56N
00:30	JH1MXV	28MHz	CW	S58N R53N
00:31	W4GO	28MHz	CW	S58N R51N
00:32	JG0AW	28MHz	CW	S55N R55N
00:33	JJ1IZY	28MHz	CW	S33N R53N
00:36	7N1FRE	28MHz	CW	S57N R42N

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

Download file: Darwin.gpx

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

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
23:52	KT0GVX	28MHz	CW	S57N R55N
23:55	WB8BHN	28MHz	CW	S58N R51N

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

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
00:07	ZL1TMC	21MHz	CW	S51N R52N
00:07	WW7D	21MHz	CW	S58N R55N
00:08	NU7A	21MHz	CW	S55N R53N
00:09	WU7H	21MHz	CW	S57N R55N
00:24	W4JKC	21MHz	CW	S57N R55N