Kel and I woke up later than expected at our camp down on the dry lake bed. We quickly jumped in the truck and navigated several dirt roads to 4097. I used tracks from Bob Burd as a starting point, although, looking at the topo maps, coming from the south might have been a bit easier but longer. The way we took was mostly class 2, with a few class 3 sketchy parts.
We started north of the watershed, but if you do this, you need to be on the south side. Kel found a snail shell here (see photo below). I assumed this was an ancient fossil from the various dry lakes in the area, but it turns out there are a few species that live out there, specifically in drainage basins/ watersheds on the sides of mountains – just like the area we hiked through. I’m assuming the example she found is a Victorville shoulderband, not the endangered Mojave shoulderband. Pretty neat!
Near the top I started walking towards what I thought was the high point; This ended up being Spear which is 5M below the actual summit of 4097. At the top of the real summit, Kel and I found and signed the register. Not too many people come up here. The wind was cool and breezy. I tried to get some friends on 2M back at camp, but instead got a station from Phelan which was unexpected. I stretched out a 40M EFHW and started working CW, then switched to 20M. No S2S on this one.
I started this hike with low batteries on my GPS watch, so unfortunately I don’t have a track of the whole trip. The way down was basically the same as the way up, except we didn’t hike back down through the watershed. I’d probably go up this way if I visit again; it’s a bit sketcher but shorter.
By the way, if you’re out here It’s worth checking out petrogliphs here –> 35.13493379323206, -117.09191126180501. This is very close to where we parked and started hiking. There are more of these in the area – if you know where to look. 🙂
https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-272
Total climbing: 1135 ft
Date:11/10/2025 | Summit:W6/ND-272 (4097)
| Time | Callsign | Band | Mode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:25 | KG6USS | 144MHz | FM | S59 R59 |
| 17:46 | NT6E | 7MHz | CW | S599 R55N |
| 17:48 | K1LB | 7MHz | CW | S57N R57N |
| 17:49 | W6LOR | 7MHz | CW | S57N R55N |
| 17:50 | N7AMA | 7MHz | CW | S55N R55N |
| 17:51 | K6STR | 7MHz | CW | S57N R57N |
| 17:52 | WA7JTM | 7MHz | CW | S55N R53N |
| 17:53 | K6TUY | 7MHz | CW | S56N R57N |
| 17:54 | K7XU | 7MHz | CW | S57N R55N |
| 17:59 | WW7D | 14MHz | CW | S57N R57N |
| 18:00 | K7SO | 14MHz | CW | S57N R55N |
| 18:01 | NU7A | 14MHz | CW | S52N R55N |
| 18:03 | NX7K | 14MHz | CW | S44N R57N |
| 18:04 | KE7F | 14MHz | CW | S55N R55N |
| 18:05 | K7ULM | 14MHz | CW | S55N R57N |
| 18:06 | KE7ICU | 14MHz | CW | S55N R55N |
| 18:07 | N6PKT | 14MHz | CW | S57N R55N |
| 18:08 | K6HPX | 14MHz | CW | S57N R54N |
| 18:10 | KF6HI | 14MHz | CW | S42N R42N |
| 18:10 | AC7P | 14MHz | CW | S52N R44N |
