2026 SoCal Winter SOTA Fest schedule –
1st –> (This one) https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-080-4633/
2nd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-013-east-ord-mountain/
3rd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-010-ord-mountain/

This was my first activation for SoCal Winter Field Day. I woke up early and wasted no time leaving Los Angeles to get to this first summit, but I did stop somewhere off Bear Valley Road for fuel and a breakfast burrito. Getting to the starting point was pretty easy. From Barstow Rd, turn east on Haynes Rd, then make a left on Huff Rd. That will run straight into Power Line Rd. Turn right and take it as close to the summit as you can. It gets kinda rocky the further you go. 4633 is in an area where people 4×4, so the earth is pretty torn up. Park where you can. There is also a popular rock climbing area known as “Hercules Finger”.

I followed a moto trail into the rocks for a bit before turning west up to the summit. This was a scramble, hopping over boulders and navigating around large rock formations. Once at the top, I setup 2M CW and heard Mark calling CQ from a summit; 599 both ways. I worked HF high bands and tore down after exhausting chasers. From the top, I could see East Ord. It was the closest summit to me, so I figured I would hike it next. Hiking down, I met two folks climbing Hercules Finger. They asked me if they could borrow a lighter to smoke a doobie. haha. I had a lighter in my truck I gave them to keep so they could continue to enjoy their day.

If you are a frequent visitor to this blog, you probably know I take a ~45 second video of summits and post them here. I forgot to take one, so I’m writing this instead.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-080

Date:16/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-080 (4633) 

2026 SoCal Winter SOTA Fest schedule –
1st –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-080-4633/
2nd –> (This one) https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-013-east-ord-mountain/
3rd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-010-ord-mountain/

This was my second hike of the day, and second hike for the SoCal Winter SOTA fest. On the drive out to East Ord, I wasn’t paying attention to my map so I ended up in the wrong place, which is listed on a map as Grand View Mine. This would be a nice place to camp, as KB9ENS mentioned in his trip report. I wanted to start my hike from the north so I back tracked and found my way to Guzzler, as it’s listed on the map. There is no trail, and the hike starts off pretty steep. There are rock formations which make route finding tricky; I needed to backtrack several times to find a safer route. Did I mention it is steep? My definition of steep is 1000 feet of gain in 1 mile. This was something like 1800 feet of gain in a bit over a mile. It took much longer than I thought to reach the summit. At the top there was a register going back to 1988. I signed it and setup the Yaesu 817 for 2M. Made some local S2S over CW, and a few more on FM. There was a bit more time before 00:00 zulu, so I quickly setup HF, 20M and worked that as fast I could.

Since I started later than I liked, and it took me longer to reach the summit than anticipated, I was worried about losing daylight. I packed up everything and started heading down. The steep terrain and impact was hurting my knees, but I needed to beat the sun so I pushed through. About half way down, my knees really started hurting; stabbing knife pain. My stride shortened and I took breaks. The sun disappeared behind the mountains as the temperature dropped quickly. Soon, it was pitch black and the flashlight was in the truck. I still needed to navigate a dry waterfall and a wash, which was done by phone light. Luckily I was only in the dark for about 20 minutes. Had I not accidentally gone to Grand View, my timing would have been perfect.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-013

Date:17/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-013 (East Ord Mountain) 

2026 SoCal Winter SOTA Fest schedule –
1st –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-080-4633/
2nd –> https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-013-east-ord-mountain/
3rd –> (This one) https://blog.benmook.com/w6-sd-010-ord-mountain/

This was my third summit for SoCal Winter SOTA Fest 2026. I woke up in the morning, headed down to the hotel restaurant, and ordered breakfast with coffee. My knees were feeling “okay” but I was worried about doing more summits after East Ord destroyed them. I figured I could try an “easy” summit today so I headed out to Stoddard Mountain, W6/SD-060. Once I got close to the bottom of Stoddard, I parked the truck, slathered on some sunscreen and started a slow ascent. My knees were hurting. About 1/4 mile up, I wanted to make sure I could actually get down without stabbing knife pains, so I walked back a bit, and my knees were screaming. There was no way I could get up and down any summit today, so I continued back to the truck with the plan of heading home to Los Angeles early.

Over 2M, I heard two local hams at the Slash X Cafe talking about how they were heading up to Ord Mountain. I interjected, introduced myself, and asked if I could joint them, and they agreed! I headed over to the Slash X to meet up with them, and after a quick chat we were on our way. (I’m leaving out all of details on who/ how we got up there) Once at the top I used a 2M HT and called CQ, which was quickly answered by others activating in the area. Two S2S. From there, I went on 2M CW with a yaesu 817 and got two more QSOs. I didn’t want my hosts to stand around waiting for me to work HF bands, so I signed QRT and packed up.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-010

Date:17/01/2026 |  Summit:W6/SD-010 (Ord Mountain) 

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

Date:11/10/2025 |  Summit:W6/ND-272 (4097) 

Lead mountain is a bit east of Barstow, CA. I first became aware of this mine form the Mineralogical society of Southern California when they hosted a field trip to the area. I didn’t make the trip, but I’ve been curious about visiting since. Additionally, I worked two SOTA stations from the summit above the mines for So.Cal Winter Field Day, so activating this would make it a complete. Getting there was pretty easy. I found a few interesting rocks while hiking up which appeared to host interesting minerals, but honestly I didn’t know what I was looking for. At the top I setup a 40M EFHW antenna and connected it to my MTR3bv2 and worked several stations on 40M and 20M. No DX or S2S unfortunately. Overall, this is an easy one to activate but it’s a bit far off road. I wouldn’t drive a sedan there. The total hike was less than a mile and 400′ of elevation gain.

“The Lead Mountain mine area is known for excellent baryte crystals and beautiful hemimorphite sprays. Micromineral enthusiast can find coronadite, plattnerite, and other lead and manganese minerals.”

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-497

Date:10/10/2025 |  Summit:W6/SD-497 (Lead Mountain) 

Kel and I spent the weekend in Morro Bay for her birthday where we enjoyed visiting various restaurants and bars, their downtown farmers market, a few beaches, and some fancy coffee spots. We made several return trips to the Grassy Bar Oyster Company, which raise and sell oysters right from Morro Bay. It’s a low brow kinda place and you can BYOB. I like it. There are a few SOTA summits in the area, we did two; First Valencia Peak, then Black Hill the following day, which is very easy and shouldn’t be missed if you’re in the area.

From Morro Bay, we drove north up to Los Osos, found our way to Pecho Valley Road, and eventually the trailhead for Valencia; a nice drive mostly along the coast. It was somewhat early in the morning so heavy fog was in the area. The trailhead was well marked, and the trail was very easy to follow. The hike is a bit over 2 miles one way with 1,200′ of elevation gain. At the top is picnic table with good views to the east. The west was covered in fog still.

There were several people on the summit enjoying their time, so I didn’t stretch out a long antenna, but instead used the KH1 with internal whip. Conditions felt poor but I managed to get 6 QSOs on 20M, one S2S out in W0C. We were above the fog layer and it was starting to get hot, so after activating, we headed back down to the car and headed to Los Osos for coffee and breakfast.

I forgot to take a video at the summit, but here is a short 10 second clip on the way down.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SC-353

Date:09/08/2025 |  Summit:W6/SC-353 (Valencia Peak)