This was a pretty easy hike, I wouldn’t do it in the middle of summer as there is little shade on the fire road going up. The top is used as a hang glider port; there is a picnic table and a bench to setup radios on which is nice. Summit to summit QSO with KR7RK in Arizona on 40M.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-170

Date:06/03/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-170 (Kagel Mountain)

Up until this summit I may have been logging my QSOs wrong. After 00:00 UTC, the activation starts over and chasers can claim additional points with another QSO.

Mount Lukens is the highest point in the city of Los Angeles. I started the bike ride up at Grizzly Flats trailhead off Hwy 2. At the fork in the fire road, stay left. (Going right brings you to Hoyt Mountain). The fire road narrows, eventually turning into a single track. This leads up to the main road up to the summit.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-030

(Update 05-09-2022 – a server migration, plugin and php update revealed the timestamps on this .gpx file are broken. I’ve added fake times so this page renders correctly)

Date:27/Feb/2020 Summit:W6/CT-030 (Mount Lukens) 

Date:28/Feb/2020 Summit:W6/CT-030 (Mount Lukens) 

UPDATE! First activation of 2021, 2nd activation of Lukens – Biked up Lukens the same way as I had done last year, via Grizzly Flats. This is a super fun ride. Kel, eBun, and Tim rode up with me for this quick activation. I foolishly didn’t bring my HT, so I couldn’t self spot. No cellphone service. There was also high wind, so I just worked 2M FM as I didn’t want to struggle with the HF antenna. RF is extremely high on the summit, which causes the radio to struggle.

Date:09/01/2021 | Summit:W6/CT-030 (Mount Lukens)

Edit – December 5th, 2022. There was a fire lookout tower on Lukens, the info below was taken from firetower.org without permission of any kind.

http://firetower.org/lookouts/us/ca/mount-lukens-lookout-site/

Description

The original Mount Lukens structure was built in 1922 and burned in a wildfire in late 1933. The structure was replaced in some time after that with a California Region 5 Plan 4AR on a 10 foot open timber tower.

Reports suggest the lookout structure was dismantled and moved to Josephine Peak in 1935. San Rafael Lookout opened in 1934 and covered much of the same area. Photos of the Josephine Peak Lookout suggest a new structure was built there and the Mount Lukens structure was not used.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-163

Date:28/Feb/2020 Summit:W6/CT-163 (Yerba Buena Ridge)

Deep snow made hiking up difficult. I took a different way down which was much easier. I now know what show shoes are for. Tracks below is round trip; I got a tip on what could be a better way up. Made my first SOTA contact on 6M. Met SOTA Hal in person at the end of my activation.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-014

Date:24/Jan/2020 Summit:W6/CT-014 (Kratka Ridge)

I hiked up to Strawberry Peak on a Saturday with some friends. Turns out that this is a very popular hike among Los Angeles denizens. I would do this again, on a weekday as the summit was crowded with noisy folks at one point. I made several contacts on 2M, including two summit to summit contacts. 20M seemed dead (spotted over APRS). I tried 40M, got nothing but later found out my spot didn’t make it out.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-018

Date:11/Jan/2020 Summit:W6/CT-018 (Strawberry Peak)