Access to this summit is pretty easy from the Bristle Cone Pine Visitors Center, either by taking the Discovery Trail, or by walking down White Mountain Road, then hiking up. See my .gpx file for more info on this. The assent is steep with loose rocks. Watch your step!
This summit starts at the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine visitor center parking lot. Take the trail to the Mexican Mines, which winds past some old cabins and mine shafts. Continue on the trail until a second set of collapsed mine audits. From here, just head straight up the hill a short distance to the summit. There, you will see another collapsed mine audit; this is where I setup my station. Worked 20, 40, 2, and 1.2GHz. Did a bit of rock hounding, then headed back to the car. This is pretty high elevation, and I was feeling the effects having just come from Los Angeles. No .gpx data for this summit, as I thought I would use a phone app instead of a hardware GPS. Phone app crashed. Doh!
Sunset Peak is rad. I started at Glendora Ridge Road across from Sunset Ridge Fire Road, and followed that up to the summit. At the top is a big chunk of sheet metal, I think from a lookout tower. I thought about ways to use this as a ground plane next time I’m there. Worked 20, 40, 2, and 1.2GHz. I got snowed on, in May, which was a nice surprise. The way down I was having so much fun, I went wayyyy past the turn off back to the car, but I eventually ran into GDR and cycled back on the road.
Edit December 5th, 2022. I was right about the big metal sheets on Sunset being from a old fire lookout tower. The info below was borrowed from firetower.org without any kind of permission.
Description
Sunset Peak replaced the former site on what is now known as Lookout Mountain, across the saddle to the north. Photographs appear to show it as an L-4 or BC-301 cab atop a 20 ft. steel tower. There was a small residence to the north and a cistern to the south. (The corrugated metal remains over what is believed to be the cistern.). Besides that all that remains are the footings for the tower and the foundation for the house.
Ron Kemnow’s site recounts stories of a 1928 lightning storm that destroyed the cabin, construction of the motorway in 1938 (eliminating the need of a pack train to bring supplies,) and a December 1938 fire which threatened the tower. Nonetheless, lookout Sherman Foster remained at his post. Both he and the tower survived.
The cab and tower were reportedly disassembled and transported to the Ontario Air Tanker Base in 1974 or 75. The final disposition of the structure is unknown.
I thought there was a road of some kind all the way to the top of this summit because of the fire lookout tower, but I was wrong! Because of this, I thought it would be a good bike ride. Park near Frenchman’s Flat Campground at the gate. You need a forest Adventure Pass displayed to park. Continue almost all the way down the paved road. You will see a small gate on the right, blocking a fire road – this goes to the summit. This road gets narrower and narrower the further you go up, ultimately ending up as a single track. At the top is a lookout tower which was built in 1969. This summit also offers nice views of Pyramid Lake. I setup my vertical and worked 20m, 40m, and 2m bands. About half way down the trail, I got a flat tire – but left my patch kit in my other bike bag – doh! Ended up walking most of the way back to the car. Overall, it was a fun day. Can’t wait to come back again!
At the gateOld road, no cars.At the gate to Slide MountainSingle track. I didn’t expect this.More single trackFirst view of Pyramid Lake, trail is very narrow here.First view of the tower.Made it! I’m never riding up here again.Station setup
This is a fun area to cycle; not too steep and the fire roads are in nice shape. Started out on 6N53 which is paved. Eventually you will come to a split in the road, where commercial towers sit. For W6/CT-263, stay to the right down the dirt road, 6N53b. Eventually you will find a Eagle Scout project/ picnic area on the right hand side, which is the trail down to the scout camp. Form here, you can sorta make out an old 2 track trail which goes up the hill. I pushed the bike up this part until it was flat/ hard enough to continue cycling. Using my GPS, I found the summit and setup my station. Worked 20M, and 40M, then 70cm SSB.
After all the chasers were gone, I decided to cycle over to W6/SC-076, Whitaker Peak. Go back to the transmission tower and take 6N53a all the way to another tower installation. From here, you need to sneak around the fence and traverse down the ridge over to the summit. Sadly, the tower site was extremely busy with workers, and I couldn’t get the bicycle past all their idling trucks. Additionally, there wasn’t anywhere to really hide my bike. Sadly, I turned around and went back to the car.
I’ve summited Whitaker Peak before, but didn’t activate it because my battery was dead when I got there. Doh! I did have a working pen and signed the summit log, which was pretty empty. Maybe I’ll actually get to activate it on my third attempt, which likely won’t involve a bicycle that I need to hide in the bush.
TrailheadBlocked roadHeading up, this part is paved.Eventually the pavement endsSummit in viewEnd of the hiking trail from the scout camp below. I thought about cycling down this trail…. No way!Trail to the summit on the left. Going right will also take you to the summit.Station setupI have no idea what this plant is, but there were several of them.A mount for some kinda measurement equipment? This wasn’t on the summit.
This was my second activation of Mt. Lawlor. The first time I didn’t take any photos/ video and I wish I had, because the summit and firebreak has been cleared. Tracks from a large machine can be seen at the top; I have no idea how they got it up there. Helicopter? You can get up to Lawlor several ways – I parked at Red Box Picnic area and hiked to the firebreak, then, straight up to the summit. You can bypass the insanely steep hike by going around to Strawberry Saddle and hiking the ridge up, which requires a bit of scrambling over rocks. Worked 20M, 40M SSB, and 2M AM (yes, AM). Brought a new (to me) HT which added 23cm to my quiver of bands. Tried to QSO with K6LDQ on 23cm – he could hear me, but I couldn’t hear him. Maybe next time!
A bit of snow on the trail.Freshly cleared firebreak to the summit.On the firebreak, tried to photograph the 45 degree incline.Bulldozed summitSummit is up and to the right.An old post at the summit where I setup my station.
This winter has been warm and dry, and the snowpack low. Bonuses are still on the table so I figured it would be a good time to get some extra points. Start at the Icehouse Canyon Trailhead, just off Mt. Baldy road. You will need a forest pass to park. I decided to hike the long way up via Chapman Trail, which adds another 2.5 miles and makes the hike a loop. At the summit I worked 20M, 40M, 70cm SSB, and 2M FM. I went on a weekday so there was little traffic trail. If you go on a weekend make sure to show up early to get a parking space, and be prepared for crowds, as this is a popular area to hike.
I was planing on activating Libre Mountain when I left my house in the morning, however, I got a bit lost and ended up on Bald Mountain instead! This summit would be considered a drive up, but the road to the top has deep potholes making it extremely risky to drive my tiny car all the way. I ended up parking at the bottom of Misty Ridge Drive and hiking the remainder of the way, which was very enjoyable. At the top you will be greeted with a tower site; half of the installation is decommissioned, so I set my station up next to the fence, furthest away form the active site. APRS was available here, so a packet containing my spot was sent. Worked 20M and 40M SSB, then got brave and sent a spot for 30M CW. One station came back to me but I couldn’t get one character in the call. Sadly, they gave up on me after I sent a ? for the third time. Too embarrassed to continue, I went QRT. Near the summit there is an old ranch – some old farming equipment, a rusty French car, and a small collapsing cabin. I wonder who, when, why the owner of this equipment abandoned it?
Parked SOTA mobile. The road on the left takes you to the top. One could drive all the way, but the road was deeply rutted and my car wouldn’t make it.Typical views. It’s hard to tell, but these holes are big enough to eat my car.First view of the towers on the summit.Middle of nowhere?Old cabin, this was filled with clothes.A French car in California below the summit.Simca Aronde Type AAA random roof from a car.. Someone must have made a DIY convertible back in the day.
Kel, Ebun, and myself camped out in the Mojave National Preserve in February to do some hiking. I’ve always wanted to climb Kelso Dunes, and as it turns out, it’s also a SOTA summit! These dunes are neat because there are several endemic species of insects. In addition, the sand makes a very low frequency booming sound when you walk over it. The trailhead is easy to find, three miles down a graded dirt road that intersects with Kelbaker Road. The first mile of trail is pretty flat, with increasing grade for the last half mile or so. At the top, I was able to sink my antenna mast directly into the sand, firmly securing if from wind gusts. I self spotted on APRS so the chasers could find me, made two S2S contacts on 40M, didn’t bother trying any UHF/ VHF.
(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)
This summit is a popular drive up, where you can earn 4 SOTA points for walking across a small field. I always figured I would activate this one again on some kinda field day with bulky QRO equipment, but cycling up 3n17 would be way more fun. Turns out, part of the way up is a popular mountain bike trail, called “The Beast“, where you climb up a fire road, then turn off onto a downhill single track back to the start. Hell yea! For this activation, I only brought an FM HT, two beers, water, and some snacks. Joining me was Ebun and Tim. The assent isn’t anything unusual – just a normal, steep, exposed fire road. About 5 miles up to the summit you will run into the single track that goes back down. Of course, we’re going all the way to the top, so another 3-ish miles further. At the summit I had no issues making contacts on 2M and 70cm FM. Excited to ride the single track down, I chugged one beer and headed to the single track. At this point I didn’t take any photos because it was way too much fun to stop. I can’t wait to do this again, and I’ll likely ride “The Beast” again soon.
“The Beast”Typical SoCal fire roadsLots of this…This is a gate blocks 3n17 from Whitney Canyon Park Start of “The Beast” single track downUnexpected pit toilet.Old pavement on 3n17Road up to the summit to the left, 3n17 to the rightTim can ride a bike with one foot.BenchmarkOne beer stop at a meadow
