I set out from my home in Los Angeles to activate three buttes in the Antelope Valley area. Lovejoy was the first of the day. Of course, I can never get out of the house at a reasonable time so I arrived around noon to my starting point on 145th Street East. It was hotter than I expected but I have a large golf umbrella for days like this, and it proved absolutely critical for both the hike and activation. You can make out a faint use trail up to the summit from the road, and accessing that trail requires navigating various moto trails, deep soft sand, and piles of dumped construction materials. Closer to the top is a faint use trail which goes to the summit. Worked 2M, 40M, 30M CW with a S2S on each band. Worked 20M CW with zero contacts which surprised me. The hike was under two miles but I drank two liters of water. Back at the car I had a snack and more water before heading over to the next butte.
The road up to Butler Peak was closed for several years due to a washout, however, repairs were made and the road opened July 4th. I drove my low clearance commuter car from Rim Of The World to Forest Road 2N13, and parked near the gate up to Butler. Hiking up to the summit was enjoyable and offered views not normally seen in the San Gabriel mountain range. Once at the top, the fire lookout volunteer invited me up to the tower for a tour and mentioned I was the only hiker of the day and that everyone else arrived via off-road vehicle. After the tour I climbed around on the rocks just below the tower in search for a place to setup the radio. There isn’t much usable room but I found a place I could put my endfed wire between two rocks. Since I brought my Yaesu 817 I decided to start on 70cm CW, which got me one contact. Moving to 2M FM only got me an additional contact. Moving to HF afforded me the contacts needed to get points. I made it down the mountain and back to the paved road right when it was starting to get dark. Perfect timing!
Reyes Peak is one I’ve wanted to activate since starting SOTA in 2019, but hadn’t because it’s a pretty far drive from the our home. On a hot July day my wife and I wanted to get out of the house, so we decided to jump in the car and go for a long drive out to the summit trailhead. Getting there took longer than expected due to slow winding roads. Shortly after starting off on the trailhead, the path splits. Go straight there, up a steep embankment. If you make a left turn to will end up at Haddock Mountain. At the summit is a rock formation you can scramble up. You can find evidence of an old fire lookout tower here. I signed the register and setup my HF antenna; worked 40M, 30M, and 20M. No contacts on 30. After getting back to the car we headed over to Rainbow Falls, then eventually over to Ojai for dinner and a beer.
This trip was my first time up Sandstone, but my second attempt. My previous trip to the trail head was met with treacherous winds which kept me from putting efforts into reaching the summit. The hike is typical of those in the Santa Monica Mountains; hot, dry and no shade whatsoever. I brought my hiking umbrella which made things much easier. After about 1.5 miles you will reach the summit and find a plaque honoring Herbert Allen. There I took quite a bit of time to cool down, listening on 2M for any activity. Made a few S2S QSOs. This summit doesn’t have much room to stretch out a long HF antenna, but I made it work by hiking out to a sketchy outcropping. I then realized I forgot the power cable to my HF radio! Doh! I packed up the antenna I just setup and hiked down the trail back to my car.
I left work a bit earlier than usual one day to for a night activation, my first since starting with SOTA. Temescal Peak is kinda close to my office so I wouldn’t need to suffer through SoCal traffic so much. I pulled up to an area which looked okay to leave the car, collected my equipment and started to hike up a paved drainage system, at which point I was welcomed by a sign to the Topanga State Park. A cool coastal breeze was welcome as I hiked along. I kept thinking how it would have been a nice on a mountain bike. At the top, I wasted no time to get the antenna setup. The summit is kinda small, so not much room for an EFHW, but that’s what I had so I made it work. Worked 40m, 30m and 20m CW in addition to 2m FM. Made 4 DX contacts on 20M in a row. Maybe I should do night activations more often? Hiking down, by flashlight started to die and I forgot spare cells. Luckily, the moon was bright which was enough to see where I was going. Next time I’m doing this one on a mountain bike.
I wanted to hike some new terrain, so I mapped out a route through the Cow horns, east of Big Pine. Leaving Los Angeles around 6am got me to Big Pine before noon, where I bought some drinks and ice for the cooler before heading over to Death Valley Road. There is no actual trail that I could find. I started hiking up a wash, which had various levels and looked as if it would be a waterfall in times of rain. This was too sketchy for me, so I tried to get as much elevation as possible instead by climbing out of the steep wash through loose soil. It was starting to get hot, but I brought a giant golf umbrella to provide shade and offer relief. After hiking for about 45 minutes I found the ridge line and headed straight to the summit. Once there I looked for a register, or a geo marker, but didn’t find anything. Worked 20,30, 40M CW. Wanting to activate the neighboring summit, I packed the station up and headed over……
Death Valley RoadHiking up dry waterfallsI gave up trying to follow this path and hiked straight to the leftUp the hill…..A nice Joshua tree with W6/IN-036 in the backgroundFirst view of the summitAt the top, zero shade
The route I took over to W6/IN-036 was steep, and at one point I was questioning myself why I do things like this. It was hot, the ground under me was loose and I was consistently slipping. There are several nice shady trees on the ridge which offered additional shade. These trees felt a bit out of place as the whole journey thus far had seemed to be a bit treeless. Once at the summit, I looked around for any markers, or even a register but found nothing. Feeling fatigued, I setup my station and spotted myself on APRS. At 00:00 I shut the station down and headed back to the car. Going down was also steep and I only slipped once. I’d like to come back to these summits on a cooler day, and maybe place a register, and hopefully find a less steep route.
Looking up at W6/IN-036Hiking in a washGoing up was much steeper than I expectedTrees along the ridge lineSummit is up thereStationHeading down the ridgeBack at the car, boots off, ice cold cantaloupe.
After waking up at camp in Big Pine, having a small breakfast and packing up all the camping gear, I headed back out to Death Valley Road to hike the summit of 8500, or Papoose Point, as I’ve seen it named elsewhere. It was quiet except for a few singing birds, and the air was mostly still, only disrupted by low flying F35 jets ripping through the canyons. I started hiking up the two track road, then eventually making a 90-ish degree turn straight up the mountain, over a ridge, down into a valley, then back up another ridge. This was unexpected and perhaps I could have found a different route. Once at the top, I found the summit register and signed it. There is enough room to stretch out a antenna. Not much natural shade at the actual summit, but there are trees just below to take refuge from the sun if needed. Worked 40m, 30m, and 20m CW. Two jets flying below the summit were so close I could almost see inside the cockpit, and so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. I’d love to take a ride in one! I took a different route hiking down which was steeper with more rocks, but more direct. Back at the car the temperature had really risen, so I was happy to turn on the A/C and cool down.
Looking back at the car belowI hate Mylar balloons Trek upThe summit is past the next ridgeTypical viewsThis guy has a great blogAD6VT and W6RTKI7ADVK6STR/ W6LORHiking down
This was my third time attempting to activate Frazier Mountain, but this time I found success. The first time I wanted to drive to the top, but my small commuter car with low profile tires was not the correct vehicle for the task. I returned 6 months later with a mountain bike, but deep snow stopped me a few miles up the road. This time, I drove the commuter car a mile or so up Frazier Mountain Road until it got too rocky, parked on the edge of the road and hiked the rest of the way, which was a bit further than I thought! At the top, I pulled out my HT and immediately heard N6JZT for a quick S2S. After, I used 23cm for one microwave QSO, which I believe was just over 100km, my furthest. I then worked 40m, 30m, and 20m CW for additional contacts. I wanted to activate a few other summits in the area, so I packed everything down and headed down to the car.
Not a great ideaWe can’t have nice things. 🙁A sign!Another sign!Typical viewsWater! There were several deer hanging out here on my way down. I felt bad for disturbing them.SignRF EquipmentThe old fire lookout tower
This was the last summit of four I activated on a solo camping trip in Lone Pine, and my third climb of the day. At this point, the temperature was quite warm, and the wind was starting to get a bit unruly. I parked the car right off Movie Road and started hiking up to the summit. Once there I used the EFHW, which was tough to wrangle in the wind. The golf umbrella I used for shade was useless in these conditions. Worked 20,30, 40M CW and got back down to the car as quickly as I could.
This was my first summit in a series of four while solo camping in Lone Pine. I had just drove up from Los Angeles, found a place to camp, setup my tent, relaxed a bit, then headed over to W6/IN-046, also known as “Rattlesnake Hill”. There was no apparent trail to the summit, so I parked my car in a small clearing and just headed up the mountain, watching out for rattle snakes on my way. Once the steep part was out of the way I picked up what looked like a use-trail and followed it up the the geographical summit. Used a vertical and worked 20M. One contact on 2M with a local who told me to watch out for snakes. When heading down, I picked up on a much better trail. I’ll take this way up next time.
