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.

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

Date:03/06/2022 | Summit:W6/IN-014 (8500)

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.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CC-003

Date:07/07/2022 | Summit:W6/CC-003 (Frazier Mountain

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.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/IN-048

Date:08/04/2022 | Summit:W6/IN-048 (5213)

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.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/IN-045

Date:07/04/2022 | Summit:W6/IN-045 (5396)

Use-Trail

This was my second summit of four on a solo camping trip in Lone Pine.  After waking up at Portuguese Joe campground, I packed up my tent and made a quick breakfast before pointing my commuter car down movie road to the trailhead.  This was an easy drive in my small car.  One could take a 4×4 all the way to the top, but it gets kinda sketchy in a couple spots.  At the top I used an EFHW and worked through a pileup on 40M, then over to 30M.  One S2S up to San Francisco.  2.5 miles of hiking and a bit over 1K elevation.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SS-449

Date:08/04/2022 | Summit:W6/SS-449 (5200)

This was my third summit of four on a solo camping trip in Lone Pine.  The hike up was a relatively short cross country jaunt, less than a mile, but just under 1K elevation gain so kinda steep.  Up top I used a tri-band vertical; not much room for a end fed.  Worked 20,30,40M CW for about 30 minutes before packing down and heading to W6/IN-048

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SS-636

Date:08/04/2022 | Summit:W6/SS-636 (Alabama Hills)

I was in the area to attend the Experimental Music Festival in Wonder Valley and thought a SOTA activation would be a nice addition to my weekend plans.  Ryan Mountain is inside Joshua Tree National Park, and not too far from the north entrance, which, wasn’t too far from the music venue.  The hike is about 3 miles round trip, and a bit over 1,000′ in elevation gain, however the scorching February sun made it feel a bit longer.  At the top I found a place away from others and setup my vertical antenna with an MTR4B.  After a few questions on why I have a fishing pole in the desert, I started operating on 40M CW but didn’t get any QSOs., and only two on 30M.  When I moved to 20M, I ended up with a small pileup with one DX call from Japan.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CD-016

Date:02/04/2022 | Summit:W6/CD-016 (Ryan Mountain)

Temple Hill is another easy costal summit. This was my second activation of the day, having just come from Niguel Hill, W6/SC-371. I believe this summit is a reservoir tank, and the actual, real summit is the parking lot/ playground. It’s less than 10 minutes to hike up to the highpoint from the parking lot. Up top, I found a good spot to setup away from others, as the area was pretty busy. Worked 20M, 30M, and 40M. Two S2S.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SC-369

Date:24/02/2022 | Summit:W6/SC-369 (Temple Hill)

Niguel Hill is probably the easiest SOTA activation I’ve ever done. Grab some street parking on Talavera Drive, then walk on a flat path for 5 minutes to one of the picnic tables along the path. I setup my antenna and worked 20M, 30M, and 40M. The trail was pretty busy and I received a lot of weird looks, and several questions about my fishing pole. After an hour or so I packed up and headed over to Temple Hill, W6/SC-369.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SC-371

Date:24/02/2022 | Summit:W6/SC-371 (Niguel Hill)