My pal E.Bun had been taking about hiking Ice House Canyon for a few weeks. This is a pretty popular hiking destination in Southern California which I really knew nothing about, as I have only been in that part of the San Gabriels once, maybe 15 years ago. After some research, I thought to myself “Oh, there are SOTA summits up there? I’m in!”. It’s a longer hike than I normally enjoy, and since it’s popular, you need to be at the trailhead ridiculously early or risk missing out on a parking space. I only brought an HT, with the idea that I could do a UHF only activation. Since this is a popular summit, I didn’t want wires everywhere. I enjoyed the additional bonus of a lighter pack.

I was awake at 4:30AM, at the trailhead just before 6AM. The parking lot was filling up like an In-N-Out burger drive thru. Groups pf people were gathering at the bottom, ready to hike. We started on the trail just after 6AM just after first light. E.Bun was hiking fast, full steam ahead, and I needed to shed my jacket after about 15 minutes. Around about 4 miles of constant uphill, we reached Ice House Saddle. We found a nice spot away from everyone on a small hill in the sun to take a short break and figure out what we were going to do.

One large group split off and headed to Timber Mountain. “Not going there”. Another large group split off to Ontario Peak. “Not going there either”. The only option left was Cucamonga, which we didn’t see any large groups heading up so of we hiked! This trail was much less traveled than Ice House which made me feel a lot better. Additionally, it was much more scenic and a bit more technical. Eventually the trail turned to ice on the north side of the mountain – when the trail winds around to the south side, one could imagine it’s the middle of summer. A short trek through ‘deep’ snow and we made it to the summit.

We both took some time to relax and enjoy the views, eat lunch, and chat about the hike up. E.Bun went to meditate. I pulled out the HT, spotted myself on 446.000 via APRS and started calling CQ. I worked 15 stations on 70cm in about 30 minutes, which honestly surprised me. Satisfied with the contacts I made, and knowing there was a long hike down to the trailhead, we packed up and started heading down.

We made it back to the trailhead around 3:30. I are a burrito and drank half a quart of water at the car.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-006

Date:21/11/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-006 (Cucamonga Peak)

Mt. Emma had been on my radar for awhile, but the lower elevation and lack of shade pushed this down my list until cooler months arrived. My wife and I wanted to get out of the house, so this was a perfect spontaneous activity on a cool November day. Start on Mt. Emma road – there is a small parking area directly across from the trailhead, and a small sign lets you know you’re at the right place. At first the trail winds through chaparral up the first hill. After about 10 minutes of hiking, you will discover the trail was replaced with a recent fire break, most likely in response to the Bobcat Fire. Follow the fire break all the way up to the summit. It’s quite steep, my GPS reported a 15% ~ 30% grade. At the top, I found the summit marker, but no benchmark. Maybe it was destroyed by a land clearing machine? I also observed red fire retardant on the ground, the kind dropped form aircraft. Interestingly, it appeared that this was dropped before the land was cleared. I setup a long wire antenna into my Yaesu 817, self spotted via APRS. Made a few contacts on 20M, tried 17M with no luck, then moved to 40M and made several more with one summit to summit. I look forward to activating this again in a years time to see how the plants recover. Maybe I should plant a native tree up there?

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-029

Date:20/11/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-029 (Mount Emma)

Iron Mountain is one of those summits in Southern California which hasn’t been activated too many times, and for a good reason. It’s a long hike, or in my case, a long, hard bicycle ride. I started at Dillon Divide full of energy ready to tackle the summit around 11am, but quickly found this bike ride to be laborious, not because of the distance or the uphill grade, but because the road was covered in rocks ranging in size from a softball, to large marbles. Trying to put any kind of effort into the rear wheel resulted in a tire without traction. In the worst spots on the trail, the front wheel was bobbing around left and right, looking for traction as well! Needless to say, I had to push the bike up most of the way.

Fallen trees and rock slides along the way made this hike with a bike more difficult. After a few hours of climbing over fallen trees, through deep gravel – wanting to give up and turn around, I made it to the bottom of the summit. Of course, I didn’t do any research on how to actually get to the top so I spent some time looking at contour maps to find the least steep route. This turned out to be an old fire break, which was quite over grown and not really visible. At the top, the benchmark was easy to find. I signed the summit log, which was last signed in May.

Daylight was running out quickly, so I setup my station as fast as I could and made enough HF contacts to qualify the summit, switching over to VHF for additional contacts while breaking down the long wire antenna. As the sun started to dip below the horizon, I started the hike down to my bike, which I left near the road up. It was twilight, but the bike I was riding has a dynamo front wheel that generates light. Going downhill was somewhat easier than going up. You see, I’m riding a bike with somewhat skinny tires and brakes that don’t work well at all. This trip would have been better on a different bike! About a quarter of the way down, it was pitch black. Ten miles plus endless switchbacks and large rock dodging, in addition to severely cramped hands and not enough light required laser focused concentration, but I made it down safely, with all my gear – tired, beat up, cold and hungry. All in all, this was pretty tough and I can’t wait to do it again.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-024

Date:14/11/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-024 (Iron Mountain)

UPDATE! May 31st, 2021

Forest road 3N17 is open, so I decided to activate Iron Mountain again, but from from the other direction; Mount Gleason area. I drove my SOTA mobile about as far as I was comfortable, ending up just to the side of Lightning Point campground. You could drive another mile or so down the narrow dirt road until you reach a locked gate. From here, you hike down to the summit! I think this is a first for me. The trail is mostly exposed, so bring extra water.

I’ve been looking for more summits which are accessible by dual sport motorcycle, and the western edge of the Angeles National Forest seems to have a few from what I can gather via internet research. I just need to ride around the area and see how accessible they are. This summit is just off BPL Road, which I believe, is private. However, the roads are in the forest, which is open. It shouldn’t be an issue to use the land so off I went. Near the summit, I parked the moto off the side of the road and followed the ridge line up to the top. An inverted triangle post was used to hold a QRP Guys end fed tuner, with 41′ of wire stretched out to a collapsible fishing pole. I worked 20M, 40M, and 2M. One summit to summit contact on FM. There are a few more 2 and 4 point summits in the area, which I hope to activate soon.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-144

Date:23/10/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-144 (4460)

I’ve read that the road to Mt. Pacifico was closed to traffic, which made me want to cycle up to the top and enjoy the views with little interaction with others. This wasn’t the case. At the time of writing this, the road is open, all the way to the top, and the campground was occupied. Most traffic and the campers seemed to be hunting something, maybe birds? It’s not a very nice hike up the fire road, so if I’d known the road was open I probably would have ridden my DRZ dual sport motorcycle to the summit. (You can also hike the PCT to the summit, which I might do next time!) I made the trip with T. and E., my cycling pals. Of course, we got to the trailhead at the hottest time of the day. The fire road up doesn’t supply any shade, which made the ascent much harder in the blaring sun. After about 5 miles of climbing, you will see a sign directing you to the summit. This road offers some well needed shade, but not much. At the top, my standard HF station was setup at a picnic table. APRS packets were getting to an iGate for self spotting. In all, we spent two hours on the summit with contacts made on 10M, 20M, 40M and 2M. The thrilling ride down took a fraction of the time it took to get up. The downhill made cycling all the way up worth it!

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-015

Date:17/10/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-015 (Pacifico Mountain)

The weather in L.A. is hot, and I wanted to get on the air. I also didn’t feel like hiking in the heat, but wanted to activate a summit. Doesn’t seem like a good combination, but I had an idea for a hobby stack. Earlier in the week I spent some time pulling my dual-sport motorbike out of the weeds in the backyard, and evicting the various spiders from the motor. After a quick hose off, fluid check, and battery charge, the bike was highway ready after being neglected for so long.

I’ve been curious about summits along Hwy 14, as these appear to be drive ups, however, I don’t have a 4×4 to make it up there, but I do have a dual-sport motorcycle! I left my house and wizzed the 400cc motor for about 60 miles to the area of the summit. It was hard to find, and it took a few tries to get up there, which cost quite a bit of time. Some parts of this trail were quite steep and had me second guessing my skills on the bike, but I made it up without incident. At the summit, there is evidence of an old tower site, and a single tree which could offer a bit of shade. I started with 10M, moved to 20, then 40. Called out on 2M simplex and didn’t make any contacts there.

I attempted to activate another summit nearby, however, I was hungry, running low on water, and couldn’t easily find the trailhead so I headed home. Next time I activate a summit in this area I think I’ll load the bike in the van, then drive to a friends house in the canyons and start the ride there. Being on a small displacement bike, on the highway, in the hot sun, is quite taxing!

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-153

Date:27/08/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-153 (Parker Mountain)

This summit is very close to my cabin in Landers, and I’ve always wanted to hike it. Generally, I’m pretty worn out from working on the property to do anything like hiking though.

Goat Mountain was mined for gold as early as 1914. There are still places along the trail where you can see the mine shafts. The trail the top of the mountain is well defined, where I can only assume mule teams dragged carts of ore up and down. The hike up is relatively easy, however, it’s very rocky. The summit offers sweeping views of the surrounding desert. At the summit, I called out on 10M, and 2M without success. 20M and 40M was working well. Thanks for all the chasers!

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SD-183

Date:11/09/2020 | Summit:W6/SD-183 (Goat Mountain)

VHF only activation of two peaks in the Lake Arrowhead area. These are both drive ups, and easy to find on Google Maps. GPS will probably take you straight to the top. There was a heatwave in Los Angeles, so I didn’t feel super enthusiastic about going on a hike, but I wanted to get out of the house and on the air. The first summit of the day was Strawberry peak (not to be confused with the other Strawberry Peak!). This peak is covered in RF equipment, with little room to property setup a HF antenna. My Yaesu 817 was full noise in the 2 meter band, with the squelch al the way closed, which made making contacts interesting. I quickly made the required contacts (plus a few more) and headed over to Keller Peak. This summit is also covered in RF equipment and a fire lookout tower. There isn’t much room on the summit, but I ended up finding a spot under the tower, and behind a large rock in an attempt to block RF. Contacts came easily, and I was wrapping up after about 10 minutes at the top. Overall, beautiful area, and a nice summer drive.

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

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/CT-086

Date:20/08/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-086 (Strawberry Peak)

Date:20/08/2020 | Summit:W6/CT-013 (Keller Peak)