Nestled between Tiger Mountain and Rattlesnake Mountain, with their mobs of users, Taylor Mountain offers a serene road hike (or bike) leading to a broad peaceful summit sans radio towers, fences, and concrete. Taylor mountain is an easy two-pointer with a few good views along the way. The route I took provided a net elevation gain of about 1,200 feet plus an additional 400 feet along the route over an 8 mile round trip.
As hikers, we've often considered hiking up Guye Peak, mainly due to it's prominance and close proximity to I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass. It has an appealing pyramidal shape when viewed from eastbound and westbound on I-90. The are 2 main routes; an eastern and western approach. I chose the less technical western approach, using the access path adjacent to the very popular Snow Lakes Trailhead in the Alpental ski area.
Cowan Lookout is an abandoned fire lookout site that sits at 1,955' on top of a ridge that, at the other end, hosts an antenna site. Locally, the place is known as "Radar Hill." It is located in the hills that overlook the town of Naselle, WA, and the Naselle Valley, due west of the intersection of U.S. 101 and WA 4. You can drive to within a short distance of the activation zone, but the final 100' of ascent is a bushwhack.
For those with 6 meter and up SSB capability, activating on June 13 and 14 could have an extra fun factor – the ARRL June VHF Contest. There will be bunches of folks delighted to work you on 50.125 and 144.200 MHz SSB, other bands too if you have the gear. There is a bit of activity on 2 meter FM; but use of 146.52 isn’t allowed so look for folks on 146.55 or 146.58. VHF contests are a great time to activate a summit where you don’t want to carry or deploy up an HF antenna.
Having made my QSOs at Pine, scrambled down the summit, and headed back over the observatory and down the south access road - 4x4 only and not for the faint of heart. Once on the valley floor, took NS-2310 south toward East Butte and China Hat, swinging back to pick up NS-1849 and circle up toward the summit. The easiest route to China Hat is to take China Hat Rd NS-18 from south of Bend, but I was on the wrong side of the basin for that. Parked the truck and hoofed it the last mile as the manzanita was encroaching on the double track pretty tightly.
Inspired, I guess, by yesterday's peformance by American Pharoah, I had intended to attempt a trifecta of 6 point peaks this day - Pine Mountain W7O/CE-058, China Hat W7O/CE-053, and Paulina Peak W7O/CE-009.
A dual Activation weekend trip with my friend Tim Nair, KG7EJT, and Dexter the SOTA Dog. This report covers mountain number 2, Three Brothers West, activated on Sunday May 31, 2015. The weather was very nice, company great and success on both peaks made for a memorable, if strenuous outing. The Greater Teanaway River Basin and surrounding mountains offer more than 15 SOTA Summits, and are a favorite of area of Tim and me.
As two of the newer folks to join the roles of North America SOTA activators, we are announcing a challenge to all you Chasers out there. We have titled this challenge the "2015 Idaho Kool-Aid Kids Chaser Challenge" after K6DGW's description of us in the May 2015 SOTA News -- "...We had a number of first activations in April, commensurate with a number of people introducing themselves on the NA SOTA Yahoo group. Mark, KT5WX; James, K7MK; and Scott, K7ZO successfully drank the SOTA Kool-Aid."
A dual Activation weekend trip with my friend Tim Nair, KG7EJT, and Dexter the SOTA Dog. This report covers mountain number 1, Navaho Peak, activated on Saturday May 30, 2015. The weather was very nice, company great and success on both peaks made for a memorable, if strenuous outing. The Greater Teanaway River Basin and surrounding mountains offer more than 15 SOTA Summits, and are a favorite of area of Tim and me.