The Road to Mountain Goat: A Retrospective

I've been working on making Mountain Goat since 2013, having only accomplished that achievement last month.  Many things occurred in that time, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan (N0PCL QRT during that time), re-learning CW, many antennas used and broken, many miles hiked, summits gained, and hours on the radio.

So, this happened.

So, having harvested the data on the SOTAData web site, my own logbook, and my own recollections, here's a bit of a look back.

Total QSOs:  1396
Total Points:  1005
Total Unique Summits where a QSO was made:  99
Total Summits (Includes summits visited more than once): 154
Total Failed Activations without a single QSO:  2 (White Mountain Peak, W6/CD-001.  Great hike, though, and Half Dome, W6/SN-040.  Half Dome was also an amazing hike.)
Total Summits with 1-4 QSOs (enough to activate, but not enough for points):  4

Screen-capture of my SOTA Goat App on my iPhone, showing most of the peaks I've activated.  A couple of the peaks have been de-listed for various reasons, so it's not a complete list.

A view of most of the summits in the Southern California area, from SOTA Goat.

View of the string of activated peaks along the Eastern Seaboard.  From SOTA Goat.

QSOs By Mode:

CW QSOs:  903 (65%)
FM QSOs:  183 (13%)
SSB QSOs:  310 (22%)

Learning point:  I started SOTA with SSB and CW, but my radio skill exponentially improved once I gave CW a go.  After MG was achieved, it made up basically 2/3rd of my total QSOs.  It also tends to be much more efficient at QRP power levels, and is generally much more unobtrusive on busy summits (you can sit there with a notepad, a key, and earbuds quietly hamming away without making noise or drawing attention to yourself).  It's also lots of fun.

Incidentally my longest-distance contact while activating a summit was from Middle Peak (W6/SC-024) in Southern California.  I had a CW contact with OH9XX on 12 meters using CW.  OH9XX was in Finland, 5583 miles away.  My power output:  2.5 watts.  Miles per milliwatt of power: 2.2.

So, from Southern California, I made contact with a man in Finland, by burning long-wave photons off of a piece of metal, bouncing those photons off the a section of the atmosphere that was ionized by the sun's ultraviolet light.  Those photons excited electrons on another piece of metal in Finland, where those electrons were amplified and converted to sound waves sufficient for two-way communications--using as much power as required to power a flashlight.

Amazing.

My shortest QSO was probably with WA6NVL, on Dictionary Hill (W6/SC-366).  He heard me on his HT, climbed up the hill I was on, and met me.  It was probably a contact that was less than a quarter mile.  It was on 2 Meter FM.

QSOs By Band:

80 Meters:  2 (<1%)
40 Meters:  177 (13%)
30 Meters:  136 (10%)
20 Meters:  621 (44%)
17 Meters:  100 (7%)
15 Meters:  44 (3%)
12 Meters:  101 (7%)
10 Meters:  30 (2%)
6 Meters:  3 (<1%)
2 Meters:  165 (12%)
1.25 Meters (222 MHz):  5 (<1%)
70 centimeters:  12 (<1%)

I've had the fortune of making activation contacts on every band from 80 Meters through 70 centimeters, except 60 meters.  My SOTA transcievers, an FT-817ND and a VX-8DR, both from Yaesu, allow exceptional frequency agility, which I have found useful.  The only reasons I haven't made contacts on other bands is because I don't have a radio that will support that (on frequencies above 450 MHz), or I don't have an antenna that allows it (on 60 and 160 meters).  I'll see about rectifying that in the future.

I was surprised at the amount of time I gave to WARC bands (30, 17, and 12 meters).  I actually made more contacts on each of those bands than 80, 15, and 10 meters combined!  This was, in part, likely due to the 12 Meter Challenge, which was popular some time ago in the SOTA world.  I also really, really like 30 an 17 meters, too, since those bands have many similar characteristics to the neighboring 20 and 40 meter bands, but they're never plagued with contest activity.  The WARCs seem a bit more gentlemanly.

All of my SOTA activations on VHF and up were FM or SSB.  All QSOs on 2 meters and up were via FM.

I'm becoming more and more interested in VHF and UHF operation, particularly weak signal and satellite work.  In the future, don't be surprised to see me try to activate some summits on those higher frequencies.

QSOs by Countries/DXCC Entities:

96.7% of all QSOs were with other stations in the continental United States.  1.93% were with Canadian stations.  The remainder were countries spread out in 11 other DXCC entities.

From Southern California, I managed to reach Canadian, German, and Finnish stations.  The rest of the DXCC entities were contacted from mountains along East Coast of the US.

Activators:

Phil, NS7P, Gary, W0MNA, and his XYL, Martha, W0ERI, were my top chasers.

Associations:

Here's a list of the associations and regions I've activated in:

890 QSOs (64%) were from the W6 association.  421 QSOs (30%) were from W4V.  6% were spread among K0M, W0C, W1, W3, W7A, W7W, and W9.

543 (54%) of my points were from W6.  394 (39%) were from W4V.  The rest, 68 points (7%) were from the other associations.

Personal Notes:

• Favorite QSO:  Mentioned above, with OH9XX.
• Favorite Hikes:  There are many.  My favorites are, in no particular order:  Mt. Badon-Powell (W6/CT-004), Alabama Hills (W6/SS-442), Robertson Mountain (W4V/SH-011), Rocky Mount (W4V/HB-035), San Gorgonio (W6/CT-001 & W6/CT-243), San Antonio (W6/CT-003), Thomas Mountain (W6/CT-016), Cahuilla Mountain (W6/CT-103), Knob Mountain (W4V/SH-017), and Pilot Knob (W6/SD-435).
• Least Favorite Hike:  Pt. 6020 (W6/SD-017).  This peak was a bushwhack through thorns and scrub.  It was barely doable.
• Easiest Hike:  Probably La Cumbre Peak (W6/SC-086), but there are others that are incredibly easy.
• Most Challenging Hike:  Pallett Benchmark (W6/CT-058), or maybe San Gorgonio (mentioned above).
• Most points earned in a weekend:  48.  From 18-20 April 2014, I activated Onyx Peak (W6/CT-044), Keller Peak (W6/CT-013), Delamar Mountain (W6/CT-050), Bertha Peak (W6/CT-054), Mount Williamson (W6/CT-011), and Pallett Benchmark (W6/CT-058).

My wisdom learned from the whole thing:

• Persevere.  Don't Give Up.  Mountain Goat is one of the most challenging amateur radio activities in existence.  It's very physical, demands, high levels of operator skill, is technically challenging, and can be frustrating.  Just keep improving.
• Analyze your failures, and be objective about them.  Need to improve your hiking shape, or learn CW, or find alternative methods of spotting?  Do it.
• Have fun.  It's immensely satisfying.

N0PCL and the XYL, on the summit of Alabama Hills, with Mount Whitney, in the background.

SOTA Activation of Lamb's Knoll (W3/WE-007)

Last April 10th I activated my first SOTA Peak in Maryland.  This is a belated activation report from that day.

Why Lamb's Knoll?  Well, it wasn't too far from my home QTH (less than a few hours' drive), and it's outside of Shenandoah National Park.  I don't mind Shenandoah National Park, but, frankly, my wife and I greatly miss the peaks in California.  California had wide-open spaces, and numerous mountain ranges to choose from, and generally a different attitude in the inhabitants than is here in the D.C. area.  On the eastern seaboard, things are a bit different.  The peaks are much lower, and almost all of them are connected by the Appalachian Trail, which, when you hike in spring and summer, feels like a long, buggy, spider-webby green tube that you hike through.  There aren't the same vistas, nor is there the elevation gain.  The A.T. is well-traveled by humans, so you don't even get the solitude.  It's a bit of a downer, but it's what we have until we're able to move back out west.  I've already activated a good number of Shenandoah Peaks, but now I want to get out a bit further from home.  That basically means I head northwest to the Appalachians in Maryland or Pennsylvania, or head southwest to other Appalachian peaks in Virginia or North Carolina.

(Just so you know, I've gotten more than 50% of the way to Mountain Goat status by activating peaks in California, so I maintain my SOTA membership as part of the W6 association, not he W4V--the Virginia SOTA association.)

We set out early that Sunday morning to activate this summit, which is really a bump of South Mountain, a long ridgeline which forms the northernmost terminus of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Our plan was to pick up the Appalachian Train at Gathland State Park, and hike north a few miles to the peak.  Overall, it was an easy hike, although the trail is fairly rocky in places so be careful not to roll and ankle!  Only the first bit of the hike up the A.T. from Gathland State Park was particularly steep. 

We saw a few people out, but I think that many of the hikers stayed inside owing to the cool temperatures as measured by the Jeep, parked at Gathland State Park:

Chilly.  36 Degrees F.  But it was sunny and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

The A.T. was rocky on this hike.

Near the use trail from the A.T. to the Lamb's Knoll summit, there is a single rock outropping with a halfway decent view.  My lovely bride and I snapped a selfie.  (Yes.  I said it.  Selfie.)

The summit is not particularly scenic...there are many trees that obscure any possibility of a view, and the summit also has a few buildings on it that are surrounded by fences.

Nearby the summit where I activated there was a very closely guarded government facility.  The facility had literally dozens of security cameras covering virtually every possible angle, an oddly-large parking lot--far more expansive than necessary to provide parking for any of the visible buildings, and an absolutely massive log periodic array, likely used for HF.  Of note, in my short time at the site I saw the antenna rotate, so clearly there is some sort of government-operated radio activity occurring there (collecting SIGINT or MASINT, perhaps?)

Here's a Google Earth view of the summit.  My activation location is on the southern edge of the southern-most cluster of buildings.  The other access-restricted government facility is north of my location.  Notice the massive parking lot.

Here's a Google Earth image of the MASSIVE log periodic array.  I saw it change azimuth, so somebody was doing something with it.  The boom of the antenna was actually an aluminum truss--it was a very large antenna.

Back to the SOTA activation:  I recall that conditions weren't particularly good.  I was content to get the required four contacts and then move on.  AT&T cell coverage was plentiful, so I self-spotted.  Here's my log:

Note the gap in time between talking to W0MNA (Gary) and W9MRH.  Conditions weren't very good.  I also attempted CW but didn't make any CW contacts.  Got 'er dun, though!

My QTH on Lamb's Knoll.  By the way, I really like my Thermarest Z-Seat.  I know it's just foam, but it's very comfortable.

We hiked back the same way we came.  Here are view's of my APRS-laid breadcrumbs from APRS.fi:

The packets from the first portion of my hike apparently weren't picked up my an iGate.

Here's the view of the contour lines.

I'll speak a bit now about what's in the area around South Mountain.  During the Civil War the area was critical to the Battle of Antietam.  Gathland State Park was the location of a particularly bloody duel between Confederate Artillery batteries and infantry companies, which held the pass, and infantry regiments from New Jersey.  The New Jersey troops took the pass at great cost, earning a tactical victory, but the Confederates succeeded in their strategic aim of delaying the Union advance.  The State Park itself is the former estate of an American journalist, and it is also the site of the War Correspondent's Memorial.  If you're in the area, the park is worth visiting.

Here's the War Correspondent's Memorial.

Burkittsville is nearby, which has the dubious distinction of having the fictional Blair Witch fictionally inhabit the area around the actual town in an fictional documentary which was an actual movie.  The town is small but historic.  If you approach Gathland State Park from the east, you will travel through the town.

The area around South Mountain today is home to some cottage industries, including the production of apples, hard ciders, and meads.  (We sampled both the cider and the mead after hiking.  It was delicious!)  There is a also an excellent potter who lives just down the west side from the pass where Gathland State Park is.  After returning to the Jeep, my wife and I visited the potter and she bought a lovely coffee mug there.

It was a good day.  A nice brisk hike, some radio fun, pottery shopping, some mead and cider...it was all great.

73!

NPOTA Activation: Prince William Forest Park - DZ08

Greetings, all.

About a month ago the XYL and I headed up the I-95 corridor a few miles to Prince William Forest Park to do get away from the suburban life at my home QTH, to camp out a night in the woods, and to knock out a National Parks On The Air (NPOTA) activation.

Prince William Forest Park is a National Park Service-ran facility of 19,000 acres and the largest park in the DC metro area.  It abuts Marine Corps Base Quantico, and lies right on the geologic border of the Piedmont and Tidewater regions of Virginia.  There is a marker in the park denoting one of the geographic boundaries--that marker location is not particularly scenic, but it is interesting.

XYL hiking through Prince William Forest Park.

My wife and I are immensely thankful for this piece of land because it's basically the only relatively unmolested natural land near us, and we spend a good amount of time hiking around there.  She goes to the park several times per week, and I go there every week or two.

The park has a unique history.  It was originally homestead land for several farms.  There are several family cemeteries on the park grounds, and there is also a military cemetery on the grounds containing graves from soldiers who served in the Civil War through more modern times.  The Civilian Conservation Corps managed the lands during the Great Depression.  In World War II, the park's lands were used by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the forerunner of the modern CIA.  The OSS used the park for training spies and radio operators from 1942-1945.

Today the park has numerous trails and a few options for camping.  It is full of trees, ferns, streams, and swamps, and is really representative of the mid-Atlantic states' eastern seaboard.  It's not beautiful like Yosemite or Death Valley or other similar parks.  But we're still very glad to have it so nearby.

We went to the park on the afternoon of 16 April, a Saturday.  We took a campsite, and then decided to do a hike for a few hours.  After returning, we lit the camp fire and I started to operate a bit.  I used by basic SOTA setup:  The FT-817ND, the LDG Z-817 autotuner, my Palm Mini Paddles, a homemade version of the EARCHI wire antenna, and the mic.  I also brought my Yaesu VX-8DR HT.  I brought a 7 Amp-Hour gel cell battery pack to power everything.  I also brought my MFJ QRP SWR meter for no reason whatsoever.  My QTH was the picnic table, and the wire was slung into a tree.

N0PCL at the PWF QTH.  The detritus of camping surrounds me.  The HT is quiet, but the 817ND is doing fine work.

The VX-8 was basically useless.  I attempted to get some APRS packets out to the world so that I could be seen on APRS.fi, but no luck was to be had.  It was just a remote area, and, frankly, APRS coverage is spotty in my area as it is.  (I'm thinking about addressing that myself as a project, but that's for another day).

N0PCL copying CW.

N0PCL doing fun things with radios.

The 817 did fine.  I did manage to self-spot using my iPhone to the spotting network, so that assisted with getting contacts.  The first night I managed to get four contacts.  But I was hungry, so I decided to pack up and make dinner with my lovely XYL. After dinner we enjoyed the campfire and retired to the tent for a good night's sleep.

The next morning (but still the same "UTC day") I finished up the activation.  I needed six more contacts.  So I fired up the 817 again and got the necessary contacts.

Screen capture of my electronic logbook.

Overall it was a good activation.  I'm continually surprised at how well portable & QRP ham radio can do.  But sometimes it's really a challenge, too.  It took a good bit of time to get the necessary 10 NPOTA Chasers to make this activation count.  Meanwhile the XYL headed out to do a solo hike.  I then gladly packed up the site and our adventure came to a close.

Thanks, Chasers!
73.

Activation Report for Mt. Baden-Powell (W6/CT-004) and Table Mountain (W6/CT-067)

With my work-related trip in California continuing, every weekend brings another opportunity to activate another SOTA peak or two.  This weekend has been no exception.  So, yesterday I activated Mt. Baden-Powell (W6/CT-004) and Table Mountain (W6/CT-067), both located in the Angeles National Forest.

A side note:  Hwy 2, the Angeles Crest Highway, has been closed for some time between Vincent Gap and Islip Saddle due to a rock slide.  I had previously climbed Baden-Powell and Throop Peak from Dawson Saddle, a point which is no longer reachable by automobile.  So this time I made the climb up Baden-Powell from Vincent Gap, an 8-mile round trip hike with about 2800' of elevation gain and loss.  The peak reaches an elevation of about 9,400' above mean sea level.  Wikipedia article is here.

Additionally, both hikes require either a National Forest Adventure Pass or an Interagency Pass to park a vehicle.  APRS coverage and AT&T 3G data coverage were plentiful at both summits.

Sign at Vincent Gap.

The weather couldn't have been more beautiful:  Mid-50s, very light winds, and sunny.  The Vincent Gap hike is also a lovely approach, with a 41 switchbacks and a very steady 700' per mile gradient.  The trail is actually the PCT for most of the hike, and it is very well-marked.

There were sections of the hike which contained small amounts of snow and a bit of ice, but as long as you're careful, there's no reason to slip.

The snow started to appear at about switchback #13 of 41.  I counted the switchbacks as I climbed.  One of the things I really like about the Angeles National Forest is the lack of underbrush.  I think this is due to the acidity of the soil.

The trail is on the north-facing slope, and it's well-shaded providing a cool climbing environment.  Though the switchbacks seemed tedious, they are helpful, as the pitch of the north slope is pretty steep.

View looking west at switchback #25.  It's steep.

After switchback #38 you reach a section that's pretty flat.  The destination is the hill straight ahead.  The PCT splits off just ahead and continues down to the right.

There were few other hikers out.  I saw perhaps a dozen other climbers.

Mt. Baden-Powell is, of course, named for Lieutenant General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM GCMG GCVO KCB.  Or you can just call him Lord Baden-Powell.  He was a Lieutenant General in the British Army, a writer, and founder of the Scout Movement.

At the summit you will find an obelisk dedicated to Baden-Powell and a USGS survey marker.

View looking north.  I would have hated to be the mule that carried all that concrete up the mountain.

One of the plaques on the obelisk.

Another plaque.

Another another plaque.

Another another another plaque.

Not another plaque.  This is the survey marker.  My XYL loves to find these.

I signed the register and, in the register, I dedicated this SOTA activation to the victims of the recent violence perpetrated by Daesh in Paris.  I know it won't help to aleviate the suffering, nor will it rid the world of Daesh, but hell, every one of the victims deserves a bit of a remembrance.  And Daesh delenda est.

I found an area with some trees on the summit and set up for SOTA work.  The bands weren't in great shape, nor were they awful.  They were just fine.  The A index was a touch high at 14.  K index was 2.

My setup just before deploying my antenna.  My homemade UNUN is in the black box to the immediate left of the FT-817ND.  PB sandwich at the ready, too.

It was a good activation.  I used several HF bands, using both SSB and CW.  I then switched over to 50.2 MHz SSB and made a contact (almost two, actually.  KK6QMS tried to make it work.  I could hear him, but he couldn't hear me.)  I then switched to 223.5 MHz and 446.0 MHz and made contacts on each of those bands too.  It's fun to use some of the lesser-used real estate in our allocations.

My SOTA logbook from the Baden-Powell activation.

After packing up I contemplated heading to Throop Peak (W6/CT-005), but given the amount of daylight left, I decided against that.  Instead I headed back down to Vincent Gap.

After reaching Vincent Gap I headed back toward the town of Wrightwood, outside which is the Table Mountain camping and ski area.  Table Mountain (W6/CT-067) is essentially a drive-up peak, but government installation precludes making the final approach by any means except by foot.

The sign which keeps SOTA activators honest.

The road to the summit.

It was about 1600 local time, which meant that it was actually 0000z, when I started operating.  Indeed, a new day had dawned!

My operating position at Table Mountain.

This time I put out extra radials and slung my wire as vertically as possible into a tree.  I was trying to make the antenna as good as possible to increase the likelihood that I would be able to get it to load up on 80 or 75 meters.

The sun was setting and there was a definite chill in the air.  I put on a fleece cap and started to operate.

I managed to get the antenna to work on 75 meter SSB, but 80 meters proved to be too much for my little tuner to handle.

Thanks, NG6R.

I then packed up and drove back to the hotel.

Overall it was a great day.  I earned another 16 activation points, experienced a great deal of beautiful California scenery, and put some miles under my feet.  I also made some contacts on some unusual bands, which is always a bit of a joy.

I appreciate all the help, chasers.  73.  And Vive la France!

Activation of Thomas Mountain (W6/CT-016) and Failed Activation of Lookout Mountain (W6/CT-104)

This past Veterans Day I took the occasion to try to activate some peaks.  Of all the efforts, the only one that panned out was Thomas Mountain (W6/CT-016).

Here's the story.

Left the hotel in Carlsbad in the morning and drove to Thomas Mountain.  This peak can be done as largely a drive-up, or it can be climbed via the Ramona Trail.  I drove up due to time constraints.

Getting there is easy.  Get to the intersection of highway 74 and Forest Route 5S13.  You'll see a nice sign directing you toward Thomas Mountain.  Follow the signs to a dirt road, and follow it up.  I've driven the road in my jeep in years past, and it was obviously just fine.  This time I drove it with a rental car, and it did OK, but it required a some careful driving to ensure that the bottom of the vehicle didn't make contact with the ground in some rougher stretches of road.

Once you get to Thomas Mountain Campground, you should notice a dirt road heading up and to the left.  This road leads to additional camp sites and the summit.  I recommend parking you car here and hiking up in order to make the activation legal (as the final approach to the summit must be on foot).

It was a bit chilly at the top, perhaps 40 degrees Fahrenheit with a stiff wind from the north.  After taking a quick survey of the summit for a location to set up and to sling my wire antenna, I got to operating.  I found a large boulder near the summit which provided some shelter from the wind.  I unpacked by backpack and started operating.

My operating position near the boulder in the midst of setting up.  It was much colder than it looks here.

Ice had formed on the pine trees on the summit, but it was warm enough and windy enough that these icicles would fall every so often.  So watch your head.  Also, one of the things I love about California peaks is how blue the sky can be.

It was a good day for SOTA, although was told over by other stations that propagation conditions were poor.  They weren't poor to me!  10 Meters hasn't been good in a long time but I still managed to make a couple contacts there.

Thomas Mountain Logbook.  21 QSOs in 70 minutes.

As usual, I also attempted to make contacts on 6 meters, 1.25 meters, and 70 centimeters.  And as usual, no takers there.  It's always worth a shot, though, and I like to use some of the lesser-used real estate on the band plan.

Thomas Mountain really is a beautiful area.  The crisp smells, the trees, and the views all mix to make just a lovely spot on the earth.  I think it could actually make a really interesting Field Day site, too.

View looking North.  The mountain range in the distance is the San Jacinto range.  Mt. San Jacinto and Tahquitz Peak are two 8-pointers there.

View looking south.  This was the view that I was looking at as I was operating.  The peak in the foreground is Cahuilla Mountain.  The Palomar range is behind it.

More about Thomas Mountain:  It's named for one of the 49ers.  More here.  Also:  APRS coverage is plentiful, as is AT&T 3G data services.  A National Forest Adventure Pass or an Interagency Pass is required to park a vehicle on Thomas Mountain.  The camp site at the summit is great too, with a fire pit, ample space for parking a vehicle, and plenty of room for tents.

After operating I packed up and headed back to the car for the drive toward Lookout Mountain (W6/CT-104).

I used the traditional Lookout Mountain approach, which is via the PCT.  Simply park the car at the intersection of the PCT and highway 74, and start hiking south until you reach the first ridgeline.  Turn east, and climb up.  There is a well-defined trail, but it can be brushy at time.  Anyways, following the trail, you now come across this sign:

As a German once said:  Scheisse!

So, it appears that Lookout Mountain is now off-limits per SOTA rules, unless you somehow get permission from the land owner.  Needless to say, I didn't notice KD7WPJ's warning on the SOTA page for Lookout Mountain.

It was still a very good activation day, and a great way to spend a Veterans day.  As a veteran myself, it's great to be able to experience such a beautiful country--a country that's worth fighting for.

73.

Double Activation Report: Pt 5764 (W6/SD-026) and Middle Peak (W6/SC-024)

I'll be spending a large amount of November and December in Southern California doing work-related things.  I'd be a fool if I didn't use these work trips as an opportunity to activate a few mountains in SoCal!  So, on 7 November (last Saturday), I activated a couple peaks.

First on the list:  Point 5764 (W6/SD-026), an unnamed hill along Sunrise Highway in the Cleveland National Forest on the way to the Laguna Meadows.

I had never activated this peak before, but a few others have.  A Google Map study revealed that there was a nearby parking area (the Pioneer Mail parking area) which would be ideal.  Oleh, KD7WPJ's, report said that there was no trail to the summit, though.  Gary, ex-KK6GXD (now K6YOA)'s report indicated likewise.  But a very close look at the highest-resolution imagery seemed to indicate a slight trail along the spine of the ridge which forms 5764.

Sign by the parking area.

Cross the Sunrise Highway from the parking area to the Pine Mountain Trail.

Sign marking the Pine Mountain trail.  Watch out for mountain bikers!

My strategy to hike 5764 would therefore be to basically follow KD7WPJ's instructions, but instead of hiking directly to the top, I would hike to the spine of the ridge and then follow the crest of the ridge up.  That's precisely what I did.

Once I hit the spine of the ridge, I noticed a well-worn path leading to the summit, making access much easier.  Later, I would follow this path down.

The summit is marked by an engineer stake pounded into the ground.

The summit.  This view is looking generally East.  You can see Sunrise Highway snaking along in the background.

The views from the summit were actually much grander than I expected.  To the north you could easily make out Santa Rosa, the San Gabriel, the San Jacinto, and San Bernardino mountain ranges.  To the northwest you could see the Palomar Range with its astronomical optical telescopes.  To the immediate west you could see the Cuyamaca Range (North Peak, Middle Peak, Cuyamaca Peak, and Stonewall Peak).  You could also see the environs of San Diego and the Pacific Ocean.  To the south lies several lower peaks (Viejas among them).  And to the east you could see mountains of the Lagunas (Laguna Mountain, Sheephead, etc.)  To the northeast lies the Salton Sea, Whale Peak, and Granite Peak, and the town of Borrego Springs within radio line-of-sight.

View looking West.  The highest peak in the distance is Cuyamaca Peak (W6/CC-014).  The two summits to the right of Cuyamaca are Stonewall Peak (W6/SC-029) and Middle Peak (W6/SC-024).

View looking generally North.  Numerous mountains can be seen, especially the Santa Rosa range.

View looking South.

View looking East.  Notice Sunrise Highway and the Pioneer Mail parking area.  The Pacific Crest Trail can also be seen leading from the parking area to the left (north).

It was a bit windy on the summit, with temperatures in the 40s, so I hunkered down an an area a bit south of the actual summit that was sheltered from the wind.  I bungee-corded my crappie pole to the engineer stake and slung my EARCHI wire antenna as a sloping wire toward my operating position, and I proceeded to make contacts starting on 20 meters SSB, and then shifting to CW on 20 and 40 meters.  Later, I broke out my HT and made contacts on 2 meters FM.  I also tried to make contacts on 223.5 MHz and 446.0 FM, but not takes, as is usual in this area.  I had one summit-to-summit contact with Peter, WA7JTM, who was activating another unnamed peak in Arizona.

Bungee-corded fishing pole atop the engineer stake.  Antenna is an end-fed wire leading from the pole to my operating position.

The radio.  Somehow when I'm using it, there doesn't seem to be so many wires.

Overall, it was a good activation.  27 total QSOs in under an hour, pretty good for a SOTA activation.

My SOTA log from Pt. 5764 (W6/SD-026).

Ok...for the hike down:  I simply followed the trail along the spine of the ridge south.  This trail intersected the Pine Mountain trail, which is a charted, maintained, and groomed trail.  I built a cairn at the intersection to mark the intersection for follow-on SOTA activators.  I turned left at the intersection and followed the Pine Mountain trail back to Sunrise Highway and the parking area.

Use trail leading from the groomed Pine Mountain Trail up to Pt. 5764.  Notice the small cairn I built to mark the trail.

I highly recommend taking the route described here.  It's much less brushy and navigation is much easier.  The extra distance covered is negligible, too.

Beware of mountain bikers on the Pine Mountain trail.  Two of them came upon me at high speed from behind.  I was lucky to have stepped out of the way in time.  They apologized and continued on their way.  One things about people in California:  Everyone is always in a great mood and very friendly!


After having completed the hike, I did some additional research on Peak 5764.  A previous hiker had evidently summitted the peak while carrying a Garmin using the route I described.  The route is shown here.  Peakbagger.com profile for the peak is here.

Additional notes:  Peak 5764 has plentiful AT&T 3G access, SMS access, and APRS digipeater coverage.  Parking at Pioneer Mail parking area requires a National Forest Adventure Pass or Interagency Pass.  This peak has a summer seasonal bonus for being a desert peak, but given its elevation, I think it would be an easy bonus to get if you were to hike it in the summer.

After activating 5764 I decided to head to Middle Peak (W6/SC-024), the peak to the immediate north of Cuyamaca Peak.  It was perhaps a 15 minute drive to the Middle Peak trail head.  I won't belabor writing a description of Middle Peak or explain its navigation since it's basically a hike up a dirt fire road and is well-described here.  I will say that the peak's vegetation was destroyed in a fire back in 2003, and consequently it's dominated by burned-out timbers and very thick thorny bushes.  These bushes have grown a good deal in the last couple of years.  The final 200 vertical feet of the ascent requires bushwhacking through this nasty stuff.

Well, I bushwhacked.  And bushwhacked some more.  While there is a reforestation effort on Middle Peak, and some efforts to try to hold back the brush, the thorn bushes at the summit proved too thick to climb through.  I got to withing 45 vertical feet of the summit though, and that's in the activation cone.  Satisfied with my effort, and also satisfied that I had activated this peak from the summit in years past, I decided to set up my station on a rock on the western side of the mountain.

The road near the summit of Middle Peak.  That wall next to the road is thick thorny bushes, easily 7' tall.  Nasty stuff.

One of the trees planted as part of the reforestation effort.

My operating position.  What a mess.  But it worked!

This activation also went well.  I activated on 30, 20, 12, 10, and 2 meters, mostly CW.  I completed about 29 QSOs, with one summit-to-summit QSO.  I also attempted to make contacts on 223.5 and 446.0 FM, with no takers.  (You might think it's futile to make contacts on these bands, but believe it or not, I have made SOTA contacts on them.  This only happens very rarely.)  K6HPX chased me on 30 meter CW while mobile, which is notable too.

Middle Peak activation log.

After about 1.5 hours on the summit I came down.  The hike back was unremarkable save for the fact that I saw a small herd of deer on the way down.

Two deer, with Stonewall Peak in the background.

Additional notes:  AT&T 3G data, SMS, cell phone, and APRS coverage are all reliable.


It was a good activation day.  Two six-point peaks activated, with two summit-to-summit QSOs.  I was happy to work so many stations.  As always, thanks chasers!  73.