Hines Peak at sunrise from 1,470′.
23 NOVEMBER 2021 W6/SC-347
One of the things I really enjoy about the SOTA program is how it motivates me to do hikes that I might otherwise miss. Summit 1,470′ is a good case in point. I’ve been hiking around the Santa Monica Mountains all my life and I never thought to explore this particular corner of the range. When I first hiked up this summit last year, it was completely encased in a deep marine layer of stratus clouds. Kobe Bryant’s helicopter went down a short distance away and I can see how that might’ve happened given the dense fog.
I left Topanga before it was light again and drove over the top of Saddle Peak. Being a Tuesday, I had to be back home by 9:00 AM for work. This morning was sparklingly clear after a mild Santa Ana wind event over the weekend that kept me home. There was a layer of cirrus clouds high in the sky and a waning gibbous moon lighting my path. All the elements seemed to be in place for a colorful sunrise, but it wasn’t to be. It’s funny how that works. The hike is under a mile with over 500′ of elevation gain.
Cell service from Verizon is excellent. I made my 11 contacts fairly easily this time now that I have the KX2 and the HF bands in my toolkit. I ran 12 watts into the 40m multiband doublet on HF and 5 watts into the roll-up slimjim on VHF.
KG6MZS 