Pahroc Summit

The summit from the east.

7 JUNE 2025 W7N/LN-307

Elevation:	5,512′
Route:	Cross country
Hike Distance:	1.2 miles round trip*
Elevation Gain:	450′
Navigation:	Tricky
Steepness:	Steep
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	Good dirt road
Cell Coverage:	Good Verizon

Apologies ahead of time for posting too many pictures of this activation. It was just such a beautiful day! …and to think that this was a punt. I didn’t actually think I would be doing this summit.

I left from Cassie KG6MZR’s little adobe in north-central New Mexico expecting to have a leisurely little walkabout on an extended weekend. My job had other plans for me.

I drove across the top part of New Mexico on a beautiful Friday morning. I saw literally over a hundred elk, antelope and deer over Highway 64 and the San Juan Mountains. I had to drive very slowly. However when I got to Paige, Arizona my clients began to call and I had to repeatedly stop to make changes on my laptop at McDonalds. Too bad, because the drive from Kaibab to Cedar City is wondrous.

As I dropped into Cedar City the sky opened up and it poured with monsoon lightning striking everywhere!

Once in Cedar City, Utah, I knew my plans had to change. I wouldn’t have time to do a more ambitious tour of unactivated summits in Nevada, so I re-focused on Pahroc Summit.

This mountain is deceptively difficult. It didn’t help that in the “shoulder months” of the summer heat (late spring and early fall) provided a day that topped 90ºF. The “shoulder months” are deceptively dangerous in that the heat is a threat that doesn’t have the obvious hallmarks of the plus 100º days of summer.

Then there is the route. While the topographical maps make it seem like there is an easy ramp to the summit, they don’t have the resolution to show the large boulders that make this summit more difficult that the maps suggest. I had to continually turn around and try different routes to find a way. This was very tiring in the heat. As a solo climber in the middle of nowhere, I had to be cognizant of the fact that a twisted ankle could be serious.

Radio conditions were a lot better than they have been. I had a good number of summit-to-summit contacts including a personal fav – Mount Tamalpias – with Julie N6EKO and “Zop” KB6ZOP.