Mount Butler

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Sunrise shadow of the imposing Mount Butler. In the distance is the snow on White Mountain.

8 JUNE 2025 W7N/NS-091

Two Stars – a nice summit. I’d do it again. Recommended.
Elevation:7,116′
Route: Road and use trail
Hike Distance: 2 miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 400′
Navigation: Moderate
Steepness: Extremely steep – 3rd Class*
Vehicle: Passenger car
Road: Good dirt road
Cell Coverage: Excellent Verizon
*Not a beginner hike. Some rock climbing experience suggested.

This summit might look like a stroll by the numbers at one mile round trip with 400 feet of gain, but 200 feet of the elevation gain comes in the last tenth of a mile after leaving the access road! Then there is a scramble up some very loose rock to cross the road-cut. This was my least favorite part. Getting to the saddle between Mount Butler and the bump to the east is steep but not hard. Then there is some enjoyable third class going from the saddle to the summit. Serious exposure can be avoided if one stays to the ridge line.

Not recommended for beginners.

Here is my ascent track up Mount Butler

The sun rose as I hiked up the access road. I liked doing this early on a Sunday morning before the rowdy town of Tonopah wakes up. This walkabout from Cedar City, Utah across the Silver State took me on a lot of new ground, new dots across my map, so to speak. Yesterday’s first activation of Pahroc Summit and today’s first activation of Mount Butler made this an exceptional adventure for me. I saw wild horses both days.

Radio conditions weren’t great and I received poor reports with a lot of noise noted. There is a military radar facility to the northeast over on an unnamed summit between Red Mountain and Booker Mountain that provided the periodic “fog horn” noise that made some QSOs difficult on 20m. Unlike the near zero noise the previous day.

Also I wondered if the massive Crescent Dunes Solar Project that was plainly visible to the north was adding some QRM.

Satellite shot of the Crescent Dunes Solar Project. Click to enlarge.
Close-up
The station looking south.
Here’s a good view of the route. The route leaves the road below the saddle of the summit and the bump on the left.
Here’s the saddle from the road. The hardest part is going up the road-cut at the bottom.
Here’s the 3rd class section from the saddle. No real exposure but uneven footing. Beginners beware.
Not a first ascent 😉
Tonopah at dawn. Click to enlarge the radar visible below the horizon right of center that gave 20m fits.
Brock Mountain to the east.
The northern scarp is precipitous.
South
The gate – It’s all BLM land.

Here are my SOTA summit ratings

Here are some cool links to Summits on the Air (SOTA)

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

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Published by wringmaster

I'm a graphic artist in the movie business. When I was a kid I got interested in astronomy. When it would get too cloudy to observe the heavens, my buddy and I would sit at the VFO of his Hallicrafters S 38c like safe crackers trying to coax faraway signals out of that humble radio. My love of astronomy and radio survive to this day fifty+ years later.

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