Los Griegos
Looking like something Van Gogh painted, these sunflowers are either Mule’s Ears (Wyethia arizonica) or Arrow Leaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) – both obviously in the sunflower family, but hard to tell apart.
20 JUNE 2026 W5N/SE-012
| Elevation: | 10,118′ |
| Route: | 4WD track and good use trail |
| Hike Distance: | 4.0 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 930′ (includes both summits) |
| Navigation: | Easy |
| Steepness: | Mostly gentle |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car* |
| Road: | Good dirt road* |
| Cell Coverage: | Good Verizon |
Cassie KG6MZS got a last minute call to go mule riding on Saturday, so this left me free to wander the hills. I got a pretty early start and the sun rose as I passed through Los Alamos on my way up the Valle Caldera. Highway 4 had some paving going on two weeks ago when I did Peralta Ridge, so I drove up through Los Alamos to avoid the flagmen.
There are quite a few road options to get to the jump off point for Los Griegos. I opted for the shortest route, but this is not the smoothest road.
This is the driving route I would suggest.. Longer, but faster on better road. Lots of elk and mule deer along the road at this early hour.
At the bend in FS Road 270 indicated as the trailhead, there is a 4wd track that goes up the canyon. This road was actually passable all the way up to the saddle between Los Griegos and Cerro Pelado and beyond. There are some rocks that need to be negotiated but after the track leaves the canyon, all the deadfall has been cut, and the driving would be pretty easy. My 4wd skills are beginner, at best, so I opted to leave Whitedog the Tacoma at the bottom. A skilled driver could’ve done it, but, for me, discretion is the sensible part of valor. Besides, it was a lovely morning for a walk up a shaded canyon.
While much of the area had burned in the 2017 Cerro Pelada Fire, this route is entirely in an unburned section. The 4wd track wends its way nicely through the brush and deadfall up into park-like sections of mature Ponderosa Pine in alpine meadows. There were a lot of wildflowers despite the poor rainfall so far this season. Scarlett Bugler, Richardson’s Geranium, Indian Paintbrush, Elkweed or Deer’s Ears the above Arizona Mule’s Ears and many others dotted the forest.
I was initially going to give this hike a solid Two Stars, but after I walked out on the meadow the flanks the northeast slope and took in the magnificent view, I upped it to Three Stars. I suggest that if you have never done this one, visit both summits and walk out into this meadow. The dip between the two summits sinks about 70′ keeping both in the activation zone.
The actual summit has a register that went back to June 18, 2017 from a crew working the Cerro Pelada Fire.
Radio conditions were pretty good and this was a fun activation with 6 summit-to-summit contacts. Scotty NM5SW was full quieting from Albuequrque and helped me get spotted and alerted to the crew over on Elk Mountain. Thanks Scotty!
After hiking back, I decided to drive over to Cerro Pelado and visit the Fire Lookout tower. Ranger Courtney was an active lookout for several of the fires in the area – especially one over by Cuba and The Paliza Fire off FS Road 10. I saw a half dozen or so wild turkeys near the top.
Peralta Ridge
Looking north across the amazing Valles Grande – the 8,000′ high center of the Valles Grande Caldera to Chicoma Mountain.
6 JUNE 2026 W5N/SE-015
| Elevation: | 9,941′ |
| Route: | Cross country |
| Hike Distance: | .66 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 125′ |
| Navigation: | Easy |
| Steepness: | Gentle |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car* |
| Road: | Good dirt road* |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
Another spur-of-the-moment activation. My Saturday opened up and I set my sights on another new one: Peralta Ridge. On the drive up Forest Service Road 280 I am pretty sure I saw a Mexican Wolf bound across the road early in the morning. I have seen coyotes up close all my life and I don’t think this was just a large, grey coyote. The head seemed too big. Canis lupis baileyi is the smallest of the wolves and likes the sub-alpine zones also frequented by elk. To underline this shortly after spotting this animal, I saw a couple of young elk bulls with fresh, fuzzy racks. On the way back I saw two sleek, bay wild horses. Quite the day for wild things!
The hike is very short and leads to a huge activation zone that extends across a saddle. The saddle is about 80′ below the two bumps, so it just clears the activation zone requirement. Next time I would probably set up in the saddle and test Fred NT5X’s theory of avoiding the edge of any drop off. I did experience some steep, deep QSB that is the signature of the deep nulls present when an antenna is too far from earth/ground.
Radio conditions were fun. I managed to pull Carol K5TFL out on 40m for a New Mexican summit-to-summit among 3 other s2s contacts. My California W6 friends were noticeably absent from the airwaves however.
On the way down after I saw the wild horses, I was hit with a major downpour. Pancake-sized drops and sleet splattered Whitedog’s windshield. Unlike Saint Peter’s Dome, I was not concerned about the road conditions even as water formed large rivulets and ran off the road. FSR 280 is much more rocky and gravely than the silty FSR 289 Dome Road. That road looked to have the potential to get axle-deep volcanic mud. Not so much 280.
Summit 9,420′
Hard to find a view through the trees on this one. Looking west to Chicoma Mountain and the Valles Caldera.
31 MAY 2026 W5N/PW-020
| Elevation: | 9,420′ |
| Route: | Good trail |
| Hike Distance: | 2.25 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 700′ |
| Navigation: | Easy |
| Steepness: | Moderate |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car* |
| Road: | Paved highway |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
This was another last minute activation and I left Nambé at the civilized hour of 8am or so. I came across half dozen or so deer along highway 475 on the way up out of Santa Fe. I had to drive back down to the ranger station to pay the posted day use fee of $10 ($5 for residents). The ranger station wasn’t actually open yet, but a nice ranger showed me the self-serve kiosk.
Finding the beginning of Circle Trail isn’t hard, but I had a little false start separating it from the Girl Scout Trail right at the beginning. The hike, in fact the whole trip, is well shaded under the Ponderosa pines. There isn’t much of a view on top.
It should be noted that once you gain the ridge, SOTA Goat will tell you that your are within the activation zone, however the trail descends lower than the requisite 82 vertical feet before ascending up to the actual summit. At the lowest point, SOTA Goat will tell you that you are below the AZ. I’ve noticed this phenomena on several summits, most recently Willow Springs Butte (W6/ND-328) in California.
It is tempting to believe SOTA Goat when you get to the ridge line because there are a couple of picnic tables that would make for a comfortable activation, but the summit is further south along the ridge.
Radio conditions were limited mostly to 20m. I did get a couple of Park-to-Park contacts even while I had left Hyde Memorial State Park, I had crossed over into the Santa Fe National Forest.
Saint Peter’s Dome
New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana) on the way up to the fire lookout tower in the background..
24 MAY 2026 W5N/SE-035
| Elevation: | 8,465′ |
| Route: | Fire road |
| Hike Distance: | 2 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 375′ |
| Navigation: | Easy* |
| Steepness: | Gentle |
| Vehicle: | High clearance suggested |
| Road: | Dirt road |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
I had a free day on the coming Memorial Day weekend and looked through the possible unique summits I might try. The forecast was for dry weather, but the previous day had seen a thundershower move through the Santa Fe area despite a dry forecast, so keeping that in mind, I headed out to the Valles Caldera and Forest Service Road 289.
The hike is pretty easy from the locked gate. I’d had a bad cold the previous week and this was a perfect way to ease back on to the trail. The views are expansive from the summit with Cochiti Reservoir and Sandia Crest to the south with the big summits of the Valles Caldera along the north and the Santa Fe Sangre de Christo to the east. The area burned and the coniferous forest doesn’t seem to be regenerating very fast, if at all.
I cut the activation short because the cumulus clouds started accumulating and I didn’t want to drive back on wet roads. I’d seen some evidence of axle-deep ruts and didn’t want to go there. It poured briefly as I descended down Highway 502 bearing out my good sense.
Davenport Hill
Scarlett Hedgehog just starting to bloom in a rock garden full of this glorious cacti.
25 APRIL 2026 W7A/AE-041
| Elevation: | 7,808′ |
| Route: | Cross country |
| Hike Distance: | 1.1 mile round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 650′ |
| Navigation: | A bit tricky on the descent |
| Steepness: | Gentle to moderate |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car* |
| Road: | Dirt road |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
Some summits seem so mundane on paper and turn out to be an unexpected delight. I was bringing a load of stuff from our former home in California to our temporary digs in Nambé, New Mexico and I wasn’t sure I even had enough wherewith all to activate a summit on this trip. I only had one night booked in Flagstaff. But the Coconino Plateau is so inviting with her horde of easy ten pointers that I looked at two that I had never done, yet I had worked on my radio. Hochderffer Hills and Davenport Hill were two such unique/complete combinations.
I settled on the latter as I made my way into Williams, Arizona about 1 pm on my way in from Southern California. It was just off the i40 and seemed to be pretty easy.
I took the Garland Prairie Exit off of I40 south to the so-called Great Western Trail (forest service road 141). I found an unmarked road 1.5 miles from the start of FS141 off to the right.
Here is the unmarked road I took. At the first junction I took the right that was marked “2109A.” There was a nice parking area at about the 7,100’ level.
The hike up is straightforward – just go up. But… make careful note of landmarks for the return trip. On this forested summit it would be easy to miss your vehicle on the way back. One surprising landmark on the way up was an exposed rocky section that provided a wondrous garden of many Echinocereus coccineus or Scarlett Hedgehog cacti.
On the descent I had quite the thrill when I heard the grunting of some good sized mammal. Looking around, I suddenly saw three Javalinas or wild peccaries dash from the underbrush. It was odd to see such ungainly animals move with such speed. I suspect they have been hunted and want nothing to do with humans. Regrettably they were gone before I could pull out my camera.
It was cold and windy on the summit but there is a large area to set up and I found a comfortable place that was reasonably well wind-sheltered. A bit of a view out to the east to Humphries on this otherwise forested summit. Rain spattered my battered old KX2 but never got serious. I managed two s2s contacts with Darryl WW7D and Ron K6CPR before my hands got too cold to operate.
Willow Springs Butte
Looking south across the eponymous raceway to the hazy San Gabriel Mountains. Whitedog is visible below.
22 MARCH 2026 W6/ND-328
| Elevation: | 3,297′ |
| Route: | Cross country |
| Hike Distance: | .8 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 500′ |
| Navigation: | A slight twist* |
| Steepness: | Steep |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car |
| Road: | Good dirt road |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
This entire activation was a punt. Plan C. I started my morning before dawn in Woodland Hills and headed for Tehachapi Pass looking to do a pair of summits out of Walker Basin. In all my years of exploring Southern Califonia, this was a corner of the Golden State I had somehow managed to overlook. This historic, out-of-the-way place was really showing off her charms as I wound up the narrow loop only to discover that the north and south access roads were gated, locked and posted with “Private Property, No Trespassing” signs.
Disappointed, I pointed Whitedog back toward the Antelope Valley and activated my “plan C” summit; Willow Springs Butte. My brother Mark and I had activated nearby Rosamond Hills on a recent Sunday and were dismayed by the plethora of careless target shooters. We repeatedly heard not only the report of the firearms, but the whooshing of projectiles whistling through the air.
Also it had been unseasonably hot for the vernal equinox and I knew it could be pretty toasty. I drove to the end of Truman Road and turned up toward the summit and 4-wheeled up a way. The cross country route was fairly steep and it was quite warm, as I had expected.
Once I gained the ridge, I mistakenly turned to the west and ascended the high point there. Interestingly SOTA Goat reported that I was in the activation zone on that summit when the dip between that point and what was certainly the actual summit was more than 82 feet. Once I returned to the dip, SOTA Goat did report that I was not in the AZ.
The summit only has a few low bushes to support masts. Fortunately I had an umbrella for shade as the gear certainly would have overheated without it.
The constant roar of Willow Springs Raceway and the ubiquitous Antelope Valley gunfire make this summit a one-off for me. Fortunately the shooters were more distant than they were on Rosamond Hills. I would suggest doing this one very early on a weekday. It’s probably pretty nice then.
Radio conditions were horrible and I didn’t feel like hanging out.
The silver lining was that on the way back the floor of the Antelope Valley was carpeted in orange flowers. They weren’t California Poppies – I don’t know what species they were.
Santa Ynez Peak x2
Here’s the 2m SSB station amid all the other communications infrastructure on Santa Ynez Peak.
14 MARCH 2026 W6/CC-036
| Elevation: | 4,298′ |
| Route: | Drive-up |
| Hike Distance: | n/a |
| Elevation Gain: | n/a |
| Navigation: | easy |
| Steepness: | n/a |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car* |
| Road: | Mostly paved. 1/2 mile dirt |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
I have been wanting to join in the 2026 SOTA Challenge fun with a 2 meter SSB activation for a while now, but patching together the suitable equipment proved to be a “challenge” in itself. Most of my radio gear is in our new temporary home in New Mexico. For this trip I brought my first-ever HF radio out of retirement: a Yaesu FT-100D. I’d never much used the VHF section of this little DC-to-light all-mode wonder, so this was something new for me. All I had to power the FT-100D was a hefty deep cycle marine battery and the only antenna that would suit was my old roof-top Comet CX-333.
This was obviously need to be a drive-up
In looking for drive-ups that might “see” a lot of Southern California’s robust 2m SSB community, Santa Ynez Peak seemed like it might work well. My only concerns were the RF saturated environment on such a massive “techno summit” and the somewhat precarious road conditions in the Santa Ynez Mountains as they had received a lot of rain this season.
Both concerns proved to be unfounded as the boulders and other detritus from the deluges had been cleared and the road was open. Furthermore, the venerable FT-100D’s front end did a decent job of rejecting adjacent signals. I only had a moment in a QSO with Darryl WW7D on 20m where a maelstrom of QRM made pulling Washington out a bit tricky.
The drive up was a joy with Santa Barbara County showing off her wondrous late winter, verdant beauty. The UCSB ROTC was running recruits to the summit apparently from Refugio State Beach. Yikes! I saw a few very exhausted young people with full packs.
I was thrilled to get my very first-ever 2m SSB contacts on a summit. Longest was K1CT in San Diego. Icing on this particular cake was a 2m sideband contact with David N6AN on “Mount Hodge” (formerly Flint Peak). This QSO entailed dodging some pretty large piles of dirt, namely Sandstone Peak, Cahuenga Peak, Simi Peak, Conejo Mt., Calabasas Peak, and the Verdugo Hills (see photo below.). … and no activation is ever complete without Jon NT6E in Torrance, on 2m sideband no less!
Santa Barbara’s Channel Island were out there in the haze of the day. Click any image to enlarge:
Summit 3,784′ “Nellie’s Mountain”
Looking west to some of my favorite summits in Ventura County: Santa Paula Peak, Hines Peak and Cobblestone Mt.
8 MARCH 2026 W6/CT-169
| Elevation: | 3,784′ |
| Route: | Equestrian trails |
| Hike Distance: | 2 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 400′ |
| Navigation: | Easy |
| Steepness: | Moderate* |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car |
| Road: | Paved road |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
Another activation that almost didn’t happen. Originally I was thinking about Zaca Peak up in Santa Barbara County, but I had the good sense to check the road conditions. It seems all of Figueroa Mountain was closed due to the rains earlier this year. It had been extremely windy the last couple of days in Los Angeles County and up Santa Barbara way it was forecast to be less so.
Then I thought about so-called “Nellie’s Mountain.” Usually if the wind is bad here in the flatland, it is much, much worse in the Escondito Canyon/Highway 14 corridor. But I was primed and ready to do an activation and I figured I could always blow it off (if you will forgive the expression) if the wind proved to be too much.
As it turned out the wind wasn’t too bad and there was a sheltered spot to set up behind a big chunk of basalt on the summit. This activation turned out to be quite enjoyable.
The hike up is pretty straightforward. I found a variety of equestrian trails the avoided the steeper OHV tracks. The high desert floor was carpeted with a multitude of minute and colorful flowers and green grass. This hike would probably get two stars from me if the noise from the Antelope Valley Freeway wasn’t ever-present.
As Dan NA6MG said previously park at the sign that says “6808 E.C.R” and head up that dirt road. The route goes across land that is part of the old Red Rover Mine land. It’s all private property but there are no fences or signs to indicate no trespassing.
Radio conditions were decent on 40m and 20m. A contest had 15m packed end-to-end, so I didn’t try and do battle with the big guns.
La Mesita
Venerable SOTA Goat Fred KT5X showing the new guy the ropes. La Mesita behind us.
16 FEBRUARY 2026 W5N/SS-039
| Elevation: | 7,024′ |
| Route: | Cross country |
| Hike Distance: | 1.6 miles round trip |
| Elevation Gain: | 400′ |
| Navigation: | Tricky |
| Steepness: | Steep gaining the mesa |
| Vehicle: | Passenger car |
| Road: | Good dirt road* |
| Cell Coverage: | Excellent Verizon |
Ever since coming to New Mexico to activate SOTA summits I’ve been picking the brain of New Mexico’s SOTA guru Fred Maas via email. Fred normally activates during the week so to avoid weekend crowds and I am generally limited to weekends, early mornings and holidays by my work. We have tried to get together several times in the past few years to activate a summit and, finally, we managed to meet up in Pojoaque at 8:40 AM on President’s Day, 2026.
If you have never met Fred, he is a wealth of wide ranging knowledge from amateur radio to geology, history, native American lore and beyond. A great hiking companion.
We had a nice morning as we drove in Fred’s Xterra Off-Road up the length of the Española Valley and into the gates of the Taos Plateau at Velarde. I was the beneficiary of Fred’s experience of how not to gain the tableland of La Mesita by following a ducked route that largely avoided the basalt blocks and cliffs that form the apron around the mesa.
Here is Fred’s tried-and-true ascent route. Take care to look behind you as you ascend and make note of what will be your descent route. The area is a maze of cliffs.
As one might gather from this summit’s name, the activation zone is HUGE! One regret I have is that Fred opted for a nice spot near the edge of the mesa to activate, while I opted to continue on a considerable distance to the actual summit. This meant that I did not get a chance to see Fred in action with his amazing micro mini CW station.
Conditions were okay and I managed contacts with many of the usual suspects
Here’s a little video I made from the trip. Turn up the sound and enjoy:
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