KG6MZS

Navajo Point

Sunrise on the Cedar Breaks the day before on the way to Brian Head.

2 JULY 2022 W7U/IR-002

Route:	Jeep track and coss-country
Hike Distance:	.3 miles round trip
Elevation Gain:	250′
Navigation:	Easy
Steepness:	Moderate
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	One mile good dirt road
Cell Coverage:	Unknown – forgot my cell!

Hike basics

Here is my route up Navajo Point

Perhaps one of the most engaging aspects of SOTA for me is the unexpected twists and turns on the road to adventure that the goal-setting of the program fosters. The impetus may be the abstract concept of adding a few points to the tally, but once out in the real world, all kinds of other, unexpected things happen.

This one started out pleasantly enough. I had spent the day in the tidy town of Cedar City after activating Brian Head the day before. I left in the dawn twilight and motored up Highway 14 to the lovely Highway 148. This route has some spectacular views of Zion Canyon to the south and goes through the beautiful Cedar Breaks. Wildflowers were blooming in profusion in the late spring of upper elevations.

When I got to the trailhead, I could not find my phone.

I was certain I had it when I left the motel. This did not bode well. I tore my truck apart to no avail. So… no photos. No tracking. No map. No flying Chester (the drone’s controller requires my iPhone). No spotting via SOTA Goat. Hmmm… what to do? what to do?

Well, fortunately I could spot with my Garmin InReach Mini, but the bigger issue: where was my phone? I vaguely remembered putting it on the edge of the bed of the truck – never a good idea. I thought maybe it might be beside the road where it could’ve fallen off the edge on the way out.

When I got back to the motel room I called up Find My on my laptop and it showed my iPhone about two blocks away — but in the opposite direction of where I pulled out that morning. I walked down the street and at the marked location was a Verizon Store. I walked in and inquired if they might’ve found a phone. No joy there. When I looked closely at the Find My location, the pin wasn’t exactly in the store but just by the front door.

There behind the security gate was my phone.

I imagine some early morning walker had spotted my phone in the street, picked it up and walked a few blocks to place it inside the security gate of the not-yet-open Verizon Store! How cool was that? Nice people in Cedar City Utah.

Zion Canyon on the drive up to Brian Head the day before (with my phone)

Larkspur field in the Cedar Breaks the day before as well

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Brian Head

Brian Head, Utah

1 JULY 2022 W7U/SU-017

Full write-up to follow. Stay tuned…

Route:	Drive-up
Hike Distance:	200′
Elevation Gain:	0′
Navigation:	Easy
Steepness:	Easy
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	3 miles good dirt
Cell Coverage:	Good (Verizon)

Hike basics

Looking south across Cedar Breaks National Monument

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Ranger Peak

California green and gold. Looking east toward San Rafael Mountain W6/SC-013

18 JUNE 2022 W6/SC-056

Full write-up to follow. Stay tuned…

Route:	Cross-country on a firebreak
Hike Distance:	.5 miles round trip
Elevation Gain:	300′
Navigation:	Easy
Steepness:	Moderate
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	Mostly paved, one short gravel section
Cell Coverage:	Good (Verizon)

Hike basics

Here is my ascent track

Ran the KX2 at 12 watts into a 40m doublet.

Lake Cachuma and the Santa Ynez Mountains looking southwest.

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Cachuma Peak

Selfie looking west down the Santa Ynez Valley.

19 JUNE 2022. W6/SC-054

One star – Nothing special but I’d do it again.

Elevation:	4,623′
Route:	Fire road and use trail
Hike Distance:	8 miles round trip
Elevation Gain:	1400′
Navigation:	Easy
Steepness:	Moderately steep use trail
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	Good dirt road
Cell Coverage:	n/a

Hike basics

While I adore the San Rafael Mountains, this activation turned out to be something of a trial at the end.

I first hiked this summit on March 20, 1994 – on Cassie KG6MZR and my honeymoon! This time I made the fateful decision to try it with a mountain bike. Going up was not a problem. I pushed the bike up most of the steeper inclines. I stashed the bike where the use trail leaves the fireroad at about three and a two thirds miles and walked the last 450 feet up or so. It’s a bit steep and brushy here,

Here is my ascent track

Nice day with fog laying down in the Santa Ynez Watershed.

My troubles began on my descent. Due to heavy braking I got a flat at the valve stem on the way down. Took me a while to replace the inner tube and I was on my way. But not for long. I got a second flat! I put on my last inner tube and continued on only to get, you guessed it, my third flat! Fortunately I didn’t have far to walk my bike from there, but the experience gave me pause to consider longer rides deeper into this wonderful wilderness.

Here is my descent track Should have been much faster on the mountain bike but three flat tires slowed me down.

The station. No table and chair on this stripped-down mountain bike activation.

Here are my SOTA summit ratings

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Mount Baden-Powell

Snow Flower at dawn on the way up the many switchbacks from Vincent Gulch Divide

11 JUN 2022 W6/CT-004

Full write-up to follow. Stay tuned…

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Escapula Peak x2

Fantastic view of San Emigdio Moutain, Antimony Peak and Eagle’s Rest Peak.

4 JUN 2022 W6/SC-005

Shy or Plain Mariposa Lilly growing right on the summit.

A fragrant field of lupin with the Tehachapi Mountains in the background.

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

San Emigdio Mountain

Chester the Drone shot this shot of San Emigdio Mountain from the east. That’s Big Pine Mountain in Santa Barbara County.

6 JUNE 2022 W6/SC-002

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Temescal Peak x3

A June Gloom morning for my third activation of my neighborhood summit.

22 FEBRUARY 2025 W6/CT-104

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Harvey Peak

Looking north from the summit of Harvey Peak to the austere Clayton Valley.

21 MAY 2022 W7N/EM-019

I wasn’t sure what mountain I was going to try Sunday morning. Both Harvey Peak and Magruder Mountain has looked especially appealing from Palmetto Mountain. The prize when to Harvey Peak as it was closer and also the highest in the Palmetto Mountains.

There appeared to be maze of roads that lead to the approach of Harvey. In fact, it looked like the intrepid might even drive to the summit. I wasn’t interested in that as I really wanted a hike. I found a good road that got pretty close and Whitedog and I set off. The road we took was in very good shape. Most of the roads in the area seemed to have been scraped or graded relatively recently as of this trip. I’m sure a flash flood could change all that pretty quick and such a downpour can happen in any monsoon season. The road got a bit steep in places, but nothing that a front wheel drive car with modest clearance couldn’t handle.

Here is the driving route from the campsite

The hike was another extremely enjoyable and easy hike. Route finding is very easy through mostly open terrain. There is a use trail/elk/cattle path most of the way. The hike was 3/4 of a mile with 450 feet of elevation gain.

Here is my ascent track

Cell coverage again was surprisingly good along with APRS coverage from Palmetto Mountain next door.

I had 19 contacts including 3 summit-to-summits. I was happy to get David in Arizona on Wing Mountain an surprised to get a station on Mount Dana in the Sierra. I also contacted some random 4×4 guys in Death Valley on 2m along with Randy KW6RZ in the town of Goldfield Nevada. 2m seems surprisingly active in the area. I’ll bet CB 11m would be as well.

Here’s the video of the entire weekend. Hopefully this expresses my love for places in the middle of nowhere:

There was even a cool launch pad for Chester the Drone

White Mountain (14,246′) in California to the Northwest

On the way back home I took a long alternate route out past the semi-ghost town of Lida, Nevada. I say “semi” because there does seem to be a prosperous native American community amidst the abandon parts of the old mining town.

“They make no mention of the beauty of decay” Break it Down Again – Tears for Fears

Now this is what a well looks like in fairy tales. I’d never seen only like this for real outside of cartoons and theme parks.

After visiting Lida, I drove back through Beatty, Nevada and the ubiquitous wild burros there and through the stunning Death Valley and Panamint Valley and then through Trona and China Lake. It was a long day of driving but well worth the astounding vistas.

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

KG6MZS Summit Index by Year

Palmetto Mountain

The Sierra Nevada crest from Palmetto Mountain. Split Mt. is the prominent peak in the center. The Palisades to the right.

21 MAY 2022 W7N/EM-031

This activation was the result of a long-standing idea I’ve had to activate the sparsely populated grid DM17. I’ve been thinking about this for years, studying maps and satellite images to find a good place to set up a 100 watts digital station.

Why digital?

The answer to that one can be found in the “Gridpedion” backstory told here

I left Topanga Canyon early Friday morning without my nephew. Originally R had hoped to come along as a videographer/photographer and all around good company. But the powers at the California State Colleges intervened and R was obligated to finish teaching duties beyond the end of the quarter. So it was just me heading off into some brutal headwinds up highway 395 and the Owens Valley. In all my years of Sierra Nevada trips I had never seen the wind blowing like this. There were whitecaps on Little Lake! The dust was so thick in the air that it looked foggy. I had heard that dust in the air had become a big problem due largely to Los Angeles sucking the Owens Valley dry and I had seen some dusty, hazy days up there, but nothing like this. Ever.

At this point I was starting to think that I would need to abandon my dream of so many years. As I was doing this alone, I was already prepared to turn back if anything rose above even a modest threat.

The headwinds knocked my gas mileage down from Whitedog’s usual 20 mpg on the highway to around 12 mpg.

But fortune smiled upon me because after I gassed up in Big Pine and made it over Westgard Pass in the White Mountains, the winds abated. This was all now new country for me… new dots on the map, as I sometimes say. Dropping down into the austere Deep Springs Valley the landscape became wildly ‘basin and range.”

Just before Lida Summit, I kicked Whitedog into 4WD and turned off highway 266 to an unmarked dirt road. Going by the maps I figured that I might actually be able to drive to the summit of Palmetto Mountain to the communications facility up there. The road was in excellent shape – recently scraped – and stayed on Bureau of Land Management land the entire way.

However at the apparently defunct Nevada Silver State Mine there was a locked gate and a private property sign. This is not private property, but this happens. The area is a maze of dirt roads so I looked for a way around the mine on another road that goes by Excelsior Springs and joins back up with the service road to Palmetto Mountain. However this road became very rough and I had already made the decision to let discretion be the better part of valor. I turned around.

Finding another road further to the north I found that while this road would not take me to the summit, it did get me up on a saddle and it looked like an easy hike from there. This ended up being a really good solution because camping on the summit as I had planned would’ve exposed, unbeautful and uncomfortable, whereas the camp I ended up in was excellent with a great eastern horizon for my grid activation.

Here is the rather confusing driving route to the Palmetto Mountain trailhead

I made camp and was on the air before 00:00 utc.

I often think of the digital modes as a dance. Being in a rare grid is like being the prettiest girl at that dance. I had so much fun working the pile-up. Remarkably everything went smoothly. I think the shakedown trip the week before to Frazier Mountain really helped with that. I worked 18 different stations on PSK. On FT8 I worked almost 100 all over the US, Australia, Indonesia, China, Japan, Italy, Germany, Panama, Chile, Venezuela, and the Republic of Korea. I worked the radio as long as I could keep my eyes open after such a long day.

That night was pretty cold. The water in my teapot froze overnight. The hike from my trailhead camp as a delightful 1.5 miles with about 850 feet of ascent. Surprisingly I had cell coverage from Verizon almost the entire trip. Also APRS coverage is great in the area due to a 2m repeater on Palmetto Mountain. From camp it was a cross country jaunt through pretty open and easy terrain for about a mile before joining the access road to the summit.

Here is my track up Palmetto Mountain

Here is my track down Palmetto Mountain

Fun activation with summit-to-summit contacts to South Dakota and Georgia along with a lot of regular chasers.

Thank you everybody for helping to make this trip an absolute BLAST!