Sunrise on the Roof of the Santa Monica Mountains: Boney Ridge and the mis-named Sandstone Peak
25 MARCH 2022 W6/SC-219
I was unable to get out and do a SOTA summit the previous weekend and I desperately needed my SOTA fix. As I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway in the dark before dawn I was met with dense fog in places.
At the roadhead I encountered a swarm of mosquitoes but as I started out, they were left behind. My last trip up Triunfo was a battle against the wind. This morning was very pleasant and mild with only light breezes.
I got to the summit just after sunrise. This is an easy half mile hike up a well graded trail that follows the old service road cut. The view of Boney Mountain is unparalleled as seen in the photo above. I set up the full doublet but band conditions weren’t great into the eastern United States. I did manage to get Christian F4WBN on 15m but that band was too long for this country. Ron K6RIN alerted me that he was headed up 1,821′ (CT-228) so I hung out until we could manage the S2S. Thanks Ron!
The station with the doublet set up.Santiago Peak and Buzzard’s RoostClark’s Peak, La Jolla Peak, Santa Cruz Island and Boney Ridge.Santa Catalina Island
After reading AJ6KZ’s warning about this summit being closed I decided to drive up before work on a misty Thursday morning before dawn and take a look. While the peak itself is on Las Virginis Municipal Water District’s land and the route does cross private property, I’ve never encountered a gate or any “private property” or “no tresspassing” signs. As on my previous two ascents of this mountain I found the route open. There is an unmarked dirt road opposite a mailbox at 32701 Mulholland Highway that I followed up past a derelict tractor and a Hyundai Santa Fe that was in good shape two years ago but has progressively been smashed up on each successive visit.
I suspect that AJ6KZ looked at the new driveway to the east of this route that is clearly gated and marked “No Tresspassing” or the Las Virginis Municipal Water District’s Bodle Peak Motorway access even further to the east that is similarly gated and marked.
Before reaching the top there is a hillside off to the right that follows a use trail around a 5th wheel trailer and truck at the top of the dirt road and jumps over to the old Bodle Peak Motorway. This old route to the former fire lookout on the summit is very badly eroded. It looks like the people below have actually diverted runoff rain along the old motorway to flow into their stock tank near where you leave the first dirt road. The motorway was noticeably more eroded on this trip from the downpour we had last December.
I set up my big doublet between the 30′ and 20′ Jackite poles and had a lot of fun on six different bands – including my first-ever SOTA contacts on 10m and 12m. This antenna took me a lot longer to rig but I felt it was worth it
Looking south with “Buzzard’s Roost” (W6/SC-229) over the station on Bodle PeakThe stationLas Virginis Reservoir and WestlakeLooking west toward Sandstone Peak and the green Hidden ValleyPrickly Phlox below the summit with a little DeerweedWoolly Bluecurls (Trichostema lanatum) this flower has the most amazing scent.
Lake Cachuma from the highest point in the Santa Ynez Mountains
5 MARCH 2022 W6/CC-036
After activating Brush Peak my brother and I put Whitedog in 4wd and drove the rough 9.39 mile dirt road between Brush and Santa Ynez. I do not recommend this rough road for passenger vehicles. Here is our account of Brush Peak
The pavement on West Camino Ceilo ends at Brush Peak and resumes at the observatory a little to the west of Santa Ynez Peak. Passenger cars may want to do these two summits separately, approaching each summit from the paved roads on either side.
When we arrived at the summit of Santa Ynez — the highest point in the Santa Ynez Mountains, everything was coated with a layer of ice. The radio towers where especially coated with huge chunks that were crashing down precariously on the ground below. We didn’t even get out of the truck on the summit.
Fortunately there is a nice level spot in the activation zone just under the summit that was free of falling icebergs.
I curtailed the activation because the icy wind was pretty cold and we had had a long day. My brother the electrical engineer is moderately interested in amateur radio and SOTA, but that interest has limits that I thought not best tested on this long day. I did get one QSO from Japan, but frightfully few in California. I would not want to try this activation as a technician with only UHF/VHF privileges.
It was a little cold to be wearing shorts admitted my brother from AlaskaAn ice storm had coated everything with ice on the summitA nice level area in the activation zone beneath the RF maelstromSanta Cruz Island My brother went to UCSB in Isla Vista – just off his fingerA shrine along the bad road from Brush to Santa Ynez
The beautiful Santa Barbara Channel and Channel Islands over the popular hike, The Lizard’s Mouth, on a blustery day
5 MARCH 2022 W6/SC-171
My brother and I set out at a leisurely pace about 8:30 am from my Mom’s house in Malibu. The weather forecast called for a 50% chance of snow flurries, but this storm seemed to come in to the north and south of us. We only had a few drops of rain on the way up. It was a blustery and cold day.
The road up from San Marcos Pass and Highway 154 (West Camino Ceilo) is narrow but paved and suitable for passenger vehicles. The traverse from the Brush Peak roadhead over to Santa Ynez Peak we found to be pretty rough and is not recommended for anything but high clearance vehicles as Ron K6CPR noted in the previous write-up. Santa Ynez can be accessed with passenger vehicles that has only a short section of dirt road ant the end by way of the west via Refugio Pass and West Camino Cielo. Doing both peaks that way would entail a lot of driving. We made it a loop with my Tacoma, Whitedog.
The “hike,” such as it is, is pretty easy. We parked in front of the Winchester Canyon Gun Club and headed down the Lizard’s Mouth trailhead. A few hundred yards past the trailhead the route angles up to the right over some interesting sedimentary slabs and a fairly well established use trail leads to the summit. The hike is about a quarter mile and took us about 15 minutes.
The summit affords a nice view of the Lizard’s Mouth, the Santa Barbara Area and the Channel Islands. I only set up the HF station and didn’t even try 2 meters as wanted to activate Santa Ynez Peak as well.
My brother Mark on the short hike. The route follows the slabs up to the right in this picture.Santa Ynez Peak (W6/CC-036) to the west from Brush Peak. The connecting dirt road section of West Camino Cielo is pretty rough.Interesting wind and water sculpting of the sandstone near the summit
I’m joined by David Hodge N6AN for this pleasant winter ascent
27 JANUARY 2022 W6/CT-012
Back from almost a month in New Mexico, I was raring to do a local winter ascent. I’d asked David Hodge N6AN about his ascent of Waterman Mountain earlier this year and how he might’ve evaded the Bobcat fire closure. It turns out that he had somewhat accidentally gone up a route that was okay. An area bounded by Highway 2 on the north, the main Waterman Trail #1 to the east (my route on my previous activation) and the San Gabriel River watershed to the south describes a somewhat gerrymandered safe zone that avoids the closure. (See map below)
David was cool enough to join me on this adventure even though he had already activated Waterman Mountain earlier this year. We had met for the first time in person a month or two ago for a cuppa in Flintridge after an activation I’d done, but this was our first activation together. We rendezvoused for this trip in La Cañada at 6:00 am and we where the first ones to the roadhead at about 7:00 am.
There wasn’t much snow on the lower roads up through the ski area, but by the time we reached the summit the north slopes were pretty well covered. I broke through up to my knees at one point, so the gaiters were well advised, but micro spikes or snowshoes were not necessary.
David operated on CW and made 63 contacts, including DX contacts to Spain, Switzerland, Slovenia and France on 15m. By contrast I only managed 26 contacts with no DX. Between David’s CW skills and quickly deployed and highly effective antennas he outstripped my operating. Great to see a master at work.
At the roadhead with Whitedog. Photo by David HodgeThe station. Photo by David HodgeLooking west toward Hines Peak in Ventura CountyDavid N6AN showing off his cool, ultralight and compact 15m half square antennaThe author on a nice warn day up on Waterman Mounain. Photo by David Hodge
Here’s the station on this first-ever activation of W0C/RG-154 and my first Colorado Summit
12 FEBRUARY 2022 W0C/RG-154
It had snowed the night before in the Taos Valley and the roads in the area were a bit slick before dawn. I left for Colorado across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and headed up Highway 285 as the sun was coming up. There was very little traffic and hardly any snow as I made my way north. I saw a bald eagle in a lone pine tree just after Tres Piedras.
The BLM dirt road off of Colorado Highway 142 is excellent and a passenger vehicle could easily make it to the roadhead. There are markers at this point that motor vehicles are no longer allowed.
The trail follows an old 4×4 track around and up a ravine. There are several places where I chose to avoid elevation loss and contour around to the right. The bushwacking isn’t too bad among the piñon forest that gives this mountain its name.
The hike is over two and a half miles and gains about 1,400 feet. There was over a foot of snow by the time I made the summit ridge. The various odd-shaped volcanic detritus buried in this snow made each step an adventure.
The summit has a spectacular view of the San Luis Valley and the Sangre de Christo Mountains. The register went back to November 10, 2005. The last entry was November 19, 2021.
After calling my first CQ I heard my most faithful chaser, Jon K6LDQ. Unfortunately he couldn’t seem to hear me. I did get a call from AE1MS and AE1JS on Marsen Knob in Georgia. I also heard from my home QTH and a POTA caller KD6NFD in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
The station looking west toward the San Juan MountainsFlattop (W0C/RG-1560 and the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the Blanca Peak (W0C/SL-001) area.The benchmark on the summit in the igneous rock characteristic of the areaI had a lot of fun!
The dramatic Valles Grande through the burned-out trees by the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000
6 FEBRUARY 2022 W5N/SE-021
After all my years of mountaineering using ice axes, ice screws, crampons, cross country skis, chocks, cams, ropes and despite all that; I had never actually strapped on a pair of snowshoes. Over a foot of snow fell on Cassie’s little adobe on the 2nd and 3rd, so any activating was going to be in some pretty deep snow. This afforded me the opportunity to address my lack of snowshoe experience.
I rented a pair from Jason at Adventure Ski Shop Norte in Taos. Jason was very friendly and helpful and I would definitely recommend Adventure Ski. They let me pick them up on Saturday and return them on Monday and I was only charged for Sunday.
I left around 6:30AM from the casita in 9°F weather with partly cloudy skies. There was a chance of snow, so this was truly going to be a winter ascent. I was surprised to see ice forming on the Rio Grande River as I made my way south through the gorge. I drove around Los Alamos on Highway 4 through White Rock, a route that is longer but avoids the checkpoints in Los Alamos.
Traffic was light and there was only one car parked at the Coyote Call Trailhead. The snowshoes were pretty easy to figure out and soon I was happily clomping along a well established trail that had been tramped down. After about the one mile mark the tracks curved back around on other trails and I was breaking a trail up the slope.
Given all of the deadfall from the massive Cerro Grande fire in 2000, the route on snowshoes soon became very difficult. I finally took them off and left them at a marked waypoint along with my 20′ Jackite mast that was frequently getting stuck on the deadfall. In retrospect I wish I had fastened the snowshoes on to my pack because once the falled trees abaited, the snow was still knee-deep.
As I labored up the slope slowly I began to wonder if it was prudent to continue. The weather was looking like snow and one of the first principles of mountaineering is knowing when to turn around. I decided that I would give myself until noon. That would give me plenty of daylight to retreat if the weather really turned bad.
I made the summit about 11:40 after starting at about 9:30. While over two hours would be ridiculously slow in other conditions to do about two and a half miles, this is what it took me in deep snow.
The summit is a lovely SOTA summit with plenty of trees and a nice activation zone. I set up the Packtenna quickly expecting to make my four qualifying contacts and beating a hasty retreat. Cell service from Verizon was okay after initially showing 4 bars but no mode of service.
My idea of a quick activation was met with a huge pile-up on 20m. I hung around longer than I otherwise might’ve to try and meet the pack’s demand. I apologize if I didn’t get to you. Thank you all who chased me.
I had no summit-to-summit contacts but I did get a cool call from NS6OI aboard the USS Dolphin. A WWII diesel submarine. My late father Wayne served on a similar sub in the late 40’s.
The station looking east back toward Cerro Grande
On the trip down I decided to try a little different route. The middle trail looked a little longer, but it looked like it had less elevation gain on the return. I would say it is only a modest amount of saving that is probably not worth the extra distance. It was a lovely hike anyway as the snow flurries increased. It was snowing pretty hard by the time I got back to Whitedog.
Valles Grande from the trail junction of the middle and lower trailsLooking southwest from the trail down at some of the deadfall I had to cross. It took a lot longer than I expected.Back at the Coyote Call Trailhead as the snow started in ernest.
The Kiwanis Hut in the activation zone south of the RF maelstrom that is the actual crest
29 JANUARY 2022 W5N/SI-001
Back in 1989 my then-girlfriend wanted to show me her little Adobe in north-central New Mexico. As we drove through Albuquerque for my first time, I looked up to the majestic Sandia Crest and realized I wanted to go there. On the many subsequent trips with my now-wife to her little casita we never seemed to find the time to make the trip. This winter we decided to make an extended stay in the Land of Enchantment and it seemed the perfect time to make my long standing dream come true with a 10 point activation plus winter bonus.
The Sandia Crest is a number of sedimentary layers of rock sitting on a granite batholith that was uplifted in the Rio Grande Rift over the last 10 million years. The top rimrock is characteristically slick limestone.
There was quite a bit of snow on the way up Sandia Crest Road off Highway 14 but the road had been plowed. There was a sign that said chains were required past the Sandia Park downhill ski area. I had just purchased a new pair and I keep them in the truck.
The hike from the Ellis trailhead is only about a half mile and only about 300′ of elevation gain.
The summit is very broad with many trees suitable for antenna supports. There is a hut — the Kiwanis Hut that sits on the edge of the western scarp. The views over Albuquerque are absolutely breathtaking.
Many others have warned about the RF saturated environment and how this phenomenon overloads the front ends of some radios. My Yaesu FT-5DR had very spotty APRS coverage but my cell phone had good coverage from Verizon.
As usual, I forgot something. This time it was a pretty critical gear bag that contained my logbook, pens, pencils and a bunch of antenna stuff. I had to MacGiver a feedline from the Packtenna and use my cell phone’s recorder to log contacts. Apologies to all the faithful chasers for a somewhat discombobulated activation. Thank you all for chasing!
The Albuquerque Trailheads — a local hiking group at the Kiwanis HutThe station was socially distanced in the trees on the east sideThe stationThe spectacular view south along the western scarpAlbuquerque and the Rio Grande River valley
Energized by hiking up Ortiz Mountain and meeting 8x SOTA Goat Alan NM5S and Eugene AF9O, I hurried back to Whitedog and flipped on the mobile rig. Alan said he would try and wait for me to hike up Montoso for the summit-to-summit. He guided my over that way on roads that were becoming muddier and more rutted by the mile. I was glad to have the 4wd.
I parked where I figured the closest point to the summit was and headed out across the high desert. I had to climb under a barbed-wire fence after a few hundred feet and then headed straight up the slope dodging a lot of cacti and juniper. The hike is .9 miles and has about 500′ of elevation gain.
Alan called me on 146.580 MHz as I neared the summit and said they were getting cold and needed to start down soon. I told him that was fine, no need to get hypothermia for some abstract points. NM5S called me again and said they were just at the edge on the activation zone and I replied that I wasn’t sure if I was in the activation zone of Montoso yet. Alan told me about a neat feature of the app SOTAGoat – the GPS tells you when you are in the activation zone of a given peak. Sure enough, I was and the S2S was made with the venerable NM5S!
Cell service from Verizon was good, as was APRS coverage, as might be expected.
This esteemed S2S kicked off a series of really cool summit-to-summits: including some of my friends David N6AN, Mike K6STR and Lorene W6LOR. The intrepid Lorene and Mike were at about 8,000′ in the White Mountain of eastern California. David was on his beloved “home shack” Flint Peak. I also had S2S contacts with Alberta, Canada, Utah and Washington.
I was somewhat surprised to discover once I got back to the casita that these two summits had a winter bonus considering how easy they are. Very different than the W6 Association.
The station: the Packtenna is deployed between my 20′ Jackite fiberglass pole and the Goture carbon fiber fishing pole.Caja benchmarkLooking southwestLooking southeast toward the Sandia Crest and Albuqurque
I had the good fortune to meet Eugene AF90 & Alan NM5S on the summit. That is Chacoma Mountain and the Valles Caldera in the background.
22 JANUARY 2022 W5N/SE-043
After returning to The Land of Enchantment this winter I wanted to start off easy. I haven’t done a whole lot of driving in the snow or on back roads in 4wd so I thought I should ease into it.
West of Santa Fe and east of the Rio Grande is an interesting volcanic area called the Caja Del Rio Plateau. There are a handful of SOTA summits peppering the area that all looked pretty easy. I decided to start with Ortiz Mountain known by locals as the Pankey Benchmark. I started out from the Taos Valley about 5am and made my way down the Rio Grande Gorge. the sunrise over Santa Fe was spectacular but I was too amped up to stop and take a picture.
Out past the Marty Sanchez Links on Caja Del Rio Road is the turnoff to Forest Service Road 24. This road starts off pretty good for just about any vehicle. It is an easy drive to just past the corral and Eleven Hundred Well where I parked Whitedog. The road gets pretty treacherous after that. Just after the coral and the Eleven Hundred Well I startled a herd of elk and they ran off into the juniper.
Cell coverage from Verizon was good, as was APRS coverage.
The hike is a short .77 miles with about 500′ of elevation gain. The roads on the map seem to be a little off the actual position. There is a lot of igneous debris and cacti to dodge. On the summit is a nice plank that serves as a bench. There is a makeshift register at the Pankey Benchmark.
Conditions were pretty good and I managed a summit-to-summit contact at the end.
The real treat was as I was just finishing packing up, Alan NM5S and Eugene AF9O appeared. Alan is one of the top SOTA goats in New Mexico and it was fun to pick his brain on the area. I decided to head on over to Montoso Peak and those guys said they would listen for me on 2 meters.
Whitedog parked where the road got really bad.The plank that served as a bench for the station. Looking east toward Truchas Peak area and Santa FeLooking north toward Wheeler Peak and the Taos Valley. I think some peaks in Colorado are barely visible.The summit looking south.Photo of the author thanks to Eugene AF9O.
KG6MZS 