Here’s the station on the summit with the Organ Mountains near Las Cruces in the background. Looking east.

5 FEBRUARY 2023 W5N/RO-015

This was one of my more goofy days is pursuit of a SOTA summit. Originally I had thought to try and activate a summit in Texas. I spent the night in Las Cruces with the idea of dropping down very early in the morning to El Paso and activating South Franklin Peak. It turns out I would’ve done well to visit the Franklin Mountains State Park website before attempting this plan. The Ron Coleman trial to the summit has been closed since March 2021 and k-rails block the parking area. So much for my very first visit to the Lone Star State.

Okay, so punt. Not the first time that I needed to resort to a plan B.

After exiting on the Corralitos Road off ramp I found it necessary to drive back 1.3 miles on the north side frontage road to the actual Corralitos Road. After that left turn I followed the paved road 11.8 miles to a dirt road on the right. The parking area is about a mile down this somewhat rough dirt road.

When I got to the parking area there was a passenger car already parked there. Great I thought, who else could this be but another SOTA activator? That turned out to be a fateful assumption.

The last recorded activation of the Rough and Ready Hills was 8 years ago and in that description the activator described the trail as petering out about a quarter of the way up. What I found at this point was a very well established trail (wooden steps!) continued on up. I figured that this most be the way to the top. My third mistake.

The trail contoured around up the northeast corner of the mountain and here I found a group of three rock climbers racking up gear getting ready to climb. This explained the car at the trailhead and the well established use trail. This is now a popular rock climbing destination. The guys were starting a 5.7 climb (just my speed!) and said they thought there was a walk-off trail from the top. I continued on figuring I’d find that trail. I did after a long traverse along a very cool ledge system on the east side of the mountain. A very well marked (duck cairns) trail led to the summit to the south side of the actual summit, so with some elevation loss, I made the top.

Here is a short video showing the long route 2 way and the shorter route 1 way:

The wackiness of the day didn’t stop there. Once on the summit I discovered that the small pouch that attaches to my sternum strap was missing. This contains my little Garmin InReach Mini and my cell phone!

After careful consideration I suspected they were at the saddle that marks the divergent point of the two routes. I had rested there. Sure enough I recovered the pouch and returned to the summit to have a wonderful activation with three summit-to-summit contacts.

This made my hike 2.5 miles with about 1,000′ of elevation gain. Short of leaving the gear in the saddle, I would recommend this delightful variation on the standard route.

Looking east toward Mount San Gorgonio and Mount San Jacinto.

5 NOVEMBER 2022 W6/CT-026

Modjeska Peak is named for the famous Polish actress Helena Modjeska who immigrated to the United States and lived in Silverado Canyon below the peak. I last ascended Modjeska Peak in the waning winter days of 1997. In my log I noted that there was a drunk guy on the summit that made the trip rather disagreeable. I suppose Santiago and Modjeska Peaks – together comprise what is popularly called “Saddleback Mountain” – are must-dos for any southern California SOTA activator, so I very grudgingly give them both one star even though I am unlikely to return to either summit.

This trip wasn’t much more agreeable than my last visit last century. For one thing, the foothills below have become wildly developed in a maze of bedroom communities and cul de sacs. The two freeways in the area are both toll roads and, not knowing the toll protocol, I ventured into the labyrinth of Orange County suburbs. It took me quite a while to finally get from the 5 freeway to Silverado Canyon. The mountain is very popular and a LOT of OHVs were around. The dust, noise, trash and general lack of regard for the right-of-way (uphill vehicles) made the long drive up to North Divide Road un-fun.

There was a lot of trash on the summit. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. It is possible to 4 wheel to the actual summit but I opted to walk the mile or so from North Divide Road. The one redeeming virtue of Modjeska and Santiago is the outstanding view of the Santa Monica Mountains, The San Gabriel Mountains, The San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto and both Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands.

Access at the end of Silverado Canyon is via Maple Springs. There is a gate there that is closed seasonally. Call the Trabuco ranger station of the Cleveland National Forest for the status on the gate.

The road was mostly good with one notable exception. I was glad to have the 4×4 for that, but my previous two trips up to North Divide Road in the 1990s was in a Volvo sedan. the road seems a little rougher these days due to so much use.

One of the few remaining active fire lookout towers – even if it is mostly just for PR.

13 NOVEMBER 2022 W6/CT-086

I picked a icy, windy day to activate this drive-up. There was a fire lookout stationed in the tower and it was nice to get out of the wind and chat with this friendly ranger.

Pretty good HF radio conditions yielded some DX on 15m and 10m plus good 2m coverage into the LA Basin.