I had activated two mountains the previous two days in the Southern Sierras with Dan NA6MG: Bald Mountain SS-285 and Peak 9470 SS-277. Both were drive ups, though on the final rugged road up Peak 9470 I parked my Subaru Outback and went with Dan in his more capable Toyota Tacoma. The first night we…
Vulture Peak (W7A/AW-053) 16 January 2022
My brother and I first climbed Vulture Peak in the spring of 1973. I had been thinking of a reprise for some time; my brother climbed it with one of his sons in 2021, he was visiting in 2022 so we decided to climb it together on our way to visit his son in Phoenix…
Kennedy Meadows and Desert Peaks, July 2021
Dan (NA6MG) and I made plans to meet up in the Kennedy Meadows area for driving, hiking and SOTA. On 7 July, I activated Bald Mountain (W6 SS-285) and Peak 9060 (W6 SS-298), both of which I had previously activated in 2017. Bald is an easy drive up to within a quarter mile of the…
Peak 2507 “Buzzard’s Roost” W6/SC-229 19 February 2021
A nice hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. About 750 feet of elevation gain in 2 miles or so. Eric KG6MZS was activating Sandstone Peak and sent me this photo of Buzzard’s Roost at sunrise. Eric is even more of an early bird than me! The hike starts from Encinal Canyon Road up the Zuma…
Simi Peak W6/CT-207 2403 feet 10 Feb 2021
Took 101 freeway to Lindero Canyon to King James Court for the trail head. Plenty of street parking. Not far from the trail head of CT-228. The path is about 2.5 miles each way, 1300 elevation gain out and 200 feet back The spiky ridge, I think the peak is out of the photo to…
Adobe Mud on Peak 1821 (W6 CT-228) 30 January 2021
A sunny day after heavy rains. Headed to Peak 1821 W6 CT-228 in Westlake Village. Trail head on Bowfield Street off Lindero Canyon Road. Quickly found that the surface was thick sticky adobe mud that built up on my shoes. Annoying to have to stop frequently to pick it off with my trekking pole, since…
Oat Mountain (W6 CT-032) and Ladyface (W6 SC-285) January 2021
A couple of mountains, Oat Mountain on the northern edge of Simi Valley and Ladyface in the Agoura Hills. Oat Mountain is accessed off the 118 freeway, Browns Canyon Road. I parked just before the locked gate. It was extremely windy but at least the air temperature was fairly warm. Oat Mountain has many communications…
Peak 1470 W6/SC-347 26 December 2020
I did not feel like doing SOTA on Christmas Day, so went the day after to get out on the last sunny day before some forecast cloudy and rainy weather. Dan NA6MG alerted for Oat Mountain W6 CT-032 so I would be in a good position for a summit to summit QSO Peak 1470 is…
Peak 4020 (Whitaker Ridge) W6/CT-263 20 December 2020
This mountain can be hiked via Whitaker Peak Road and a spur road. I chose to climb it from Oak Flat via a trail; I was not up for a road hike. Off of I5 (Templin Hwy exit) then north. Turned into Oak Flat (signed) from the Golden State Highway a couple of miles north…
Townsend Peak W6/SC-161 3184 feet 13 December 2020
Another small peak. I have chased this one, so activating it gets me a little closer to my “SOTA Complete” goal of 100 summits both chased and activated. Easy early Sunday morning drive north of Los Angeles on the 5 Freeway, exiting at Templin Highway. Drive west under the freeway. First I headed north a…
Burn Benchmark W6/CT-271 (3094 ft) 6 December 2020
There are two Burn Benchmarks in the area, the other being CT-136. This one, CT-271, is another somewhat obscure summit. I “found” it a few years ago when looking at the topo map, and it was added to the W6 association when Lists of John was finally used as the reference data. It was activated…
Peak 3853 W6/CT-165 29 November 2020
Peak 3853 (i.e. elevation 3853 feet) is a somewhat obscure mountain located just south of Mt McDill, its higher neighbor at 5187 feet. It had been activated only four times: three times by Dan (NA6MG/WO6M) and once by Mike (N6MKW). I finally got around to activating it! I followed their information and parked by the…
Hal's Summits on the Air 