Hike to Mt Markham (5728 ft) and Mt Lowe (5606 ft) 17 June 2015

Thought I would would hike two peaks that I had never been to before: Mt Markham and Mt Lowe. They do not have prominences of 500 ft, so they are not official SOTA peaks. Markham has a prominence of about 434 ft (131m), Lowe a prominence of about 287 ft (87m). They are near Occidental Peak, Mt. Wilson, San Gabriel Peak, and Mt Disappointment. So they are some of the nearer peaks to my house and not a long drive. I planned to take my 2 meter radio, but not HF, as I would not be spotting on the SOTA site.

Mt Lowe is quite historic: Professor Thaddeus Lowe built a railway within 1100 vertical feet of the summit in about 1893. It terminated at “Ye Alpine Tavern”, which unfortunately burned down in 1936, so you can no longer get a beer there if you are hiking! The scenic railway was abandoned after torrential rains in 1938.

View of Mt Lowe (L) and Mt Markham (R), from a previous hike to Occidental Peak.

Started the hike at 0615, took an hour to get to the top of Mt Markham from Eaton Saddle. There was quite a lot of Poodle Dog bush on the ridge up the peak. So I went slowly to avoid brushing against it.

View of Mt Wilson from Mt Markham

The flat summit. All the Poodle Dog creeped me out so i didn’t stay too long!

Radio set up with Mt Lowe in the background.

Made the following QSOs on 2m: Charles KM6CEM, Dave KJ6TOA San Diego, Scott WA9STI, Roy KR6RG San Diego, Bob KB6CIO, Eric N6HEG, Ray WA6NVL San Diego, Charles WB6MIO. San Diego stations were about 120 miles (200 km) away.

Then down the ridge of Markham and over to Mt Lowe. Took half an hour.

The trail was nicely graded and only had a little Poodle Dog near it, so it was much more pleasant than Mt Markham

At the summit, a nice bench, and sighting tubes to the nearby mountains. These are left over from the railway era, as is a steel flagpole.

History of Mt Lowe

Made a lot of nice 2m FM QSOs
Clifford KK6QMS, Anthony KB6WWI, KM6CEM, WA6NVL, N6HEG, Walter KK6CJA, KB6CIO, KR6RG, Pearson KK6HRS, KJ6TOA, Dave WB6POJ, Time KE6QBV, Mark KJ6EOE, Phill N0KE heading back to Colorado, Dave N2FLT, Mark WX7MB

Mt Lowe is certainly much nicer than Markham. Mt Lowe is a great view point. I am sure I will visit Mt Lowe again but probably not Mt Markham for a while; too much Poodle Dog on Markham.

San Gabriel Peak (W6 CT-019), Mt Markham, and Occidental Peak (W6 CT-098).

A nice hike down, took just over half an hour to get back to the Mt Wilson Road. Then I took a short drive to Skyline Park at Mt Wilson, where I had a Clif Bar and some coffee. The weather was hot and still today, about 80F (26C) at the end of the hike. The first hike where it feels like summer!

73!
Hal
N6JZT