This was the second summit I did on my loop in South Mountain Park. After coming down from Salt Benchmark I continued up the National Trail which slowly climbs up the ridge. By this point I realized I had underestimated how much water I needed, so I was feeling slow and thirsty. But the scenery kept improving as I climbed so I kept going.
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| Looking towards the summit. |
This trail seemed busier than the Alta Trail across the valley. Maybe its easier? Either way I was making good time going up, and soon had the knobby summit in view. I was slightly concerned with how I would get to the top, but as I got closer I could see some well defined switchbacks leading to the high point. These don't appear on any map I looked at, but afterwards I could see they were clearly visible in the satellite view.
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| Mt Suappoa in the distance. |
Like Salt Benchmark, the summit area is small. It would take some skill to string out a wire on this summit. After doing HF, I was getting ready to call on 2m when I realized my HT antenna had fallen out of my bag somewhere. Disappointed, I had to call it quits. From the summit it was a short and quick run back to the car. I headed down the Ranger trail, and after crossing the road, turned left to go back to the parking lot.
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| Looking back up at the summit, which is the knob on the right. |
I was glad I had filled up my nalgene, and I promptly drank a good fraction of it. Since it was still early enough I decided I had enough time to drive up to Mt Suappoa for a quick activation before heading out of town.



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