W6/CT-037 Cahuenga Peak

 My trip to southern California was coming to an end, but I had time for one more peak before going to the airport. I chose Cahuenga Peak, probably best know for the Hollywood sign on it's side. I, however, did not go to the famous sign.

Views on the way up.

I hiked in from the west, parking on Lake Hollywood Drive, just past (south of) the intersection with Wonder View Drive. This seems to be the official parking for recreation in this area, with parking allowed on both sides of the street all the way down the hill. Since it was a weekday, I was able to park fairly close to the top. The first part of this hike is a walk up Wonder View Drive. At the end of the houses there is a fence, with a gate to allow pedestrian access.  Just past the water tank, the trail turns off the fire road and starts to climb.

Well signed trails.

This area seemed to be part of Griffith Park, and was very well signed. I took the Burbank Peak Trail up to the ridge. The trail was much rougher than I was expecting for a park so close to LA. It is basically a giant switchback up to the ridge. On the ridge, I made a short detour to Burbank Peak and the Tree of Life. Its a tree, and I still haven't figured out why it has that name. Once I was satisfied with the tree, I went up the Aileen Getty Ridge Trail to the summit. There is not a lot of space on the summit, but I found an out of the way place to put up my end fed.

Set up on the summit.

The cell service was not very good compared to what I was expecting. Its possible I was just in a bad spot though. I made contacts on 17m, 20m, and 40m. I thought I might get a lot of people on VHF, so I was disappointed to only get five QSOs on 2m. It was warm in the sun, and I had a plane to catch, so I didn't spend too long hanging out on top. On the way down a family stopped to ask for directions. It amazes me how many people will go out hiking with no idea what they're getting into. 

Trailhead: Lake Hollywood Drive, near Wonder View Drive.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Walk up to the top of Wonder View Drive. Go through the gate, then up the Burbank Peak Trail to the ridge. Follow the trail to the summit.
Red Tape: None. Make sure to obey the "No Parking" signs. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube

W6/CT-247 Mt Williamson

 Immediately after hiking Mt Islip I hiked up Williamson. Since I was already parked at Islip Saddle, I stayed there. The first part of this hike is up the PCT. There were a number of thru hikers heading up, and I was surprised I was able to catch some. I guess only having a small daypack really makes it easy to hike faster.

Flowers were still blooming.

The PCT section of trail is a few giant switchbacks up to the ridge. This area had also burned in the Bobcat fire, but looked like it was starting to recover. It was around noon, and was getting quite warm. The sections through trees were welcome. On the ridge, the PCT starts down the other side, but I turned right and followed the trail up. From below, it looks like the trail leads to the summit, but it only goes to the southeast peak, which is a bit lower. It may be in the activation zone, though. I tagged it, then headed for the high point.

Excellent views down the canyon.

The trail from the southeast peak was much rougher than the hike up. As I hiked over, a glider started flying back and forth over the ridge. It looked like it was gaining height on each pass. Over on the summit I found the remnants of a register. There was one very green plant amidst the burned trees. My suspicious was confirmed when my phone was able to identify it as Poodle Dog Bush. Scary! I watched my step as I set up. 

Burned zone on the way down.

I didn't have any cell service on top. Twenty and 30m didn't seem to be very good, but I got a nice pileup on 40m. I then tried VHF again, and was rewarded with contacts on both 2m and 70cm, including two summit to summit contacts. It was getting hot in the sun, so I packed up and headed back. There were more thru hikers still heading north, and a few day hikers as well. Back at the car I cranked the A/C for the fun drive back down to the hotel. 

Trailhead: Islip Saddle, Angeles Crest Highway.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the PCT north to the ridge, then take the trail to the summit.
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube

W6/CT-010 Mt Islip

 It was forecast to be a beautiful day, so I headed up to the Angeles Crest Highway to do some hiking. On the schedule were Mt Islip and Mt Williamson. The highway was close at Islip saddle, so that was the trailhead I used. The lot was nearly full when I got there, from backpackers as I soon found out.

The route up follows the PCT to the campground.

Once I found the trailhead across the street, I started up. There are a few switchbacks to get up the steep embankment, then a pleasant walk through the forest. There were a lot of people coming the other way. About half of them were thru hikers, and the other half looked like they had just spent the night at the Little Jimmy campground.

Burn zone.

The trail crosses through some burn zones from the Bobcat fire. It was interesting to see where it had burned, then seemingly stopped randomly. I did have to appreciate all the work done to reopen the trail. Passing through the campground, I was amused at the antics of all the scout troops. Reminded me of backpacking trips with my troop. After the campground, the real climb starts. It was well graded, but definitely going up.

Overcast in LA.

As I climbed up to the ridge, the views got much better. I also stopped passing people, and it felt like the mountain was mine. Just below the summit is the remnants of a small building. The roof is long gone, as well as the doors and windows, but it would have been a neat little cabin. 

I set up on the LA side of the summit, so I could enjoy the view while operating. There was enough brush to easily put up the antenna. I didn't have cell service, so I decided to only do 20m/30m/40m, since 17m hadn't seemed that great the previous week. This worked out well, and I got lots of contacts.

Former summit hut.

Since I had a good view of the LA area, I decided to try some VHF. I soon had a small pileup on two meters. Southern California seems to be a great place for VHF. As I was packing up other hikers started arriving at the summit. I guess the hike is more popular than I first thought. On the way down I passed a bunch of people taking pictures along the ridge. The campground was empty when I passed through again. Back at the parking lot there was some trail magic for the thru hikers. I simply crossed the lot and headed north on the PCT towards Williamson.

Trailhead: Islip Saddle, Angeles Crest Highway.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the PCT south to the Little Jimmy Campground, then turn right and take the trail to the summit.
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube

W6/CT-067 Table Mountain

 After hiking Circle Mountain I drove up the Angeles Crest Highway a few miles to Table Mountain Road. Here, I drove up to the end, where there is a big parking lot for Mountain High North Resort. There were a few cars there, and the restaurant seemed to be open. I tried to get a shady spot.

Abandoned ski lifts.

From here it was a short walk up the hill to the top of Table Mountain. There is an active disc golf course here, so be careful. After walking around a little, I found a tree that I could sit behind that looked like it would offer protection from wayward discs. And as a bonus, it was shady.

My protector tree.

I used a downed tree to hold up my antenna, strung up away from the golf course. I had very marginal cell service, and I wasn't able to reliably get out spots. Despite this, I made plenty of HF contacts, and some summit-to-summit stations even found me. It was pleasantly cool on top, a nice change from the two exposed summits I had just done.

View down to the desert.

Once I was done, I walked back down to the car for the long drive back to Palmdale. It was sad seeing the burned joshua trees down in the desert from the Bobcat fire. Those trees are really neat. 

Trailhead: End of Table Mountain Road (4N21).
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Walk up and find a good spot. The parking lot appears to be just below the AZ. 
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube

W6/CT-071 Circle Mountain

 After getting back to the car from Ralston Peak, I continued driving up Lone Pine Canyon Road to the height of land, just south of Wrightwood. Here I parked in a small pullout by a gate and started up to Circle Mountain.

Parking spot behind the camera.

The trail starts as a fire road, and drops a short distance to a col. Here I passed some guys taking their dogs for a walk. When I told them I was going to the summit, they seemed impressed, saying they'd never been. The fire road ends here, and it becomes a single track trail.

High peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The trail obviously sees maintenance, there were plenty of trimmed branches and such along the way. It wasn't too steep, especially compared to what I had just done on Ralston. The summit is fairly large and flat, but I found a small cairn with a register. After checking for red ants, I stopped and signed it, then put up the antenna. 

On the air with my QCXmini.

The cell service was marginal, and combined with the hot sun, my phone got hot enough to turn itself off. However, I had no problems getting contacts on the bands, making at least one on each band. As I was packing up I noticed some structure farther down the summit. It could have been a picnic table, but I didn't want to walk over to find out, so I just went down. 

Nearly back at the road.

It was a quick trip down. Back at the car I blasted the AC and drove up a bit farther to get Table Mountain.

Trailhead: Height of land, Lone Pine Canyon Road.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the road then trail to the summit. 
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube