W6/NC-241 Pine Mountain

Pine Mountain was peak number three today, just after Mt McAbee. This is another peak in Big Basin Redwoods State Park without a view on top. From the park headquarters, make your way to the Pine Mountain Trail. There are a few different trails that will get you here, but the easiest is probably to take the trail that parallels the road.

Opal Creek

The trail leads up to Buzzards Roost, a rocky sub-peak of Pine Mountain. The trail up to the top is well graded, so the climb doesn't feel long or difficult. In the saddle between Pine Mtn and Buzzards Roost, the trail turns sharply left for the final climb to Buzzards Roost. On the right there is a sign on a fence saying the area is closed for restoration. If you go around the fence, there is an old, easy to follow trail that leads to the summit. There is a large pile of rocks at the end.

At one of the ledges on the way up. I'm not in pain, just squinting in the sun.

There are a lot of trees at the summit, but not many branches. This made it difficult to find somewhere to throw a line over for the antenna. Eventually I found a very small branch, no more than a few inches long, and after a few throws, got a line over. I set up the station and was on the air.

Operating position and antenna at the summit. 

I had a weak 4G signal, so I spotted myself. I had never made a contact on 12 meters, so I started there. I got one, then went down to 17 meters where I made two contacts. Keeping with the theme of using the WARC bands, I moved down to 30 and made a bunch. I'd also never made a contact on 60, so I called CQ, and a few minutes later NA6O came back. Since I was having success on uncommon bands, I went up to 50 MHz and called for a while, but didn't get any takers. I then got out the HT to try the VHF bands, and to my surprise I made one contact on 2 meters. He was down near Monterey, so I probably had line of sight to him over Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay.

Buzzards Roost from the "trail"

While I was on the summit I could hear the people on Buzzards Roost easily. They sounded much closer than they actually were. After all the excitement I packed up headed back to the car to drive up to Ben Lomond Mountain, the last scheduled summit for the day.

Trailhead: Big Basin Redwoods Park HQ.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map. When you pay the entrance fee, you get a map.
Route: Make your way to the Pine Mountain Trail, and follow this to the closed sign. Go around the sign and follow the old trail to the summit.
Red Tape: None.