W6/NC-537 Mt McAbee

This was the second of four peaks today, after China Grade Benchmark, and before Pine Mountain and Ben Lomond Mountain. Mt McAbee is a low mountain near the center of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and a pleasant hike in. Park at the park headquarters, and take the Skyline to Sea Trail up to the top of Middle Ridge. I was surprised there was still some water flowing in the creek near HQ this late in the summer.

Start of the trail at park HQ.

 On the ridge you have the choice of taking the Hihn Hammond Road or the Howard King Trail. I would recommend the trail, I think its more pleasant than walking on the fire road. The trail crosses the road a few times on the way up, so you could take both. Near the top is an overlook with a bench. If its not cloudy or foggy, you can see the ocean from here, or take a break. From this point, the rest of the way up is bushwhacking.

Final trail junction and bench. Enter the woods to the right of the bench.

 Behind the bench there is a convenient place to enter the woods. There seems to be a band of very dense forest along the trail that is about 20 meters wide, then open redwood forest. If you can push through the dense band, it is an easy hike up to the top. I found that if I went downhill a little, there were more openings through the brush.

Near the top.

There were some dense trees at what appeared to be the highest point, but just to the north there was a small clearing. I threw my antenna over a branch and got on the air here. I had zero cell service, so relied on the RBN to get spots. It seemed to work, as I got contacts on the 30, 20, and 17 meter bands from all the usual chasers. I called on VHF, but again didn't get any contacts.
To get back to the trail, I followed a compass bearing. The dense brush was still there, but there was a small embankment that I accidentally slid down to get onto the trail again. This resulted in a few scrapes to my elbow and some dirt in my shoes, but nothing worse. I then followed the road back down to head over to Pine Mountain.

Trailhead: Big Basin Redwoods Park Headquarters
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map. When you pay the parking fee, they give you a map.
Route: Skyline to the Sea Trail up to Middle Ridge. Howard King Trail to the overlook, then bushwhack to the top.
Red Tape: None.

The pacific is under that fog.