W6/NC-376 El Toro

El Toro is a distinctive peak towering over Morgan Hill. The east side of the mountain is on public land, but the actual summit seems to be just outside this. After spending the morning climbing West Twin Peaks I came over for an easier summit. I parked at the bottom of the West Hills Community Church driveway. The gate was open, but I didn't want to get stuck on the wrong side if it was closed while I was hiking. In the corner of the parking lot at the top there is a trail that heads uphill. This leads to the summit.

Gate, small parking area on the right.

The first part of the trail switchbacks up the side of the hill on a fire road, until it reaches the crest of the ridge. Here it follows the ridge up to the summit. The final steep section has a rope that can be used to assist in ascent and descent. Its probably not necessary, but it made me feel better to use it.

El Toro summit.

The top is covered in dense brush, and the only place to set up was on the trail. As I was coming around the final bend at the top, I heard what sounded like CW coming from the bushes. Oleh, KD7WPJ, was setup and operating! This was the second time that we had met on a summit, the first was on Kratke Ridge, down in the San Gabriel's. He was on 20, so I setup my loop and got on 30 meters. I had good luck, and quickly made five contacts. We then switched, but there was a lot of noise on 20, so I went up to 17. The first station to answer my CQ was ZL1BYZ in New Zealand, with a very strong signal. After having such good luck on 17, I decided to try 15 as well, but didn't get any DX.

Operating among the poison oak.

 Oleh was getting ready to go down, so we checked to see if we could make a contact on 2 meters after he left the AZ. Tuned to the calling frequency, we heard AA0BV calling from Santa Rosalia Mountain, a few miles away. Oleh tried to answer, but AA0BV wasn't getting any audio, so I tried to make a contact. He could hear me, but my HT couldn't hear him well. In the end, it took two radios, one for transmit and one for receive for both of us to get a summit to summit.

Looking towards Loma Prieta and Mt Um.

After he left, I tried 20-ssb, then 5-cw, and made one contact each, including another summit to summit on 60. I was getting tired and hungry, so I packed up and headed back down the mountain. The descent down the rope was not difficult, and I was soon back at my car.

Trailhead: West Hills Community Church. Park below the gate unless you're sure it will be open when you return.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: From the back corner of the parking lot, follow the fire road uphill to the summit.
Red Tape: None.