W7I/BL-144 Timmerman Hills High Point

After spending a rainy day cooped up inside, I was ready to get out and do some activations. I decided to head north on US 93 to get two peaks a few miles apart. The first was the Timmerman Hills high point. I did not see a best route after studying the map, so I chose one that I thought would be ok, and that the car could handle. I parked at the intersection of Spud Patch Road and Hillsdale Ranch Road, after driving down Spud Patch. The road was passable in a sedan, but would have been easier if it had been drier.

The first hill to climb over.

From here, I had to climb over one of the lower hills, then up to the high point. The first climb was not bad, and was open grassland all the way to the top. There are some small cliffs, but it was trivial to avoid them. From the ridge, I headed down and to the left, aiming for the col to minimize my total ascent. There were some bushes, but easy to walk through. I hopped over a barbed wire fence on the way down.

First view of the high point, on the left of the ridge.

There was not as much climb to get up to the summit ridge. Instead of going over the hump on the way, I contoured across the side of the hill. The final push to the summit was somewhat steep, but short. There is not much open space on the top, but I found room to set and set up my antenna. After sending out a spot on the excellent 4G, I got on 30 meters. I stayed on the band the entire time, and made a total of 14 contacts, mostly the usual chasers. I had limited time before I had to get back for work, so I packed up after 20 minutes for the hike back to the car. It took about 45 minutes to get up, and about 30 to get down.

Setup in the only open space. The pile of rocks is the highest point.

 Back at my car I carefully drove back to the highway and over to Wedge Butte.

Trailhead: Intersection of Spud Patch Road and Hillsdale Ranch Road. If you have a more capable car, you could start somewhere closer.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Cross country. I climbed over the hill, then went down to the saddle, then climbed up to the high point. See the map above.
Red Tape: None. All on BLM land.

Sawtooth Range in the background.