Queens Crown is another butte in the foothills of the Sawtooth Mountains. The north side of the summit is a long cliff, so all the reasonable routes to the summit come up from the south. The USGS quads and Google both show an old dirt road that leads to the summit from Priest Road, and this is the route I took.
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| Looking back to the car. |
There is an unmarked road, that I drove past and had to turn around, in between two fields. Simply follow this road to the top. Along the way I saw a lot of birds, including some raptors who seemed to be enjoying the wind. The road is well graded, and the only steep section is the final climb to the summit. There was plenty of room on top to set up, without getting too close to the edge.
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| Setup, looking west. |
It was also quite windy on top, and I had to hold onto things to make sure they didn't fly away. I started operating on 15 meters, and quickly got a bunch of contacts, mostly to the east coast. I then went down to 17, where the highlight was working New Zealand, who had very strong signals. Finally, 30 meters got the chasers in the West.
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| Trying not to be blown away. |
By this time I had been operating for an hour, and was getting cold in the wind. The wind kept me cool until I was nearly at the car and dropped behind a small hill. The drive back along the dirt roads was easy, and I quickly got back to the hotel.
Trailhead: Priest Road, at the unmarked dirt road.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the road to the top. A high clearance vehicle could probably drive up.
Red Tape: None. All on BLM land.
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| The road is a long way down. |
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