W6/SC-149 North Chalone Peak

North Chalone Peak is the high point of Pinnacles National Park, and a great summit. It is easy to pair it with South Chalone, and get both in one outing. From the Bear Gulch day use area, hike up to the Bear Gulch Reservoir, walk across the dam, then take the Chalone Peaks Trail up to the summit. There is a fence crossing at the ridge, an another at the junction with the South Chalone Trail.

View of the High Peaks region on the way up. Hawkins Peak in the highest point.

North Chalone is easy to pick out because of the old lookout tower on top. There is also a pit toilet, but this is camouflaged and hard to see. There are no good supports for an HF antenna, so bring a pole. There are, however, a few posts that you can strap your pole to, making setup easy. There was a bit of a breeze, so I set up so I could sit on the sunny side of the tower and out of the wind.

Setup at the tower.

I got contacts on 30, 20, and 40 meters, but none on VHF. There is line of sight from here to Salinas and Santa Cruz, so it is reasonable to try the higher bands. The best part of the activation came as I was taking down my antenna and packing up.
Pinnacles NP is one of the locations that California Condors are released into the wild after being raised in captivity, so it is common to see them in the park. As I was taking down my antenna, two condors flew directly over my head, low enough that I could hear the wind moving through their feathers. They then circled around and landed on a rock a few meters away.

Two condors on the rock. Their tags were numbers 69 and 89. South Chalone in the background.

We watched each other for a few minutes, then the condors went about their business. I watched them, then took down my antenna, then watched them some more. Eventually they jumped down to the roof of the bathroom below the rock.

The feathers around their necks makes it look like they're wearing a fur coat.

89 was slightly bigger.

One of the more picturesque latrines I've been to.

Eventually I got bored watching them, so I headed down the mountain. The hike down was uneventful, and my car was still waiting for me in the parking lot.

Trailhead: Bear Gulch day use area, east side of the park.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map. I took my Tom Harrison Map.
Route: Hike up to the Bear Gulch Reservoir. Walk across the dam and take the Chalone Peaks trail up to the top.
Red Tape: None. Pinnacles is very busy in the spring, so parking and waiting for shuttles can be an issue then.

Great scenery to watch on the way down. Hawkins Peak in the center. Harris Benchmark may be visible.