W6/NS-378

This unnamed peak is northeast of Melissa Coray Peak, and just a little higher, making it the SOTA summit. Jamie, N6JFD, and I came here after climbing Round Top. From Round Top Lake, we took the trail around the Sisters to the col with Fourth of July Peak.

Taking a breather on the way up Fourth of July Peak, with Round Top and the Sisters watching.

Here we stepped off the trail, and quickly found a use trail that we took to the summit. We thought we might be able to contour around the summit, but the routes looked steep and difficult. So we just went over. On the summit we didn't find a register, so we dropped down to the next col. It was easy to see some routes up the side of the mountain to the ridge, then the summit.

Last push up to the ridge.

As we were heading up the face, we heard Rex, KE6MT, say that he was on his summit, Little Round Top across the valley. We let him know that we were almost at our summit, and pushed up to the top. After scrambling up to the high point, I found a comfortable area to sit, and got set up for HF. Jamie decided to do a VHF only activation.

What a great place to sit and play radio.

 I did not have any cell service where I was sitting, but RBN spotted me. The bands didn't seem to be in great shape, but I managed enough contacts on HF. I then got a summit-to-summit with Rex just before he hiked down. The 222+ contest was also going on, but I only got one contact on 222 and 446, with the same station.

The Nipple, with Jeff Davis just to the left.

As we were on the summit, it started to get smoky, but not as bad as it was the day before on Markleeville. We still had quite a bit of ridge to traverse, so we didn't linger. After packing up we crossed the shallow col to the summit of Melissa Coray Peak, where there is a marker and a weather station. The last peak of the day was Thimble Peak, a short distance away.



Thimble Peak, peak number 3.

Trailhead: Carson Pass
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the PCT and other trails towards Round Top Lake. Continue around to the col with Fourth of July Peak. Climb over the peak, then up to the summit of 9795.
Red Tape: None.

Marker at the Summit of Melissa Coray Peak.