W6/NC-242 Pole Mountain

Pole Mountain was recently opened to the public, earlier this year. It is a long hike up though. The trailhead is at the Jenner Headlands preserve parking area off of route 1, a few miles north of where it crosses the Russian River. Since it opened so recently, everything there is shiny and new.

The hobbit hole bathrooms near the parking lot.

There were some paper maps, and I took one. The route up is simple, just stay on the Sea to Sky Trail until you reach the summit. The first part of the trail climbs up through open grazing land. There were excellent views of the coast and the Russian River outlet. There were a few viewpoints marked on the map, and the first even had some binoculars on a post.

Outlet of the Russian River.

This part was also very wet and muddy, and the new trails seemed like they could use some drainage work. There were a lot of cows that looked like pandas from far away. At the top of the hill the trail turns into the trees, and begins a descent down to a river.

The panda cows.

The descent wasn't hard, but I lost almost all the elevation I had just climbed. At the bottom was a fast flowing river. I found a stick and was able to rock hop across with dry feet. On the other side I had a nearly 2000' climb back up to the summit.

Across the river.

As I climbed up the other side the forest thinned out, but the fog didn't lessen. I got to the top, but it was socked in and there was no view. I went around to the picnic tables and got set up.

Almost at the top.

After putting up the antenna, I found that it wouldn't tune on any bands. Luckily I had my MFJ whip, which I hooked up. There was good cell service everywhere in the summit area. However, there was S7 noise, and I couldn't hear any chasers. This wouldn't work, so I packed up and hiked down to the bottom of the activation zone and set up again on the side of the road. There was no noise here, and I quickly got a small pileup.

Where I had set up.

I didn't linger, since I had a long hike back to the car, and they said the gate was closed promptly at sunset. It was the day before the shortest day of the year, so sunset was at 4:45. On the way back I passed some workers in a side-by-side. I caught up to them a few minutes later where I saw them reassembling a gate. Apparently their key didn't work, so they took the gate off its hinges, drove through, then put it back together.

One of the best views I had.

I made it back to the car in plenty of time, and headed back down the coast to get Bay Hill on my way home.

Trailhead: Jenner Headlands Preserve, CA 1.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the Sea to Sky Trail. 15 miles round trip.
Red Tape: None. Gate closes at sunset.

Dramatic coastal scene.