After hiking up a
small peak south west of Burnside Lake, I headed up Hawkins Peak. There is a decent road up to near the top, but it requires clearance and low range to get up. Since my car has neither, I walked.
The road quickly climbs out of the trees, and the views just get better as you climb. I was passed by a bunch of dirt bikes and side-by-sides. They kick up a lot of dust, so I started walking it the middle of the road to prevent this. There are some steep sandy sections of the road, but no problem on foot.
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| Getting closer. |
I took the road around to the back side of the peak, where there is a large structure covered in solar panels. It seems to be sheltering some equipment. I had assumed there was a path to the top since there are towers up there, but I couldn't find one. So I just picked a place that didn't look too bad and went up.
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| On the summit. |
The hike up the summit cone was steep, but not as bad as I feared it might be. I found some faint use trails, but nothing that looked official. It was pretty windy on the summit. but there were enough bushes to hold up my pole and antenna. After operating HF, I made my only VHF contact of the weekend, to a guy driving out Blue Lakes Road.
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| Looking back at the summit. |
The hike down was pretty quick, and I passed more vehicles going up. Back at my campsite I settled in for a relaxing afternoon in the Sierra, at least I was stung the second time by a yellowjacket.
Trailhead: Forest Road 019A
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the road up. Near the summit cone, find a good route to the top.
Red Tape: None.
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