I was finally done with work in SoCal, so I headed back to the airport. My flight was later, so I had some time to stop by a peak. I decided on an easy on, Cerro Negro Benchmark. For those who want to be lazy, like I did, the place to park is the top of Sugar Loaf Drive. Looking at a map, this last house may be inside the activation zone, and just inside the gate certainly is. So this peak could be even easier than it already is.
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| Standing behind the car, looking at the trailhead. |
There are lots of signs forbidding overnight parking, but none seemed to ban day parking. So I parked under a tree in front of the last house on the street. From here it is a very short walk up to the summit.
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| Lots of RF on top. |
On the summit I set up in the only shady spot I saw, under some trees right near the fence. On the radio, 20 and 40 were basically unusable from all the interference. However, 17 and 30 were ok, so I did make some HF contacts. My second was a summit-to-summit with Dave N6AN. He asked how long I'd be up, and said he might come over.
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| Great views of the San Gabriel Mountains. |
About an hour later, a guy with two poles in his pack appeared just below the summit. Dave had left his nearby summit, driven over, and hiked up jus to say hi. We talked for a while while I made a few VHF contacts. All good things must end, though, and I had to say goodbye so I could get to the airport on time. Next time maybe we'll be able to do some summits together.
Trailhead: Top of Sugar Loaf Dr. Don't block the gate.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Go up the trail, make a U-turn at the flat spot up to the summit.
Red Tape: None. Parking hours on Sugar Loaf Dr limited.
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