We were in Salt Lake City for a ski trip, and decided to do a SOTA activation on our off day. The weather wasn't looking that great, so we picked an easy looking peak, View Benchmark. This mountain is in the small range that separates the Salt Lake Valley from the one to the south with Provo. We prayed that the weather would hold long enough for an activation.
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| Parking is just on the side of the road. |
The trailhead is at the end of Deer Ridge Drive, with enough space for a dozen cars or so to parallel park. There was even a port-a-potty there. To get to the summit, just follow the main dirt road in front of you. There were a few junctions, but we were able to guess the correct direction to go: uphill. As we hiked, the snow started falling harder and harder.
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| Hiking up. |
As we had guessed, there was no view, being in the cloud with the snow. Once we got into the activation zone we stopped at the first sheltered area to set up. We started putting up the HF antenna, but with the cold and wind decided to just do 2m. Lucky for us, we got our four contacts in a bit less than 10 minutes. It was good we had a rite in the rain notepad, since it was wet. We were cold and a bit miserable, so we didn't stick around.
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| Operating area. |
The hike down was worse, since the wind was now blowing in our faces. The snow really stung. We managed to make a wrong turn on the way down, but realized our mistake pretty quickly. Not a good time to get lost. Back at the car we brushed off the inch or so of snow that had fallen, and blasted the heater as we drove back to the hotel.
Trailhead: End of Deer Ridge Drive.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the main road up to the summit.
Red Tape: None. Area appears to be ok for off leash dogs too.
Video: ham_bitious YouTube
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