This easy peak is a bit east of California City in the middle of the Mojave Desert. There are a number of dirt roads of varying quality in the desert, and with enough clearance you can drive very close to the summit. I drove in via Tamarack Street, a dirt road. The first part of this road was good, passable by a sedan, but it got rougher as I got closer to the butte. This rougher part is labeled as 140th Street on maps.
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| Summit from the parking spot. |
Since I had a jeep with some clearance, I was able to drive all the way to the col between Castle Butte and a lower peak. From here is was less than half a mile up to the top. The first part is steep sand, then it gets rocky. It was very windy, and a few times I had to put a hand down to keep my balance during a gust.
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| Views of the high desert. |
Since it was so windy, after I tagged the summit I found a spot on the lee side of the hill to set up. I managed to get my antenna up in a bush, and started on 17m. The highlight was working Slovenia, with good signals both ways. There was great cell service on top, so spotting was not an issue.
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| California City was just around the rocks. |
I didn't spend too long on top, since there were three more summits I wanted to get, starting with the Rosamond Hills. I took the same route back to the pavement, since I knew it was passible. There is one house along the road, and as I drove by a dog started running after the car. I wonder if it was curious or angry.
Trailhead: Col, just northwest of the peak.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Scramble up to the summit.
Red Tape: None.
Video: ham_bitious YouTube
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