W6/CT-082 Bare Mountain

 This mountain feels like it is deep in the San Gabriel Mountains even though it is fairly close to the desert. The trailhead is along road 5N04.4 south of the summit, near the Pinyon Flats shooting area. The day I went all the gates were open and I was able to drive right to the fire break, where I parked on the side of the road. Note that the dirt road section is somewhat rough, and you may not want to go down it in a regular sedan.

Heading up the fire break.

The fire break that you follow to the summit starts at a culvert. There was lots of evidence of shooting in the area, so be careful if you head there. I had passed one parked car on my drive in, so I wasn't worried. The fire break is generally wide and easy to follow. The climb up to the ridge isn't particularly steep, and I was soon enjoying the views.

Excellent Halloween views.

After you get to the ridge, there is a bit of a drop, then a steep climb up to a sub-peak. It was slow going, with loose sand and no switchbacks. However, like most hikes, if you persevere you'll get to the top. After the sub-peak there is a shallow col then the climb up to the summit. I found the firebreak became indistinct and hard to follow at the sub-peak, but there is not much brush, so it wasn't an issue.

Summit and register.

I found the summit register in a cairn on top. The notebook was wet, so I left it out to dry some while I was activating. It seemed drier when I packed it back up, and I tried to leave the opening at the bottom, so hopefully it won't be so wet for the next person. It was great at the summit, all I needed was a windbreaker while I operated.

Views to the Antelope Valley.

I had good service on top, and was able to spot for SOTA and WWFF/POTA. This resulted in a pretty good size pileup, and I got around 40 contacts total. Once I had worked everyone, I packed up and headed back down. The steep bits were a somewhat treacherous with my road running shoes, but I made it down without falling. Then it was just a long drive all the way back to the Angeles Crest Highway and back down to Palmdale.

Trailhead: Road 5N04.4 at the Pinyon Flats shooting area. The Forest Service map shows a trail here.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route:  Follow the fire break trail to the ridge and summit.
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube