W6/CT-218 Temescal Ridge

 It was a warmer than expected day as I drove up Reseda Blvd. At the end is Topanga State Park, with Temescal Ridge my goal. At the end of the road there is paid parking, but if you're willing to walk a little farther you can park for free below. I was feeling cheap, so I used the free parking, then set off up the hill.

Top of the free parking lot.

There are a lot of trails in the park, so bring a map. I didn't see any paper ones available for taking at any of the kiosks. I took a fire road that seemed to be going in the right direction. It was, but it would've been more direct to take a single track trail at the start.

Looking back at Oat Mountain.

The fire road trail winds its way up nearly to the summit. About 3/4 of a mile before the summit the road reaches a col with a pit toilet and bench. After a quick pit stop I continued up to the top. Just before the summit a trail reaches the road. Take this single track up to the high point.

Pacific Ocean

The very top of the mountain is pretty small, so I went down a few feet to set up near some bushes. I didn't have cell service where I was sitting, but RBNhole spotted me no problem. Once I was done on HF I went to the top for some VHF and made a few more contacts.

Summit just behind my pole and antenna.

I took the same route down, mostly. I did take a little single track that went over one of the bumps. It added some variety, though there were some steep parts. Back at the car I put on some clean clothes before heading to the airport to go home.

Trailhead: End of Reseda Blvd. There is both free and paid parking.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route:  Take the fire road to just below the summit, then take the Backbone Trail up to the top.
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious YouTube

W6/CT-032 Oat Mountain

 It was a windy day as I arrived at the trailhead in Michael D. Antonovich park. This park is at the end of Brows Canyon Road. The road has a number of "no trespassing" signs along the way, but it seems you are allowed to drive up, since there's the park entrance. I paid my $5 and drove to the upper dirt lot.

Parking area.

The entrance to the lot is a bit rough, but I was able to get in without bottoming out the sedan I had. The path to the top is a paved road. A short distance up it passes the site of a Nike Missile base, back when the missiles were needed to defend against Soviet bombers. There isn't much left but graffiti in the area.

Views of the destination.

The road continues up at a pretty good grade. There are some flatter sections, but the climb is fairly constant. Shortly below the summit there was a signed gate. I didn't want to go through it, so here I turned and went straight up the hill. It was rather steep, but I was quickly at the top.

Summit ahead!

I tagged the summit, then set up a little below it under some trees. It was out of the wind, which was nice. I had almost lost my hat a few times. I didn't have cell service where I was sitting, but I had had it for most of the hike up. I think if I had walked around a bit I would've found somewhere that had service.

Looking over at the Santa Monica Mountains.

I had limited time, so I only did 20m and 40m, with a few calls on 2m at the end. I didn't get a lot of contacts, but there was no problem activating the summit. Once I was done I took the road back down. I didn't feel like going down the steep grass, so I took it from the summit. It probably would've been smarter to go up that way.

Trailhead: End of Browns Canyon Road in Michael D Antonovich Park
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route:  Follow the paved road to the summit.
Red Tape: None. 
Video: ham_bitious Youtube