W6/SC-063 Hepsedam Peak

Down at the southern end of San Benito County are Laguna Mountain and Hepesdam Peak. I had done Laguna a few years ago, and went back to attempt Hepsedam. The Laguna Mountain Camping area was closed and the gate was locked, so I had to park on the road. The sign on the gate said the trails were still open for hiking, so I climbed over and started up.

Laguna on the left, Hepsedam just peaking over in the middle.

The trail up to Laguna was as I remembered it. I knew to turn on the primitive trail and follow the new route up to the top to save some bushwhacking. At the top, I stopped for a snack and to rest for a few minutes, then continued on.
The trail up Laguna comes up a drainage, and if you continue straight over the summit area on the road you will be heading in the right direction. The road up here was rough, it probably never gets maintained.

Hepsedam Peak from Laguna. High point is the left summit.

The jeep trail drops down to a flat area on the ridge, and another jeep trail meets it here. Turn sharp right onto this new trail, and follow it down. It is nicely graded, and easy walking. It was overgrown in places, and probably only gets used by animals.

There is a very large and expensive looking occupied house just out of sight below the clearing.

After dropping a few hundred feet, the jeep trail ends. Here you have to push through a little brush to get to a nice open meadow. Follow this meadow down to the bottom of Sulphur Canyon. There is a small gully on the way down, but it was easy to find a way across.

Crossing the gully.

A little lower you cross Laguna Creek. I was able to step across. Above the other side of the creek is a well maintained and traveled road. There is a little flat area before the real climb begins. This section is the most unpleasant for two reasons. First, it is extremely steep. Second, there is lots and lots of poison oak. It was unavoidable.

Taking a break at a spot without poison oak.

At the top is the densest brush on the route. You have to push through it to get to the end of another jeep trail. That is the end of the hard section. Follow this new trail up to the ridge. The bottom part is rather overgrown, but still easy to follow. At the main road on the ridge turn right and head up.

Otherworldly landscape near the summit.

Below the summit I stepped off the road and went straight up through the woods. The area below the summit is bare earth, and a stark contrast to the rest of the terrain. At the summit are some old concrete pillars and a wooden cross. The lid for the register was still under a rock, but the body of the case was scattered around in a few pieces.

Summit.

I setup just below the summit. There was very marginal cell service for spotting, but I was able to get some out. I only did 20 and 40 since it had been getting cloudier all day, and I really didn't want to be bushwhacking back in the rain. As it turned out, I got back to my car about two minutes before the heavens opened up.

Walking back up the meadow.

I retraced my steps back to the top of Laguna, which I activated before heading back to the car. It was a long hike, but a neat mountain to go to. And somehow I never broke out in a rash from all the poison oak!

Trailhead: Laguna Mountain Campground. This is the third BLM site along Coalinga Road.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Hike up to the top of Laguna Mountain. Continue straight across the summit area on the trail. At the flat area below turn right onto a new trail. At the bottom, follow the meadow down to the stream, then bushwhack up the ridge across to the jeep trail. Follow road up to below the summit, then bushwhack the last few vertical feet.
Red Tape: None.

Looking back at Laguna.

W6/NC-333

I wanted to get out for a hike during the coronavirus lockdown, and choose this peak, thinking it would be easy to stay away from people here. There is an old logging road that runs up to the summit from Hecker Pass Highway, CA 152. Where Bodfish Creek meets the road there is a decent sized pullout, then a bridge across the stream.

Heading up the road.

I parked, crossed the bridge, and started heading up. It was cool in the redwoods, and very shady. The road climbs steeply, like these roads tend to, and I warmed up quickly. There was no challenging navigation, just a few junctions near the top. But by then its easy to see which way to go.

Old cabin on the way up.

About half way up there is an old abandoned cabin, and shortly after that an unsigned fence. There were a few down trees across the road too. Near the top the forest starts opening up, and there are some large fields.

Almost at the summit.

At the top I found a clear spot next to a tree, and got my antenna up. The cell service was very marginal on top, but I managed to get out a spot on the first band. I got 13 contacts, including two summit to summits. As I was operating, a group of turkeys walked across the field in front of me.

One of the turkeys.

After packing up I went down the same way. It was much warmer at the car, and I was glad I had got up early to do the peak.

Trailhead: Pullout on Hecker Pass Highway.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the road up to the top.
Red Tape: None.

W6/NC-350 Loma Alta, 2020 January VHF Contest

It was the January VHF contest, and time for my annual trip up to Loma Alta. This year it was sunny, but very windy and cold. I went up from Big Rock again.

The Big Rock.

This year I had two new bands, 902 and 1296. I had bought transverters from SG Labs the previous fall, and it was time to take them out to see how they worked. At the summit I set up similar to last year, yagis on one pole, wire antennas on the other.

144, 222, 432 antennas.

Vertical EDZ for 2, inverted-V EDZ for 6.

I had a few minutes before the contest started, so made 2 dozen quick contacts on 20 using my Pacificon Special antenna. Propagation on 20 was good. Once 11am rolled around I stared doing VHF. I quickly got contacts in the four nearby grids, CM88, CM87, CM98, CM97, and a few farther away ones on 6 and 2 meters. Once things started to slow down, I got out the new transverters to give them a try. They worked wonderfully.

The microwave setup.

On 1296 I heard some people in the south bay, and quickly got some contacts. Then I realized that K6MYC was actually in the Sierra foothills north of Fresno, 280km away! This is only 10km less than my 2m distance record!

My longest 1296 contact, and favorite from the contest.

902 was less fruitful, only one contact on the band. I was amazed how much more noise there was pointing the antenna at cities. By this point I was getting fairly cold, and my mast had just blow over again. I decided to just pack up and head down. My score this year is quite a bit lower than in the past because of the shorter time, but with a bit more preparation I think I'll be able to do better in June and September.

The wire antennas.

I need to get my digital interface working so I can get on FT4 and FT8 next time. I also need to see if I can get a better system to hold the pole up in the wind. I think I might need a second guying ring higher up the pole. I'd also like a 146/223/446 vertical antenna for FM. It would be nice to be able to just leave my HT connected to an antenna the entire time. I also want a better solution for the microwave antennas than just holding them. Its hard doing everything with only one free hand.

W1/HA-196 Gap Mountain

After activating Little Monadnock it was time for the last summit of 2019, Gap Mountain. I had seen a notice that the southern trailhead was closed for logging, so I drove around to the north trailhead, on Bullard Road. There is a good size parking lot on the left just before the road makes a sharp turn right.

Grand Monadnock through the trees.

Gap Mountain is just across a pass from Grand Monadnock, and I had views of it through the trees as I climbed up. The trail was well marked, and there were quite a few people out hiking, despite the Patriots game being on. After a relatively flat approach, the trail climbs up the face of the mountain. It was quite icy in places, and I was glad I had traction with me.

Looking north at Grand Monadnock again.

The route is totally in the forest until you reach the somewhat open area on top of the north peak. This area had the best views. It is well signed, to make it harder to descend the wrong side of the mountain once you're on top. The true summit of the mountain was looming just south.

Gap Mountain summit behind me.

My map showed a trail leading up to the peak, but I couldn't find it. So I decided to bushwhack, starting by heading straight towards the peak. I quickly reached a cliff, and had to walk along the top of it a short distance to find a place I could scramble down. It was not as easy as the open granite on higher mountains. After that it was an easy walk through the open forest. I found some human tracks that seemed to be heading up to the top, and followed them.

Summit cairn.

They led to a large cairn at the summit. I continued just past it to a relatively open area where I found a rock to sit on and put up my antenna. Since it was early afternoon, it was too late to get European stations, but there were plenty of North American chasers. I tried 17m again, and got many more contacts than I was expecting. I had to be back home in time for some dinner plans, so I didn't stay too long on top.

Sign on the way down. Despite what it says, that way is the best route to the summit.

Instead of trying to climb up the cliff on my way back, I headed to the left (west) some when I got to the col between the peaks. This was a much better option. I passed a sign saying the faint path I was on was not the trail to the summit, but the blazed trail doesn't get to the high point and going around the cliff is much safer than up and down it. A short distance past the sign I picked up the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail again, and followed it over the North Peak and back down to the car.

This was the best view at the true summit.

Back at the car I headed home, and made it in plenty of time for dinner.

Trailhead: Bullard Road, on the left just before the road turns right. There is a big sign.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the trail over, staying on the trail (not the road). At the north summit, continue down a short distance, then bushwhack past the "not a trail" sign and up to the summit.
Red Tape: None.

W1/HA-118 Little Monadnock

It was the last day of the year where I had both nice weather and access to a car, so I took advantage of it to get two more peaks. First up was Little Monadnock, the last of the peaks with "Monadnock" in their name. The best trailhead seemed to be Rhododendron State Park, so I drove over. The main parking lot was gated and unplowed, but there was plenty of space to park outside the gate.

One of the rhododendrons in the grove.

The trail passes through part of the grove before a well-signed junction turns off to the summit. The trail was well packed, and I had no trouble following it. The first part of the trail is fairly flat, winding through the woods. It then climbs up to the ridge, where it intersects with the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. Turn left here, and continue up to the summit.

Well marked summit.

You'll know you're there when you get to the big summit sign. Since I hadn't seen anyone else, I just set up in the clearing, strapping my pole to the sign post. It was still early enough that I got some good EU DX on 20m. It was also much warmer sitting on top, so I spent more time than I had on other activations. I even tried 17m, where I worked some more Europeans.

Mt Monadnock in the distance.

The cell service was good on top. Once I started to get cold, I packed up and headed back down, retracing my steps. I passed a few people heading up, and was soon back at the car. There was plenty of daylight left, so I headed over to Gap Mountain.

Trailhead: Rhododendron State Park
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the trail into the grove, then turn right onto the summit trail. Left on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail once on the ridge.
Red Tape: None.

The woods feel so open in the winter.