W6/CT-095 Liebre Mountain

My original plan for an activation was to go to the high peaks in San Gabriel National Forest, but the main highway is still closed due to the snow. So instead I picked a lower peak on the desert side of the range. I had never done a six-point peak, so Liebre Mountain was it. I drove up from the Burbank airport, and hoped that the clouds and rain would stop and lift by the time I got to the trailhead. The parking area was under the clouds, but I quickly climbed into them.

Looking down at the road and parking area.

I took the PCT up to the ridge, passing two NOBO thru hikers, then turned right and walked along the fire road until I was in the activation zone. It was cold and cloudy and windy, so I stopped and setup as soon as I was sure I was in the AZ. I had forgotten the stabilizer feet for my W4OP Loop, so I had a lot of trouble keeping it from falling onto me when the wind gusted. This also made it hard to tune. Overall, a very unpleasant situation. I barely scraped up 4 contacts, one on 40, two on 20, and one on 17 meters. As soon as I got the last one I packed up and headed down.

Views on the way down.

As soon as I got off the ridge the wind slackened and I soon got below the clouds. There were some decent views of the Mojave desert to the north. Overall it took me about 1.5 hours to get to the top, a brisk pace.

Trailhead: Height of land on Pine Canyon Road. PCT crosses the top of the parking area.
Website: SOTA Site
Maps: Halfmile's maps are popular with PCT hikers (Section E). I used a USFS map from Caltopo. KB1KXL SOTA Hikes map
Route: Take the PCT up the hill (SOBO). At the top, go around the fence and follow the road into the activation zone.
Red Tape: None.

Cold and happy.

W6/NC-180 Mt Allison

Saturday was a busy day in the QRP/SOTA world. There was the JA/NA summit to summit event and the QRP to the field event. To take advantage of all of the exciting things going on I decided to climb Mt Allison and spend some time at the summit. I hiked up from the Stanford Ave trailhead. There is not enough parking here so you have to park way down the road, which adds up to a mile to the hike. I took the less popular Peak Meadow Trail and Horse Heaven Trail. These trails have some sections which are very steep. Not too bad going up, but the downhill can be unpleasant.

The more popular trail up.

Once I got up to the ridge it was a pleasant walk over to the summit. There is a bench at the highest point, past the towers, where I set up. There is also a benchmark behind the bench. The ground near the bench is very hard packed, so I attached the pole to the bench, and ran my dipole legs parallel to the ridge.

Antenna ready to go.

The cell service on top is spotty and very unreliable, so I hoped that RBNHole would spot me. I started on 20 meters, but only got a response from ae9f in San Francisco. I then moved down to 40 meters where I got enough QSOs to make it a successful activation. After no one had answered my CQs for a while, I got out my HT and tried 2m. There were a lot of stations on 2, including 3 S2S contacts, one of them in the Sierra. At one point there were chasers in the Bay Area calling me, but people in the Central Valley were talking, so I wasn't able to respond immediately. A good problem to have.

Looking East.

I brought my KX3 up, so I decided to try some SSB. I got three contacts, including 2 S2S. I then went up to 17 and 15 meters, and got one or two contacts on each band. Calling CQ in SSB resulted in no further contacts on any bands. By this point the clouds had come in and the wind picked up and I was getting chilly, so I packed up and headed down.



Trailhead: Top of Stanford Avenue in Fremont. Also can start at Ohlone College.
Website: SOTA Site
Maps: http://www.ebparks.org/parks/mission KB1KXL SOTA Hikes map
Route: Take the Peak Meadow Trail (right at the fork) and Horse Heaven Trail to the ridge, then follow the fire road (Bay Area Ridge Trail) to the Access Road to the summit. Continue past the towers and structures, and there is a bench looking west.
Red Tape: Parking is limited at the Stanford Ave trailhead - read about it here.

W6/NC-432 Chabot 2 Benchmark

Chabot 2 Benchmark is an easy peak near the junction of 580 and 238 in San Leandro. This area is popular with dog walkers, and dogs are explicitly allowed off-leash. From the Fairmont Ridge Staging area, go up the paved trail. There are views to the East as you walk up.

Lake Chabot.

When you reach the gate at the line of trees, don't go through the gate. Follow the trail down, then up to near the summit. The true summit is fenced off, so find somewhere in the trees to set up. Through the trees you can see SF and the Oakland airport.

Don't go through the gate!

There were a bunch of cows near the place I decided to set up initially. After my antenna was mostly up, the cows started coming over, and seemed threatening to me, so I took down the antenna and moved away from the cows. I made 9 contacts, including a 2m summit to summit with K6ZHS on Discovery Peak. We tried to get a S2S on the 70cm band, but had no luck.

Trailhead: Fairmont Ridge Staging Area on Fairmont Drive.
Website: SOTA Site
Maps: Not really needed. KB1KXL SOTA Hikes map
Route: Follow the paved road to the fence. Leave the road, staying on the right side of the fence. There are a few areas one could set up in.
Red Tape: None.

W6/NC-268 Rocky Ridge

Rocky Ridge is a peak on the border of some EBMUD land and Las Trampas Regional Wilderness, that offers great views of the East Bay, especially Mt Diablo. This is also a great summits on the air peak for VHF to the Bay Area. The trailhead is in the regional wilderness, at the end of Bollinger Canyon Road. If the lot is full, there is plenty of space to park along the road. There are some picnic tables and a pit toilet.

Trailhead area.

The most direct way to the summit is to go up the paved access road. This is steep in places, but the asphalt leads to great footing. This is one of those hikes where the destination is in view the entire time, much like Mission Peak.

The summit, from the trailhead.

Because of all the rains this winter, a short section of the road had washed out. This would prevent a vehicle from passing, but bikes and hikers can cross it no problem. There is a gate part way up that marks the end of the EB Parks land and the beginning of the EBMUD land. You need a permit to pass through, but it looks like there are other areas in the activation zone that are still in Las Trampas if you are too cheap to buy a permit.

Washout.

At the top, continue past the towers and fenced in area. There is a flat, grassy area between a trail and a barbed wire fence that makes a good operating position. I find that these fences are super convenient for putting up my antenna. Once set up I made 11 contacts, mostly on 30 meters.

Antenna with Mt Diablo.

The trip back to the car was much faster than the way up, and short enough that my legs and knees didn't get too tired. Once back I headed over to the Chabot 2 BM in San Leandro.

Trailhead: End of Bollinger Canyon Road. Small lot, or park along the road.
Website: SOTA Site, EB Parks Site
Maps: Available at the Trailhead, or from the parks site above. KB1KXL SOTA Hikes map
Route: Follow the paved road to the top. Walk past the enclosed towers, and there is a flat area with a barbed wire fence for easy setup. Long route possible from Rancho Laguna Park in Moraga.
Red Tape: Permit needed to use EBMUD land.

Bollinger Canyon, Mt Diablo.

W6/NC-182 Willson Peak

Wilson Peak is an easy to reach peak in the southern part of Henry Coe State Park. On my two trips there I have taken two different routes, both of which I'll describe here. The first time I activated was over my Thanksgiving break in 2016. I started from the Hunting Hollow entrance, and took the Jim Donnelly Trail to the ridge, where I followed Steer Ridge Road to the top. Jim Donnelly is a fairly new trail, and is well constructed with many switchbacks. This makes the hike up and down much easier, and I would recommend it over a shorter route.

My antenna is up there somewhere.

There are a few knobs that all look about the same height, but they are all in the activation zone, so pick one to operate from. At the true summit there is a USGS marker. I made 10 contacts this first trip. It was also colder than I had expected with a strong wind, so I tried to huddle behind the tree my antenna was in.
The second time, in 2017, I came over from Wasno Ridge. The Wilson Peak Trail was less steep than I feared it would be, but still was a healthy climb. It was also April, so the wildflowers were in full bloom.

Wilson Peak Summit.

It was much warmer this time around, and I made 17 contacts, HF only. There was a cell signal, so I had no problem self-spotting. Everyone in the pileup on 30 meters seems to have zero beat-ed me, and I had trouble picking out the first few calls. I have much more respect for the DX stations that have much bigger pileups to sort through. Since I was parked at the end of Gilroy Hot Springs Road, I took the Spike Jones Trail back to my car.

I think that is Mt Robison in the center.

View on the hike down. Copernicus Peak (center), Mt Isabel (in front of Copernicus), Mt Sizer (ridge on right), and Coe Ranch (on the left ridge) are all visible.

Poppies.

Trailhead: Hunting Hollow Parking Lot. This lot is very large. $6 parking fee.
Website: SOTA Site
Maps: Purchase from the visitor center or the Pine Ridge Association. I've not found a good free map online. KB1KXL SOTA Hikes map
Route: Many choices. I took Jim Donnelly Trail (aka the best trail in the park) and Steer Ridge Trail. Coming up or down via Wilson Camp is also nice (e.g. the Bowl Trail).
Red Tape: None for hikers. Trails closed to biking after rain.

Interesting colors.