W6/NC-212 Red Hill

Red Hill was the second peak of the day, and was much nicer than Peak 1331, a few miles south. The trailhead for this peak is the parking area for the Upper Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area. The lot is not marked on Google Maps but putting in directions to Upper Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area will get you close, and there are signs along 152 in both directions. The dirt lot is easy to see in the aerial imagery. At the kiosk, fill out a permit, then head down the road to the creek.

The first descent/final climb.

The road drops a few hundred feet, crosses the creek, then follows the creek away from the reservoir. The nice road ends, but there are some paths along the creek that can be followed. If there is a lot of water, your feet will get wet on this section. After about half a mile, there is a dirt road on the east side of the creek that climbs very steeply up a ridge. The road is marked on the USGS quad, and easy to see in the satellite image.

Part way up, looking over towards the reservoir.

At the high point of the road there is a fence to keep the cattle in the correct section. Cross the fence, and a short distance away on the other side is another ranch road. This road climbs and a much better grade, with a few descents, to the top of the main ridge. There were a lot of cows in this area, but they all ran away from me.

First view of the summit. The peak to the right of the tower is slightly higher.

Hiking along this section I also climbed above the inversion layer that was holding all the haze in the valley. With views of the nearby peaks and the Sierra I enjoyed my climb up to the summit. On the summit ridge, the ranch road joins a different road, probably the one that gives access to the tower. I walked past some deer, then the tower to the summit. There were a few scraggly trees at the top, but not enough to block the view. I could easily see the high peaks of Merced County standing out above the haze below.

Merced High Peaks. Pacheco Peak on the right. Fremont Peak just visible to its right.

 I set up my pole again, and got on 20 meters. My first contact was a summit to summit with KR7RK in Texas. I was surprised that 30 and 40 meters didn't get as many contacts as 20 did. After working everyone on HF I took out my HT and got on the VHF/UHF bands. I made two contacts on 144 and 440 each, all people in the central valley or Sierra foothills.

Looking into Henry Coe SP. Burra Burra Peak was visible.

It was getting late at this point, and I wanted to get back to the car before sunset, so I packed up and left. There was a great sunset starting, so I took some pictures before leaving. The trip back was uneventful, and I made it to the car a few minutes after the official sunset. I had thought that it was later, so I was glad to get back before it was too dark.

Mt Hamilton and Mt Isabel were just visible.

Trailhead: Upper Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area parking lot.
Website: SOTA Site. Cottonwood Creek Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Take the road down to the creek, then walk upstream until you reach the road that goes up the ridge on the right. Climb up steeply to the fence, cross the fence to the other ranch road, and follow it to the summit.

Red Tape: None. Free, self-issued permit required, available at the TH.

Neat cloud formation and colors.

W6/NC-384

This low peak is near the San Luis Reservoir, on the other side of CA 152 in the central valley. The closest access I could find was starting at the San Luis Recreation Area, then hiking into the Lower Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area. I drove over Pacheco Pass, then paid my $10 entrance fee. I parked in the first lot I came across, driving down the road.

Typical view on the hike.

There was a lot of haze in the valley, so no views today. I walked back along the road to the wide, flat valley. There was a dirt road running up the valley which was much easier than walking through the tall grass. At the top of the valley is another dirt road, which I took to the left. This climbs slowly up a narrow valley along a stream. There were lots of tracks in the road after the recent rains, and a lot of tracks from some sort of cat. Somewhere along the roads I crossed into the Lower Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Area. I didn't see a sign or fence marking the boundary.

Not sure what animal the track is from.

At the end of the valley there was a large propane tank painted camouflage. The road turns left here and goes up some other hills. I continued straight and followed the ridge to the top, veering to the right when I got higher up. The climb up was steep but short. The summit area is relatively flat and rocky, enough so that I had trouble getting my stakes in the ground enough to guy my pole. I got it up eventually, and got on the air.

Setup on the summit.

I started on 30 meters, and after working everyone there, went up to 20. I thought about trying 40 andVHF, but I wanted to leave enough time to go over and get Red Hill, so I packed up. Instead of retracing my steps on the way down I followed the top of the ridge and descended to the south until I reach the road I had walked in on. From here I walked along the road back to the wide valley, then back to the paved road. This was not a very exciting hike, but would probably be a lot nicer if there are views from the top, or green grass and wildflowers in the spring.

View of something through the haze.

Trailhead: Parking lot in San Luis Reservoir Recreation Area.
Website: SOTA Site. Park Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Walk back along the paved road to the wide valley, the one after the one with power lines. Follow the road to the top of the valley, then turn left and follow the ranch road to the top of the valley. The summit is up to your right, pick a ridge and hike up.

Red Tape: None. 

W6/NC-477 Nesbit Ridge

Nesbit Ridge is a peak on the west edge of Henry Coe State Park, above Coyote Lake. The easiest access is from the Coyote Lake Dam in Coyote Lake Harvey Bear Ranch County Park, probably the park with the longest name. As I was driving into the park I passed a group of wild hogs near the park headquarters. This was the first time I had seen wild pigs. I paid the entrance fee, then drove along the lake to the dam. There is a large parking area here.

Trailhead. Gate is near the porta-potty. Sections of the road were visible too.

The USGS Quad shows a ranch road runs from the dam to very near the summit, and satellite views show that it still exists. The start of the road was behind a locked vehicle gate with a sign saying that fishing was not allowed. Since I wasn't going fishing, I climbed over the gate and headed down the road. The road drops down along and follows the stream until it turns and crosses. On the other side is an open meadow. On my way down I saw a bunch of deer in the meadow.

Deer in the meadow.

 There is an obvious road that continues downhill, along the stream, but the road to the summit goes across the meadow then starts climbing. From the stream crossing, the road climbs over 2100 feet over 4.5 miles, at a constant grade. The hike up was more pleasant than most ranch roads in Henry Coe which don't use switchbacks. After climbing about 200 feet, the lake comes into view again.

First view of the lake.

The road is obviously not used much, I didn't see any tire tracks. There are also some blow downs, washouts, and such that would make wheeled travel very hard. In a few places I thought I saw some fresh human footprints. At home, I discovered that Marcus Sierra had come up the day before to bag the peak. Higher up, in the grassy areas, there were some cows grazing, but they were skiddish and ran away from me as I approached.

Fremont Peak, to the south.

Near the top I left the road to walk up the last spur to the top. There are herd paths that lead to the top. There are some trees on top, much like Wilson Peak or Wasno Ridge, so a pole is not necessary. I had mine, so I setup in an open area with great views. The hardest part was finding an area large enough to sit in that wasn't covered in cow dung. I was not in a hurry, so I started operating on 15 meters and worked my way down to 40, getting contacts on each band.

Loma Prieta, Mt Um, West Twin Peaks, 1509, El Toro, and more were easy to see.

I then went to VHF. I got a few contacts on 2 meters, and one each on 440 and 222 MHz. I was surprised to find someone monitoring 222, but happy to make the contact. The breeze had started to pick up and the sun set, so I packed up and headed down. I cut some switchbacks in the grassy upper section to speed up my descent. It took me just under two hours to hike up, but only 1.25 to get back to the car.

View from the bridge. Would not be passable with high water.

Trailhead: Dam at the north end of Coyote Lake
Website: SOTA Site. Park Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map.
Route: Follow the old ranch road down along the stream, across it, then up to the summit.
Red Tape: None. Note that the map on the park website says the land to the north of the dam is private, but the map I was given when I paid the entrance fee shows it as public land.

W6/CC-021 San Benito Mountain

San Benito Mountain is a high point, of both the Diablo range and San Benito County. It also has over 3000 feet of prominence. Overall, a nice mountain. With an off-road vehicle and some permits, access is very easy. San Benito was the third peak of the day I did with Rex, KE6MT. After leaving Santa Rita peak in a hurry, we drove over. A main road goes to within 200 feet of the summit. From here it is less than half a mile up to the top. The road, for tower access and closed to public vehicles, goes up the south east spur to the summit.

Late afternoon view near the top.

It was a quick walk up to the high point, which is near the lower towers. We looked for a register, but didn't see one. We scrambled up the highest rock, and took turns being the highest person in the county. The summit area is fairly flat, so there is a large activation zone. There is a metal fence on the west side which I used to support my pole and antenna. KE6MT and I decided which bands we would each use to avoid interference, and had our HTs if we needed to coordinate.

That is a very large and well-built tower for only one antenna. Crazy motorcycle man claimed that it was the transmitter for a Sacramento area FM station.

I started on 17, but didn't get anyone after a few minutes of calling. I then went down to 30 where I got the usual pileup. Since it was late in the day, I thought that 60 might provide some contacts, but I only got W7RV there. Because the sun was going down and we wanted to go back to Santa Rita, we didn't spend a lot of time working all the bands.

Setup to watch the sun set.

Trailhead: Jeep trail that leaves to the right, a short distance below the summit.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map. Overview Map.
Route: Walk up the road to the top.
Red Tape: Inside the Serpentine ACEC of the Clear Creek Management Unit. There are old asbestos mines in the area. The permit allows you to spend one day in the ACEC. The permit is free, but there is a $10 online reservation fee. I would recommend going after a rain, so there is less asbestos dust in the air. A vehicle permit is also required, but can be purchased on the way in to avoid the $10 online fee. If you want to drive up, call the BLM office to get gate codes, etc.

Back to the car. A happy KE6MT in the foreground, Santa Rita in the distance.

W6/CC-022 Santa Rita Peak

Santa Rita Peak wast the second of three peaks I did with Rex, KE6MT. After fighting our way up Peak 4850, Santa Rita was a nice, easy drive-up. At the height of land on the road, there is a turn off to the summit. A sign said the road was closed to vehicles, so we parked and walked up to the summit.

Summit of Santa Rita.

The road goes around the west side of the summit to the communication towers, then south up to the summit. The high point requires a small scramble to reach. We both tagged the high point, then set up farther away from each other. Rex was worried that it would be hard to coordinate band changes, but I pointed out that we both had HTs.

Selfie at the summit.

Rex set up on the summit, and I setup at the base of the rocks. Right as we were getting on the air, a man rode up on a dirt bike. He stopped, looked at me, and took off his helmet. "What are you doing on my mountain?" he asked. I thought he was joking and laughed it off, but he seriously thought that the summit area was his private property. He told us to leave, and since we weren't 100% sure that we were still on BLM land, we packed up. We also weren't sure how crazy he was, or if he had a gun. On the walk back to the car we each managed one contact with a guy near Fresno on 70cm.

Sunset from Santa Rita.

We drove over to San Benito Mountain to activate it, and got enough cell service to download the map that the BLM people had sent when we got the gate code. It clearly showed that Santa Rita was on public land. So, after we finished on San Benito we drove back to finish our activation. In the rapidly falling light and temperature we setup my rig, and started calling CQ on 40. After 10 minutes with no reply, we started calling on VHF as well. Tuning around 40 I could hear some European stations booming in, much louder than I would have expected.

KE6MT calling CQ.

Eventually we each got three more contacts and both were able to claim points for the peak. We quickly packed up the station and walked back to the car. With the heater on, we quickly warmed up and had an adventurous drive down the dirt roads in the dark, then back to the bay area.

California has the best sunsets.

Trailhead: Jeep trail that leaves to the left, a short distance below Santa Rita Peak.
Website: SOTA Site.
Maps: AA6XA SOTA Hikes map. Overview Map.
Route: Walk up the road to the towers, then follow the trail to the base of the rocks. Scramble up to the summit. Easy class 3.
Red Tape: Inside the Serpentine ACEC of the Clear Creek Management Unit. There are old asbestos mines in the area. The permit allows you to spend one day in the ACEC. The permit is free, but there is a $10 online reservation fee. I would recommend going after a rain, so there is less asbestos dust in the air. A vehicle permit is also required, but can be purchased on the way in to avoid the $10 online fee. If you want to drive up, call the BLM office to get gate codes, etc.

San Benito Mountain to the right of center.