The weather did not improve at all. It got worse actually. When I started from Kelly Butte trailhead started to drizzle. On the summit I got some sleet with strong wind. Luckily twenty meter was much better, but still in bad condition.
After my failure on Ararat, where I only made 3 Qs with my handheld radio on 144 MHz, I am looking for some easy summit. I can only blame myself, as I was too tired to assemble the Buddipole. If it is easy, then let’s do 3 or 4 summits straight away. As always, despite the long and thorough intelligence, things did not work out as planned at the first place. However, I bagged two summits out of the four, but let’s see the details.
The goats and I made a last minute decision on Friday night to get a SOTA fix. Saturday morning we hiked Little Baldy, near Alger, WA. If you're heading north on I-5 towards Canada or Bellingham, this is right off the freeway. Take Exit 242, turn Right (East) and the trailhead/parking lot will be clearly visible on your left in about 1/2 mile.
K7ATN and N7LKL activated Washington's Larch Mountain on Saturday, 2/2/13. We hiked in on the forest service road from the west side, starting near the Larch Corrections Center (directions below and find the eastside approach here: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/larch-mountain-silver-star.) We were able to drive up the service road quite a ways but hiked the last 1.5 miles with approximately 1200 feet gain. Weather conditions were excellent - sunny and not too cold.
First Activation of Mount Rose, Washoe County, Nevada - Ace Number 1.
The reference to Aces is because of this mountain's proximity to Reno / Lake Tahoe (Nevada side) proximity to gambling casino's.
This is a trail hike up to summit of Mount Rose, 10,766 feet elevation. Trail is about 10.6 miles round trip., with 2,000 feet +/- elevation gain.
The views are amazing!: Reno, Nevada; Carson Valley; Lake Tahoe region and northern Sierra Nevada mountain range.
UPDATE Dec 2021 - Badger Butte (and other summits in the area) are not accessible by regular motor vehicle from Dec 1 to April 1 due to closure of NF-2610 and other routes to vehicles more than 50 inches wide. A hike, snowshoe, ski, bike, snowmobile or dog sled would be the way to go. See the photo below.
Spent the weekend at Eagle Crest just outside Redmond, Oregon and decided to activate Cline Butte which is nearby on MLK Day. Left the trailhead at 08:00 with very cold (25 degrees) clear conditions with patches of snow on the ground. Followed a road most of the way to the top then cut off on a jeep trail the remainder of the way. Trip up is a little less than a mile with a 800 ft elevation gain. I added a map from Google Earth with the route I took up.
Activated W7I/CI-139 Kimama Butte on 7 Jan 2013 on the way to SLC for work. Kimama Butte is the remnant of an old volcanic hill located 21 miles SE of Craters of the Moon NP and 16 miles north of Burley, Idaho. For those who study tectonic plate movement, Yellowstone was here 8 million years ago. Acces via N1150W off I-84 and cross thru obvious cattle guard. Drove about 200 yards in 4WD up the hill then decided to walk the rest.
| Activated W7M/GA-069 Rumsey Mtn with XYL Debbie on 4 Jan 2013. Rumsey Mtn is located 16 miles NE of Anaconda Montana (home of one of the largest freestanding chimneys' in the world, 585 ft, I guess it would qualify for a summit?)and is part of Discovery Basin ski area. Triple chair takes you close to the top, but |
UPDATE Jan 2022 - The hours for Bald Peak State Scenic Park have changed. The park will close at 4pm in the winter and somewhat later in other seasons. The park website does not show open hours. There is a sign (below) with the current hours. https://stateparks.oregon.gov/index.cfm?do=park.profile&parkId=77