This is an easy drive-up summit about sixty miles north of the center of Atlanta. There's even a deck and a folding chair for enjoying the views from this summit.
About 3.6 miles south of the 282 and 515 intersection in East Ellijay, Georgia, turn east from 515 onto Talona Mountain Road.
Pearls On A Necklace – SOTA Adventures in W6/CT. Strung along the Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2, Los Angeles County, California), which runs through the San Gabriel Mountains, on the stretch between the Pasadena / Glendale area to the south, and the Apple Valley / Victorville area to the north, lie more than 20 SOTA listed summits. Most of these SOTA list mountains are 6 to 8 point summits. Proximity to Los Angeles, relatively easy access and beautiful terrain, similar to east slope Washington and Oregon Cascades, make this a “SOTA tourist delight” area. On 3 separate days, between October 31, 2014 and November 4, 2014, I activated five (5) of these SOTA summits. This report is #1 of 5.
Seeing Red...and orange, yellow, blue and green. The reference here is to fall colors and the ongoing hunting season. Beautiful fall day, with mostly sunny weather, fall foliage on display. Several hunting parties in the Teanaway, Beverly and Bean creek valleys necessitated wearing bright colored clothing, and making our presence known.
Last full day of summer, 2014 - A short Activation hike to a beautiful mountaintop view from the somewhat smallish summit area of Mount Catherine.
A last minute decision to attempt a SOTA Activation on the last full day of summer 2014, led us to choose Mount Catherine, behind the Summit East (Hyak) ski area, near Snoqualmie Pass.
This could be the second of two 6-point peaks in the same day when you combine this with an activation of Union Peak (SN-082) - you'll want to cross Union on the way to Jove anyway!
Surprise Mountain is right off of Section J of the Pacific Crest Trail #2000 in Washington. We were hiking south from the Steven’s Pass trailhead and camped at Deception Lakes - about 17.5 miles from the trailhead. From that point, it is only 1.3 miles and a 1300’ gain up the Surprise Mountain Trail #1063 to the summit. Following the horse camp signs along a very well maintained trail got me on the right path.
No Joke on Jester Mountain, but Mr. Murphy (as in Murphy's Law) showed up. Fall is nearly in the air. The flowers are long gone, replaced by late season berries and mushrooms. Air temperature when leaving the car at 9:00 AM was 44 degrees F. Crossing Snoqualmie Pass, the weather was rainly, foggy & windy. It did not look promising, but the anticipated East Slope of Cascades Rain Shadow was in effect, and we had a glorious day in the Wenatchee mountains.
Get yourself to Keno, Oregon and you'll be within a few miles of a couple of good summits. Chase Mountain has a lookout and is a drive up in most any vehicle. Keno is about 12 miles SW of Klamath Falls on the Green Springs Highway 66, or about half that distance to the NW from Highway 97 on the Keno-Worden Road from the wide spot that is Worden, Oregon.
Here's a sort of easy hike close in to Klamath Falls, Oregon. You'll keep your car clean as the trailhead access is paved all the way into the parking lot.
Skunked In Switzerland!
My ambitions for activating several SOTA Summits in Switzerland fell far short. Switzerland has been experiencing one of the worst "summer" seasons in many decades. This is impacting tourism, and certainly impacted our plans.