After wanting to get started activating peaks under the SOTA program, a push from Brett, KG7FFW got both of us out to do our first activation at Three Lakes Hill on Tuesday the 26th of April. A frustrating discovery that there were no good place to park that did not require a Discovery Pass, forced a quick trip into Monroe to purchase one. Upon returning, we discovered that someone had spread nails all about the parking area.
Exposed Trail
Sunny, warm day made a first time activation fun!
SOTA Activation - Lava Butte, Deschutes County, Oregon - April 8, 2016
3 X 3 X 3 X 3 X 3 = Three Activations in three days with three, 3X3 (weak signal) contacts, amongst about 50 contacts overall. During an early Spring vacation in the Bend, Oregon area, we enjoyed all that Central Oregon is famous for! Good spring skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, SOTA Activations, and a sampling of several of the more than 80 breweries that exist in the greater Bend area. This report, number 3 of 3, deals with the Activation of Lava Butte, 5,020 feet, 1,530 meters.
SOTA Activation - Tumalo Mountain, Deschutes County, Oregon - April 7, 2016
3 X 3 X 3 X 3 X 3 = Three Activations in three days with three, 3X3 (weak signal) contacts, amongst about 50 contacts overall. During an early Spring vacation in the Bend, Oregon area, we enjoyed all that Central Oregon is famous for! Good spring skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, SOTA Activations, and a sampling of several of the more than 80 breweries that exist in the greater Bend area. This report, number 2 of 3, deals with the Activation of Tumalo Mountain, 7,775 feet, 2,370 meters.
SOTA Activation: Mount Bachelor, Deschutes County, Oregon - April 06, 2016
3 X 3 X 3 X 3 X 3 = Three Activations in three days with three, 3X3 (weak signal) contacts, amongst about 50 contacts overall. During an early Spring vacation in the Bend, Oregon area, we enjoyed all that Central Oregon is famous for! Good spring skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, SOTA Activations, and a sampling of several of the more than 80 breweries that exist in the greater Bend area. This report, number 1 of 3, deals with the Activation of Mount Bachelor, 9,065 feet, 2,763 meters.
SOTA Activation: Point 4202, Los Angeles County, California - February 4, 2016
On midwinter trip to Southern California to visit family, once again we set aside time for several SOTA Activations. This report details the Activation of Point 4202, off SR2, the Angeles Crest Highway, in the San Gabriel Mountains. I had previously Activated many nearby SOTA Summits, and had driven right below and by Point 4202 without being aware of it. Being our last day in So. Cal. we looked for a short Activation with easy to get to trailhead. Point 4202 fit the bill easy, allowing us to get back to Burbank in plenty of time to catch our afternoon flight from Burbank Airport back to Seattle.
SOTA Activation: Point 5540, Riverside County, California - February 2, 2016
Winter Adventures in Joshua Tree National Park, California. On a recent trip to California to visit family, we took some time to visit Joshua Tree National Park, and Activate a couple SOTA peaks. We made the town of Twenty Nine Palms our base, "roughing it" in the relatively new Holiday Inn Express facility, and making day excursions on February 1 & 2. This is report 2 of 2, detailing Activation of an unnamed peak, Point 5540.
SOTA Activation: Ryan Mountain, Riverside County, California - February 1, 2016
Winter Adventures in Joshua Tree National Park, California. On a recent trip to California to visit family, we took some time to visit Joshua Tree National Park, and Activate a couple SOTA peaks. We made the town of Twenty Nine Palms our base, "roughing it" in the relatively new Holiday Inn Express facility, and making day excursions on February 1 & 2. This is report 1 of 2, detailing Activation of Ryan Mountain.
SOTA Activation: Table Mountain, Los Angeles County, California - January 11, 2016
A return trip to Table Mountain, this time for a "winter" Activation. This SOTA Summit has a ski area at the peak of the mountain, Mountain High North, with the ski runs going downhill (north) from the summit. The ski area is part of the Mountain High complex of ski areas, near Wrightwood, California. Therefore, there are excellent roads leading to Wrightwood, and beyond to the ski areas, including Mountain High North. On this sunny winter day, a Monday, this particular part of the Mountain High ski complex was closed. This was one of the reasons we chose a weekday for the Activation. Nobody there! We had the entire place to ourselves.
Teapot Dome
Monday, November 23, 2015, KC8WF and I (KF7URE) hiked to Teapot Dome W7I/SR-163 to do SOTA. Teapot Dome is a desert peak at 4,712 feet high, north of Mountain Home, Idaho.