A clear, sunny and warm day; beautiful fall colors of yellow, gold, red and purple; a successful activation; and the company of my wife, Sharon and Dexter the SOTA Dog - all made for a very pleasant outing. Summit Chief Mountain is a 6 point SOTA Summit in Chelan County, above the Stevens Pass Ski Resort area. It is accessed via highway entirely, being located at Stevens Pass, on SR 2.
Mt Scott is the highest point in Crater Lake National Park. It is also the only place wherea normal camera lens can capture the entire lake. Its a popular summit and receives a lot of traffic. The trail-head is on the eastern side of the park directly off the rim road. It's 2.5 miles to the summit with about 1200 ft of elevation gain.
The trail begins in a nice hemlock forest that transitions to scrubby pines with less and less shade or wind breaks available. If its a hot day, take plenty of water and sun protection.
Applegate Peak is located within Crater Lake National Park. It was named for Oliver Applegate,
an early Oregon pioneer. There is no established trail to this peak but it may be accessed via
a southern route directly from the Rim Road as described by K7ATN, or from Garfield Peak as
described here.
The trail to Garfield peak begins behind the Crater Lake Lodge. Hike to Garfield peak, take a look
at the lake, then backtrack about 50 yards to where the trail rounds the south end of the peak.
Palouki (Παλούκι, stake or fencepost) is an easy summit within walking distance of Skopolestown on Skopoles Island. The T1 trail will get you there.
There's also a road towards Moni Sotiros that the trail crosses several times.
Velanidia (Βελανιδιά or oak tree) is a near drive-up near Volos, Greece.
Granite Mountain presented itself as a welcome relief to a string of unsuccessful summit attempts! The road access to long, but smooth. The trail is rocky, but passable. The summit is a double, but the views as quadruple! This was also the first activation of W7I/SR-038.
An 8 point SOTA Summit, activated on a beautiful, clear summer day, with good company, a successaful activation and capped off with a bracing swim in Dewey Lake made for a very memorable outing. Approximately 6.25 Miles total travel and 2,100 feet gain, including the side trip to Dewey Lake, and climb out of the lake basin back to PCT / Naches Peak Loop Trail junction.
Pine Mountain east of Bend, Oregon is a beautiful and relatively isolated summit in the summer. However, there is no defined trail so you have to find your own way through low density pine forest and scrubland.
A return Activation of Norse Peak. This time I was with Tim Nair, KG7EJT, two other non-Ham friends, Neal & Sherri, and Dexter the SOTA Dog. On probably the hottest day of the summer, 2015, we escaped the heat of the lowlands by starting relatively early, choosing an objective with substantial tree canopy and being at nearly 7,000 feet elevation. Good company, lively conversation and a successful Activation made for another memorable SOTA outing.
An Activation...yes. A great trip...undoubtedly! However no points to show for the effort, as I only managed to eke out 3 + contacts on 40M ssb... Yet I do not consider it a failure. I will return again, and give it another try. Round trip travel was 13.1 miles, with something over 4,000 feet gain, including some ups and downs along the very long summit ridge. Highlights included portions of the Wonderland Trail of Mount Rainier Park, a few creek crossings of the wildly flowing Fryingpan Creek, replete with slippery boulder hopping leaps, and being able to spend time with my son, KC7SQD, who was up visiting from LA LA Land.