Pilot Peak W7I/BC-056 was the first stop on K7MK's and K7ZO's Idaho Triple Play day. (Along with Summit 7905 W7I/BC-059 and Sunset Mountain W7I/BC-062. See these other activation reports for the whole story of the day. Where appropriate, some text is repeated in each report to make each one a standalone complete story.)
A four (4) point SOTA Summit, close in to Seattle Metro area. This makes a great first Activation objective. A quick return trip outing, just before the weather turned bad. We still ended the Activation early, as it started raining. Accompanied by my wife Sharon and our Labrador Retriever Dexter the SOTA Dog.
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.
Round Mountain near La Pine, Oregon is a straightforward and interesting activation in the summer. There is a fire lookout tower on the summit and the 360 degree views are magnificent.
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.
Description of hike is that of a lesser grade, but longer distance. We took the shorter distance (about 6.7 miles total) and 2800 elevation gain. We took the trail to the right and stayed on the newer trail.
It was very windy up on top which caused us to leave pretty quickly after getting four contacts....
If you are hiking the short hike from the parking lot near the top, take the paved path to the far right of the parking lot. The hike is less than a mile to the summit. The summit is very small. It is best to do this early in the morning I think as to not disturnb other hikers. As we were leaving over 100 people were comin
On the first day of Summer, 2015, a short and easy hike up to a lookout tower providing one of the best views of Mount Rainier. Shady forest walk, a beautiful lake and a final ascent to a lookout tower that is periodically still manned. A fine weather Sunday made for crowds, however 90% + of hikers stop at the lookout tower, which is not quite the actual summit of Tolmie Peak.
This is an easy summit near Bellingham, WA. A good gravel road leads to a large parking area about 100 yards or so below the summit. I prefer to operate from a flat rock outcropping up the hill and west of the parking lot. There is just enough of a clearing to string up a 20 meter dipole and operate from the rock.