No View From Summit

I was off work today and all the kids were at school. I had a doctor's appointment at 0915 and did not have anything else planned for the remainder of the day. I decided that I would head down and recon this unnamed summit in the South side of Capital Forest. Capital Forest has a handful of one and two pointers and this is the last one that I had not activated. Capital Forest is a State Forest that has opportunities for everyone; horseback riders, off road ATVers, hikers, bikers etc.

Quck activation of my "Neigborhood SOTA Summit".  It takes me less than 10 minutes to arrive at TH from home. On a very warm day for nearly the end of January (60+ degrees F), we set out from Anti Aircraft TH, Cougar Mountain Regional Park.  Our route was abot 7 miles circuit of the upper reaches of the Park.  Wilderness Peak is about 1,600 foot in elevation and a 1 point SOTA summit.

Blog and story at: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/kf7pxt/2014-november-22/larch-mountain-activation

Nice activation.

Story and Blog at: http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2014/11/larch-mtn-w7wso-067-tuner-hill-w7wso.html

Was able to spot with SMS.

I did this one as it is very close to home and easy to get to the top. Not a very scenic hill but a nice walk. As I have said before I can't leave a summit unactivated especially this close to home. I am not sure that I will do this one again, unless I am looking for some S2S opportunity with limited time.

GPS Tracks here: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=3033743

Blog here: http://kf7pxt.blogspot.com/2014/11/ladd-mtn-w7wpl-083-bug-hill-w7wso-106.html

Pinnacle Peak is a popular spot for beginning activators in this area:  it's very accessible, and there are both northen and southern trail routes. My YF and I used the Cal Magnusson trail on the North Side.  It is a popular spot for hikers (often with dogs) and runners -- steep but only about a mile to the summit.  One runner told us she'd made the ascent in 32 minutes.  We took more like 50 minutes.

Another non-NW activation while on my summer work assignment in Cleveland.  I was getting bored with the 2 and 4 pt summits on OH, which are mostly on private land, so decided to make an expedition to something with a little more elevation.  W3/PT-007 had been previously activated, so I knew it could be done and is an 8 pointer, which would be my first.  Finding the summit on the map was a little confusing, however.  There is a summit at the coords, but it's either un-named or called "Bear Cave Lookout".

My general guidelines for off trail hiking are a mile or so across open sagebrush steppe, perhaps half a mile through open forests like ponderosa pine, and about a quarter mile for a western Douglas fir forest. This activation is a reminder to stay with these guidelines and not ever wander through a lava flow again.

I started from the Carson Guler Road, parking about 2.5 miles east of the gate for Red Mountain (W7W/LC-036 - a recommended activation). 

Turtleback Mountain is a lovely forest hike with a nice summit spot for activating. Along with Mounts Constitution and Pickett, it is one of three publicly accessible summits on Orcas Island, Washington. 

On 23 June I decided to head up and do this little one pointer that is within a couple miles of the house. This not going to be the next Mount Davidson (Elliot K6EL) as it does not have much to offer. No scenery, lots of logging roads, Teenage Partiers etc. But I did have to be the first to activate this hill. I did take this opportunity to take a lot of my radios out with me to try them out.