Pass Required at Trailhead

On a recent visit with some good friends in Leucadia, California (a Pacific beach community, part of greater Encinitas), I spied a cluster of 4X - 6 point SOTA Summits in the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park (California), in eastern San Diego County.  This park is approximately 70 KM east-south-east of Encinitas, and can be reached from both the south and the north.  We chose the north approach, on State Road 79, through the quaint town of Julian, a mining / pioneer town, renowned for it's great apple pies.  If there is one thing I like almost as much as SOTA Activating...it's great apple pie! We decided to head over to Cuyamaca Rancho SP, and try Activating Stonewall Peak, the easiest of the 4 SOTA Summits in the area - as a way of scouting out a future overnight trip to the area.

On a recent trip to LA LA Land, to visit family, we decided to try our luck at "Glamping" (Glamor Camping) at Mount Baldy Tent Cabins, 7,800 feet elevation, below Mount San Antonio.  Also known as "Mount Baldy", 10,064 feet elevation, it is the king of the San Gabriel Mountains which tower above the Greater Los Angeles Basin.  This was the first year these tent cabins were set up and available, and we figured they would be an ideal base for some near-by SOTA Activations. We purchased a package deal, including ski lift ride up and down from the parking area at 6,500 feet elevation, to Baldy Notch, at 7,800 feet, meal tickets at the full service Notch Restaurant and two nights lodging in the Tent Cabins.  This is report 3 of 3 dealing with the activation of Mount San Antonio (Mount Baldy).  Reports on the activations of Telegraph Peak and Timber Mountain are separate.

On a recent trip to LA LA Land, to visit family, we decided to try our luck at "Glamping" (Glamor Camping) at Mount Baldy Tent Cabins, 7,800 feet elevation, below Mount San Antonio.  Also known as "Mount Baldy", 10,064 feet elevation, it is the king of the San Gabriel Mountains which tower above the Greater Los Angeles Basin.  This was the first year these tent cabins were set up and available, and we figured they would be an ideal base for some near-by SOTA Activations. We purchased a package deal, including ski lift ride up and down from the parking area at 6,500 feet elevation, to Baldy Notch, at 7,800 feet, meal tickets at the full service Notch Restaurant and two night lodging in the Tent Cabins.  This is report 2 of 3 dealing with the activation of Timber Mountain, one of the famous "Three Tee's" (only two of which are SOTA Summits).  Reports on the activations of Telegraph peak and Mount San Antonio (Baldy) are separate.

I was just along for the ride on this one, having been invited by Rich KR7W to join him on a before-the-roads-close jaunt to activate Kelly Butte, a popular peak that has been activated at least twice already this year.

Katsuk Butte is a nice little peak near both South Sister and Devil's Hill
in the Deschutes National Park near the Mt. Bachelor ski area. It's easily
reached from the Devil's Lake campground parking area. You will need to be
comfortable with cross country travel via map/compass/GPS as there are no
trails to this summit.

Katsuk Butte can be conveniently coupled with an activation of South Sister. I
spent the night in the very nice campground on the banks of Devil's Lake,
activated Katsuk Butte late in the afternoon, and left for South Sister early

It took me 2 days to get my 4 contacts at Tolmie Peak. I drove an hour and a half from Buckley, WA down HI 162 to Mowich lake. I then hiked the 2.9 miles past Lake Euclid to Tolmie Peak and experienced strong winds and driving rain to get heard. 

I bought my Rainier park pass on the way to Mowich lake and a Fee Stop, $20. 

There is clean water at Lake Euclid and while the rain is falling so are the streams. there were 2 waterfalls along the trail. 

OK, so it seems that I jumped into this SOTA thing a little too quickly and made a couple of mistakes.  Thankfully, there are several people who have contacted me with some great advice for getting on track to doing things right.  Hopefully I will have better luck going forward.

This second day of the NA SOTA Weekend dawned wet and misty, but with the promise (unfulfilled, as it turned out) of clearing at some point, and it wasn't really raining.  So Joe K7ZG drove us to Green Mountain, where we intended to find the road that allows a drive-up to a parking area somewhat below the summit.  I thought this road was north of the Gold Creek Trail trailhead parking area, but I wasn't sure how far or how it would be marked. We turned around before we got to it (as we learned later, see below), and decided to just do the entire hike.

Decided Labor Day was a good day for activatiing Larch Mountain on the Washington side.  Larch Mountain is the highest point in Clark County and is easy to access with most any two-wheel drive vehicle.  We had great weather and enough chasers to make the activation a success.  This route would also be good in the winter for a snowshoe activation.

Inspired by WW7D's recent Activation of Humpback Mountain, I decided the relatively short drive to the Humpback Mountain trailhead was perfect. From my home in Bothell, Exit 47 on I-90 takes me about 45 minutes to reach. I've hiked numerous peaks in the Snoqualmie Pass area, but had never hiked Humpback.  Access to the trailhead was as described in WTA's hiking guide.