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.
"Sporadic-E Peak" (W7W/RS-019) is known to hikers as South Slide Mountain or, simply, Peak 6620. This 8-point summit, located in the northeastern part of Mt. Rainier National Park offers spectacular views at the end of a vigorous, but straightforward hike. Most of the route is on well-established and maintained trails, although the final 1.5 miles is on an unofficial trail. The final mile takes you across a sharp ridge to several smaller (non-SOTA) peaks before arriving at S. Slide. The 9.5 mile round trip yields about 2,500' of elevation gain.
Sims Butte can be accessed via the Obsidian trail #3528. This is within a high-use area and requires a $6.00 permit through www.recreation.gov. Hike in about 3/4 mile and turn right off the trail to hike across a log-strewn area to the base of the butte. The butte itself is heavily littered with downed trees and underbrush. It is a tough climb, but fortunately the summit lies only about 500 vertical feet higher. We used an old naked tree to string up the inverted vee antenna.
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.
Mt. Sawyer (W7W/KG-052) is a fun, easy 6 point summit that offers outstanding views of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and way beyond. The trail head has good accessibility from good gravel roads. The summit rises to 5,501' along the western end of the Tonga Ridge. The hike to the summit has 1,200' of elevation gain over about 3 miles (one way). The trails are well-maintained most of the way, although the final ascent includes some sections with vegetation encroaching into the trail. The summit itself has plenty of room for radios and masts, and some reasonably tall trees for wire antennas.
