A short Hike and Activation in the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California. 2+/- Miles round trip with 750 feet elevation Gain. Summit Elevation is 7,515, and the views are nice. This Activation is often done together with Waterman Mountain, W6/CT-012, which was the case for us.
We had also ctivated this mountain in November of 2014, and were so impressed with the area, we wanted to return and activate sometime in the future. Our chance came up much sooner than we thought, due to the birth of our first grandchild to our son & daughter-in-law who live in greater LA, and the prospect of a "Wintertime Bonus" made the decision to return a very easy one. We combined this Activation with Waterman Mountain (W6/CT-012), a few miles away. That is a separate report. Very little snow remained on Waterman Mountain, and even less on Kratka Ridge. For historical perspective on happier winter seasons, see links below.
The "trail" is mostly old service roads servining the now defunct ski area of Kratka Ridge. Therefore you are hiking through abandoned ski lifts, snow making equipment and accumulated junk lying around. Trailhead directions and route descriptions are very easy for this region, because of proximity to LA Basin, many very active SOTA Activators and hikers who keep detailed Blogs and other types of records.
Some excellent examples are: http://www.summitpost.org/san-gabriel-mountains/171120; http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/san_gabriel_mountains/. These are in addition to links I posted for November 2014 activation of this peak.
For some historical perspective on the Kratka Ridge Ski Area and the Waterman Mountain Ski Area, see: http://www.gieszl.com/snow/mtwaterman/; http://www.mtwaterman.org/index.html
All contacts were 2M FM, and ranged out to approximately 130 miles. Thank you very much to the "Chasers" for great assistance in Spotting me on SOTAwatch web site, and getting the word out about this and Waterman Mountain Activation, a few hours before. 2M Contacts with: WE7N; KM6CEM; K6DPF; K6RCG; KB6CIO; KJ6BNX; NA6XR.
