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.

UPDATE Dec 2021 - High Prairie Trailhead for Lookout Mountain (and other summits in the area) are not accessible from Dec 1 to April 1 due to closure of NF-44 and other routes to vehicles more than 50 inches wide. SO - if there's snow and you've got a snowmobile, have at it. See the photo below.  

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....

For Larch Mountain, Oregon...

This summit turned out to be on land owned by Weyerhauser and the parameters for use did not make it doable for me on this day.

Weyerhauser allows access from February 1st to August 30, with out a permit, and all other times a permit is required.  You must hike in or Mountain Bike in (which I was not prepared for this time), an unknown distance, which I am guessing to be up to two miles.  

I will return some time when I have a bit more time and planning for hiking, running, or mountain biking in.

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.

What a Party! Actually, two Summit-to-Summit Parties – In May we enjoyed Summit-to-Summit (S2S) contacts across the Willamette Valley in Oregon while another group exchanged contacts across Washington’s Puget Sound. Read about the fun here and join us for the next one on August 1 and 2!

Next month on 1-2 August things will be busy with three activities involving SOTA  - The Colorado 14ers event and the ARRL UHF Contest, PLUS the W7 Summit to Summit (S2S) Party.  Let's focus some attention on W7-land activations with the “W7 S2S Party.”  We hope to see many W7 activations and want to facilitate S2S contacts.