W7W/KG-073 - Bandera Mtn - 28 October, 2013

28 October, 2013    Bandera Mtn    W7W/KG-073

Our original hiking destination for this day was going to be 7000 ft Norse Peak, an 8 pointer, near Crystal Mtn Ski Resort, a bit north and east of Mt Rainier National Park.  The Mt Rainier WX report predicted 30-40 MPH winds at Paradise and Camp Muir in the National Park.  We took off for our backup hiking destination:  Bandera Mtn.

Readers note:  This text has been edited to clear up a misunderstanding I had about the "Activation Zone".  'Added note' Corrections below...

Directions are here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/bandera-mountain  The WTA trip description is not entirely accurate.  I suggest the SOTA activator read a few trip reports for additional info.

This days outing was for me and Ms Pat WT7N to hike the Ira Spring Trail towards Mason Lk.  If it was overly windy then we’d continue onward to Mason Lk for the views.  At the fork in the trail there was little or no wind… so off to Bandera we went.

From the intersection the Bandera trail is an unmaintained boot track that ascends almost straight up most of the way to the View Point, called Lil Bandera on my Green Trails map.  My GPS said the elevation here is 5140 ft ASL.  This spot is very scenic and the warm sun on a cool day was inviting.  I wanted to operate my radio from this point.  I knew I was approx 60 ft from the true summit but I couldn’t remember how low the activation zone was.  So it was decided to press on the remaining .8 mile to the true summit. 

 It wasn’t obvious to us how to proceed to the true summit from this spot.  Then a hiker and his dog came by and continued on downhill (which defies my mountaineering training of avoiding losing elevation whenever possible).  We followed him until he decided to turn back.  The trail looses about 200 ft of elevation to a low point on a saddle.  The climb back up was one of those hikes where it’s handy to grab tree branches.  After following the faint rabbit trail a ways…  Garmin said we were 500 linear and 20 vertical ft from the proper summit.  At this I proclaimed, sort of like I imagine Brigham Young proclaiming, “This is the place!”  

The Green Trails map was correct by saying, “No views”.  Peering through the tall trees I could just make out the top of Lil Bandera and Mt Defiance.  Not much sunlight made it through the trees for warmth while being surrounded with snow that hadn’t melted from last week’s storm.  The bonus is that the insect population had frozen to death.

Station set up in No View Trees

I was glad we stopped at this location because I could hear the group of young men who began their hike from the TH just before we did.  They were on the true summit being primal and un-stressing by making blood curdling animal sounds.  I wanted to walk over and tell them how ridiculous they sounded but instead I focused my energy on making 29 CW contacts on 7, 10, and 14 MHz as well as two difficult dot five two FM QSOs.    After 45 minutes we decided to pack up and leave because we were getting cold in the 'no views' shade.

The return route down to the saddle and back up to Lil Bandera was a different path than our arrival route.  The trail was sometimes lost but easily found.  I always had the top of Lil Bandera in sight so I never felt lost.  A couple of times it took some effort to push through branches only to find we should have zig zagged another way.    The route from Lil Bandera down to the Ira Spring trail required some concentration to place each step carefully but with trekking poles navigation was easy without falling down.   Once on the Ira Spring trail to the TH it seemed like a six lane freeway in comparison.

From the Lil Bandera false summit... Mt Defiance (W7W/KG-043) is seen in the distance.

Once back home I re-read the SOTA ARM manual for W7W/WA.  The summit operation area or Activation Zone is 30 vertical meters (98 ft) from the summit.   If I had it to do over again I would have operated from the top of Lil Bandera which is 60 ft below the summit and well within the AZ. 

Rabbit trail route on the saddle between Bandera summit and Lil Bandera.

Added Note:  Above I mention that Lil Bandera is in the AZ... after careful reading, I think I understand that Lil Bandera is NOT in the AZ.  The UK's General Rules, section 3.5.2 states, "the terraine between the Operator Position and the Actual Summit must not fall below the permitted Vertical Distance."

Added Note:  The WA SOTA ARM manual does not use the term Vertical Distance... but I think this text from the WA ARM (sec 1.3, para 2)  manual sums it up: "Another way to describe the AZ is any plact that has a route to the summit point that does not dip below 30 meters of the summit point"...

Summary with recommendations:  I liked this hike because the WX was right for it and it was challenging without over doing it.   When I go back I will probably activate Mt Defiance first and if I have energy on the way back… hike the short but steep boot track to Lil Bandera and activate from there.  My Mt Defiance trip report:  http://kr7w-sota.blogspot.com/2013/07/mt-defiance-w7wkg-043-july-19-2013.html

Be aware that there’s not much room on top of Lil Bandera for lots of view seeking hikers and a SOTA HF operator.  But it should be easy to get four 2 meter QSOs into Tacoma, North Bend, towards Eastern WA.   To navigate the big rocks and gully of a trail from the Bandera trail turn off to Lil Bandera I highly recommend trekking poles.  This trail has southern exposure so extra water is important.   

Flickr fotos here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157638153348205/

End of Report

-30- KR7W

W7W/MC-026 Goat Peak

13 October, 2013

I was once told that there are 61 Goat Peaks, Creeks, Ridges, Lookouts, and Lakes in my great state of WA.  

This particular Goat Peak is located just east of the Cascade Crest here in WA State. 

Myself, partner Ms Pat WT7N, and Bro Mike drove 19 miles east of Chinook Pass on Hiway 410 to one of the three Goat Peak THs.  Our TH is located directly across the highway from the Hells Crossing Camp Ground.  Garmin said that the distance to the summit was 3.2 miles with an elevation gain of 3000 ft.  BTW, we did not take the http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/goat-peak-1  recommended route.

The three of us had visited Goat Peak a few years before- long before I knew about  SOTA.  Back then we hiked to the summit in almost rainy conditions and didn’t see much except for some old fire lookout phone insulators nailed to the trees.   This trip we were rewarded with a lot of nice scenery on a cool clear warm in the sun fall day.

From our chosen TH at 10 AM, where the temp was 28 deg F, we began gradually ascending in meadow like terrain.  But soon we were climbing up a gully with a creek in it.  The going was rough for ¾ mile climbing over and around rocks.  After that the trail is OK to do business on.  We encountered a bit of snow, left over from the previous week, on the trail between 5,000 and 5,500 ft elevation.  This snowy area of the trail was along the north side of the ridge in the shadow of the sun. 

The beginning of the snowy trail

I was a bit confused when we came to an intersection where the WTA trail meets our trail which was about  ½ mile from the summit.  I was thinking at this point there would be a spur trail to the summit.  But no… our trail and the WTA trail converge to create the American Ridge Trail which routes within 50 ft of the Goat Pk summit and keeps on going southwest towards the PCT. We encountered a party of three humans and two annoying canine hikers in a snowy area who were heading back down.  We had the whole summit area to ourselves.  Fine Business. 

The actual summit is a large flat surface approx 20 x 20 ft where the fire lookout cabin used to sit.  There was no place to strap or jam my fish pole mast into so I opted to set up my station 40 ft downhill a bit off the beaten path.  But first I wanted to operate on 146.520 FM.  I had pre-programmed some Yakima repeaters into my 2M HT and called for ops to QSY to dot five two.  A long enjoyable QSO was had with a ham on a Yakima Ridge and another with a ham on Whiskey Dick Mtn near the Columbia River close to Vantage.  I am always amazed by 2M DX.

The summit about 40 vertical ft above the trail.  The old fire lookout stood atop this big old rock.

Admission of error:  I should have listened on the frequency before I spotted myself on 14.061… as this frequency had some other SOTA activity on it.  I could faintly hear another activator and the very loud QRO signals of the chasers.  I couldn’t make out the summit’s call sign due to the strong chaser signals.  I wondered if some chasers might think that they made contact with me because of my error.   I moved to 30 Meters and made 10 QSOs.  Then back on 20 Meters there was still activity on 14.061 and I still couldn’t get the activator’s call sign.  I moved to 14.065 but did not spot myself.  It took a many CQs to finally make a contact.  I must have been spotted by another chaser or RBN and then 27 QSOs were made.

It was such a nice sunny day basking in the southern sun I’d walk away from my radio and hike up to the fire lookout location just to look around and chat with my hiking companions.  I was in no hurry to leave.  But backcountry common sense took over and we packed up our stuff, but a bit later than I’d usually do.  It was just getting dark just as we approached the TH.  

The snowy trail on the way back to the TH.  Bro Mike wears his ORANGE because it's hunting season in WA state.

Epilog:  Just the other day while hiking to another SOTA location… I was thinking about all of the SOTA outings I’ve been on this year… and if I had to pick one of them that stand out as my favorite… It would have to be this trip to Goat Peak.   

Here's a few Flickr fotos that show some SOTA radio activity:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157638048325035/

73  to all.
-30-
Rich KR7W

W7W/PL-029 High Rock Lookout

Sunday, Oct 6

After experiencing the beginning of the 2013 Flu Season for a week... taking a short hike on a nice clear day would be good medicine.  

High Rock Lookout is a popular 3.5 mile RT jaunt that gains 1400 ft.  I will be the seventh SOTA op to activate this peak.  This location is touted by outdoor photographers as the 'cat's meow' for mountain photographs.  Also, this hike seems to attract those hikers (you've seen them)  with no pack or jacket and only a bottle of water.

Pat WT7N and I had been to High Rock before but in the rainy fog with 30 ft visibility.  For this days hike it was clear with superb views of Mt Rainier looking north.  Mt St Helens, Mt Adams, and Mt Hood are to the south.  Nearby is the Tatoosh range with 4 SOTA summits and further to the east is Goat Rocks with SOTA's Ives Pk.  

According to Washington Trails Assn there are two ways to get to the TH at Towhead Pass.  The Family Sedan way and the nondescript way.  See:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/high-rock   The nondescript route was shorter but way harder on my Subaru.  The return trip via the easy-peasy Family Sedan route only had a few potholes to avoid instead of sinkholes. 

If you squint just right the white lookout cabin is seen on the tip of the big rock.  The drop off is about 600 ft.  

The hike is on a beaten path up a ridge back which ends on a large rock face.  A few hundred feet up the rock is the lookout cabin perched on the very end with a sharp drop off.  The cabin had its shutters down but the door was open for touring.  All of the usual lookout equipment was missing.  

At historic lookouts I don't like to use the structure for my antennas so I am not in the way of other visitors.  I would normally find a spot away from where the visitors are going to hang out.  But here, there are few options.  I strapped my 18 ft fish pole to an old hand rail support.  To tie off the strings on the ends of the doublet antenna... It was difficult to find cracks in the smooth rock face to jam the string winder into.

In my thinking... there's no such creature as 'Murphy' (as in Murphy's Law)... but there is complacency.  Complacency on my part revealed itself when I couldn't get my radio to transmit.  All the controls and settings looked right.  I could TUNE, I could hear myself send Morse, but I had no RF Power output indication.  After a few minutes of dinking and rebooting... I remembered that at home I had the radio in the code practice mode which shuts off the RF.  It took me a while to recover from that.  Phil NS7P kept sending ?? after I TUNEd up on 7r032 which is where I APRS spotted myself.  We finally made the contact and I sent: SRI TECH DIFF HR.  I tried 40M SSB, but the popular CA QSO party in full swing.  3 QSOs were made on 30M CW.  20M CW was the most fruitful with 22 QSOs. 

Fish pole is strapped to an old handrail stanchion.  This spot was the furthest from the cabin where I could set up and still be in the obvious activation zone.  I was lucky to find cracks in the rock face to jam the antenna wire ends string winders into.   

 Safety First- As soon as I saw groups people coming up the rock slope I shut down and dismantled my antenna.  It was too close for comfort on top of the steep rock for lots of hikers and strings and wires.

Highlights from this outing:  I made contact with avid Ped Mobile QRPer W0RW. No slash P was heard so I suspect he was at home.  At 1914 Z contact was made with WG0AT.  I notice on Sotawatch that he was on top of Mt Herman a few hours later.  Steve moves fast.  The big enchilada of contacts for me was with G4oBK.  Loud signals each way.  That's the first NON North America SOTA contact I've made.  I noticed new call signs in the 'SOTA Chaser Community'- because I was early to my activation? Maybe, but I betcha it's due to more folks getting involved with SOTA.  

Fotos and a non prime time short movie can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157636327717146/

End of Report.  Best Regards and Happy Trails,
Rich kr7w
w7w/rs-nnn




    

W7W/RS-036 Shriner Peak 15 Sept, 2013

Shriner Peak is located in Mt Rainier National Park along the the east boundary.  It takes about 2 hours to drive to the TH from our house in Tacoma, WA.  The hike begins at 2400 ft ASL and tops out at 5834 ft in 4.2 miles.  The first 2 miles gains more than 2000 ft.  The summit offers fantastic views of Mt Rainier, Mt Adams, Mt St Helens, and into Oregon on a very clear day.  There is an old historic Fire Lookout (which houses two National Park radio repeaters) as well as two primitive back country camp sites.  The closest water is at Shriner Lake about 1.5 miles down hill way off the beaten path.  

Shriner Peak is the high spot in this photo which was taken about 1.5 miles from the summit.  It's beginning to look a bit like fall in the mountains.

Shriner Peak is home to one of the four historic Fire Lookout buildings in Mt Rainier National Park.   This photo was taken near the end of our stay when the rain clouds were beginning to look threatening.  

The WX was predicted to be a nice mostly sunny day with a chance of mountain thunderstorms in the late afternoon.  It seemed like it would be a pleasant hike with 60 deg F at the TH but after a short time it was becoming increasingly hot and humid.  After a mile the trail leaves the tree canopy into the open for sunshine from the south.

 I've been to Shriner Peak many times over the last 15 years.  At least 5 of those times I've brought a QRP rig and worked some CW on 20M.  After I started participating in SOTA I came to Shriner in Aug 2012 for its first activation.  No other SOTA ops have been here since and now I am back.  I set up at my usual place, campsite #2, a nice spot off the beaten path.  

In the trees at campsite #2.  Trekking pole holds up my PVC Pipe Coaxial Dipole for ARPS self spotting.  My pack substitutes as a desk with the radio on top of.  The 44 ft doublet is to the left.  The bright red thing on the pack is an Acme QRM Cutter microphone (link below).

The usual station of KX3 w/ 3S Lipo bat, 44 ft doublet antenna fed w/ TV twin lead+4:1 balun- held up with 18 ft carbon fiber fish pole was set up and OTA at 2100 UTC.  

3 QSOs on 40 CW,  10 QSOs on 20 CW,  10 QSOs on 20 SSB,  3 QSOs on 30 CW, and 2 QSOs on 40 SSB.  I usually attempt to make SSB QSOs on activations but am rarely successful.  I am pleased that I could give 12 SSB chasers points on this outing.  Also, this was my first time operating on 40M SSB.  KF7TTM, Kathy a pretty new ham in Seattle answered my 40M SSB CQ not knowing what SOTA was.  I encouraged her to Google it.  Maybe she's a chaser now.

Normally I say something about the trip back to the TH was uneventful.  Not the case this time.  The predicted thunderstorms in the mountains came true for us.  When we descended to 5000 ft we were in the clouds which was dark and eerie.  A few BOOMs were felt and heard.  About an hour into the hike a hard rain broke out and we ducked under a tree to to put covers on our packs.  10 minutes later the rain ceased and the remaining trip to the TH was dry. 

Info on this hike can be found here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/shriner-peak

A few more photos can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157635825779756/

Info on the Acme QRM Cutter microphone can be found here:  http://kr7w.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-acme-qrm-cutter-microphone-for-kx-3.html

End or report.  Best Regards,

Rich KR7W
-30-


 

W7W/RS-035 Tolmie Pk 09 Sept, 2013

Prologue:  In 2012 I retired from many years of Telecommunications and Mobile radio work.  January 2013 I became a volunteer (one day a week) at Mt Rainier National Park's Telecom- 2 Way Radio Shop.  During the summer months I have been hiking to the Parks four historic fire lookout buildings to perform radio system repeater upgrades.  Each lookout is located on or next to a SOTA summit.  If the work is completed in time then there is time for SOTA activity.

I arranged to work on the Tolmie Pk radio system on a Monday so my hiking partner, Ms Pat WT7N could accompany me.  We began our hike on a not too hot but sunny almost fall day at Mowich Lake, elev 5000 ft.  We hiked the Wonderland trail upwards to the high point of Ipsut Pass.  Then downhill and back uphill to Eunice Lake and then another 1000 ft gain to the lookout at approx 5900 ft.  The total elev gain is ~1100 ft in 7.5 miles RT.

This shot of Mowich Lake was taken 1/4 mile from the TH.  

Here's Eunice Lake fed from snow melt.  The small box on the ridge top is the lookout building.  The white arrow shows the approx location of the SOTA site.  It's another 9/10 mile to the summit from here.

Here's the Lookout.

At approx 1330 LT we headed east on the summit ridge to get away from other visitors to the LO site.  From the LO site it looked a bit higher in elevation towards the east.  We set up on a sort of precarious hogs back rock formation.  The Fish pole mast was strapped to a snag tree and the doublet wires were carefully strung out along the ridge back and attached to trees.  On the return trip along the ridge back I noticed that the LO looked higher in elevation.  Not to worry... Everyone still gets their points cuz I am sure I was in the activation zone.

Old worn out snag tree holds up 18 ft fish pole mast. 

KR7W at the op position.   

I only worked 20 meters.  22 CW and 1 SSB QSOs were made.  Thanks to all of the chasers who took the time to give out their STate... as it is nice to know where my 6 watts from a compromise antenna is making it to.

The hike back was pretty uneventful. Info on this hike can be found here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/tolmie-peak     

Oh yah... more photos can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157635826118454/

Credit goes where credit is due:  Pat WT7N took all of the photos.
End of report.

Best Regards,
Rich KR7W

W7W/RS-038 & RS-030 Mt Attenuator and Bearhead Mtn - 01 Sept, 2013

North of Mt Rainier National Park, across the Carbon River resides 6 SOTA peaks seemingly within reach of Forest Service road 7810.  The Green Trails map revealed that Mt Attenuator and Bearhead Mtn had trails to their summits.  About FS 7810... it's a 9 mile drive to the TH with some crater sized pot holes where a smaller car like a Civic could experience damage if a wheel went in. But I think the Civic sized car could make it going very slow.  My Subaru had no issues.

Looking across summit lake is Mt Attenuator, W7W/RS-038.  Keep walking north on the trail around the lake.  No need to look for the boot path to the summit as the wide beaten path goes to the summit.  The trail that continues north is hard to find.

On a sunny Sunday, 9/1 at about 10:30 am hiking partner Ms Pat WT7N and myself were at the trail head at the end of the road.  A .9 mile hike upward took us to a T intersection at Twin Lakes.  We headed north to Summit Lake for 1.5 miles and then a bit further on the beaten path we were on top of Mt Attenuator.  This summit doesn't have a name on the map so the SOTA ARM for WA named it for us.  I think it should be called Mt Summit or Summit Mtn since it in view of Summit Lake.

Interesting factoid:  Looking at Google Earth I can see that Summit Lk is part of prominent SOTA summit.


The summit has enough room for many picnickers and one radio operator.  I strapped my 18 ft fish pole to a small dead tree and extended the doublet legs out with mason line.  After the first hikers came up I realized my line was interfering with the beaten path.  Lucky I was done making QSOs on HF and removed the obstacle.  18 HF Qs and one 2M QSOs were made.

The usual set up for KR7W HF operation:  18 ft fish carbon fish pole, 44 ft doublet fed with TV twin lead to 4:1 Balun, KX-3 set for 6 W w/ palm paddle, 3S LiPo battery.  The radio sits on my pack as a desk in the shade to prevent over heating.  The coaxial dipole connected to the aprs 2M radio is also strapped to the tree.

From Mt Attenuator, views of Mt Rainier and Coplay Lk can be had to the south.

It's Sept 1 and the blueberry bushes are beginning to show fall is on the way.  This view shows Summit Lk and Bearhead Mtn, our next SOTA stop.

The trail to Summit Lk is described here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/summit-lake

After returning the 1.5 miles to the T in the trail at Twin Lakes... we decided to head south 1.3 miles to the boot path up to Bearhead Mtn.  The trail heads gradually upward to the turnoff.  This is another one of those trails where the turnoff is the beaten path and the regular trail to the south became a rabbit trail.  The .8 mile to the summit was pretty challenging for us late in the day.

This is Bearhead Mtn as seen from Mt Attenuator.  The trail traverses around the right side and the summit assault is on the far side.

The usual Geo Bench Mark.

Same set up as Mt Attenuator above.  

As I arrived on the summit, I noticed three hikers in a group.  We said the usual "Hi" and moved on to pick a place to operate.   The radio was on the air at 4 PM LT, which was an hour later than I had planned on.   During my hamming one of the hikers came by and asked me what I was doing.  This nice lady was from Sweden and I took some time to explain to her about ham radio and the score keeping game called SOTA.  She took my picture with her Nokia smart phone to show her friends back home.    Four 40M, 21 20M, and 3  2M QSOs were made. 

Pack as a desk for the radio.  Soft Heather bushes to sit.  No bugs to complain about on this trip.

The 20 meter band was in pretty good shape and this made making QSOs pretty easy and plentiful.  Thanks to Chasers on the east coast who waited around for me.

The first 4 QSOs were on 40 meters.  KH2TJ was on a summit and weak to copy but the S2S QSO was made.   

The hike down began at 5 PM LT, a bit latter than I like, but the trip back to the TH was uneventful.  It was a pretty successful SOTA outing with two summits visited.  The drive down the crappy 9 mile FS road was in the daylight which was a good thing.  

Trip info to Bearhead Mtn can be found here:   http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/bearhead

End of Report.  Thanks for reading this far.  Best Regards,
Rich KR7W

W7W/RS-005 - Mt Fremont - 30 Aug, 2013

Prologue:  In 2012 I retired from many years of Telecommunications and Mobile radio work.  January 2013 I became a volunteer (one day a week) at Mt Rainier National Park in the telecom-2 way radio shop.  During the summer months I have been hiking to the Park's four historic fire lookout buildings to perform radio system repeater upgrades.  Each lookout is located right on or next to a SOTA summit.  Sometimes it's easy to combine work and play.  

I did not take a camera on this trip, but here's the historic lookout building from afar.  The actual summit route is to the right side of the foto.  .  This foto was harvested from the WWW.

On a foggy Aug 30 my supervisor and I hiked to Mt Fremont Lookout to upgrade and perform maintenance on the radio system.  After the work was complete we hiked to the proper summit of the mountain.  From the lookout, 1/10 mile south and 140 vertical feet, got us to the top.

This view, looking north, is from the Frozen Lake intersection of many trails.  The actual summit is about 3/4 of the way over from the left, horizontally in the middle.  The trail along the mountainside leads to the lookout, which can be seen if you squint or press CNTL + .  This foto was harvested from the world wide web.

Armed with a 2 meter handy talkie attached to my coaxial dipole antenna - we took turns calling CQ SOTA on 146.520.  I made 7 QSOs.  One as far away as Aberdeen, WA... which is very close to the Pacific Ocean.  I'm still amazed and pleased about the number of hams who monitor six-five-two and who want to make the QSO with the far away ham.

Mt Fremont is not a drive close to the summit kind of activation... but is a pretty easy summit to achieve 8 points if the activator is willing to do the hike.  The scenery is spectacular too.  Info on this hike can be found here:  http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/mount-fremont-lookout

End of report.  Rich, kr7w

W7W/RS-012 Pyramid Peak 8/14/2012

Prologue:  Tuesday, Aug 12, Myself, Ms Pat WT7N, my Bro John KF7MYI, and Chuck AC7QN began a four day backpack trip in Mt Rainier National Park along the Wonderland Trail to the Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and Emerald Ridge areas.  Indian Henry's is a large meadow with four good sized peaks surrounding the meadow outskirts.  Three are SOTA Peaks- which the map shows highlighted in yellow.   Hey, you are right if this sounds familiar. 

Chapter 2:  It's Wednesday AM and us four hikers are off to the meadow in search of SOTA peaks.  I opted to activate Pyramid Pk and Ms Pat and Bro John want to give the hike a try also.  Chuck has opted for Iron Mtn.  Pyramid is on the far east side of the meadow and Iron (right next to Copper Mtn) are in the middle of the meadow.  After a quick lunch and safety meeting at Mirror Lakes we split up.

Pyramid Peak looms across the meadow.  Part of Iron Mtn can be seen on the R side of the foto.

The WX is very pleasant with a high ceiling and no direct sunlight.  The temp is 60-65 deg- great hiking conditions.  As we hike across the vast meadow we are surrounded by gorgeous wildflowers and relentless BUGs.  We are all wearing our mosquito bug hats... which for me distorts my depth perception. 

After about an hour of walking, it's 1330 LT.  Time to make handy talkie radio contact with Chuck AC7QN somewhere on Iron Mtn.  Chuck reports that he had a too difficult time going up and is heading back to our campsite at Devils Dream.  Also, on frequency is Casey WW7CH at the National Park radio shop.  Casey plans to be in communications with us on 146.52 as well as watch my APRS tracks on aprs.fi.  

KR7W Makes 2 meter contact on 146.52 per the safety meeting discussion.  My elevation is about 6100 ft.

Fish Pole mast is guyed 1/3 the way up.  44 ft doublet extends N-S with mason string tied to rocks.  If there is any directionality - it would be E-W.

1430 LT, we are on the summit.  Wow! what a climb.  What a view!  At 1451 LT the HF Station is OTA.  There are no trees on this summit.  Just some goat trimmed grass, sort of like a lumpy lawn.  Rocks provide decorations and means to hold the fish pole guy lines down to the earth... as well as secure the ends of the 44 ft doublet Inverted Vee.  The only thing that wudda made this place better would be lawn chairs.

Nice soft rocks and grass- actually it was pretty comfy.  Fish pole mast is on R.  D72 APRS HT is next to KR7W's  R elbow.

I figured that we had at least a three hour walk back to our campsite... so I set a "Let's start putting it away" time of 1530 LT.  I went directly to 20 meters because of its success with the previous activation.  Eleven 20M CW QSOs and six 2M Qs were made.  A lot of the 2M Qs were made while we were tearing the HF antenna farm down.  It's always amazing to me that there are lots of folks monitoring 146.52... and I am glad that they do.  

The hike down the steep scree slope and the rest of the way to the meadow went pretty quickly.  Myself and Bro John slipped on the steep muddy trail a few times.  Once in the vast meadow the trip was a long slog.  For some variety we decided to stop at the Ranger Station Patrol Cabin in the meadow to check it out.  Volunteer BC Ranger Phil was on duty and he showed us around the cabin.  He mentioned that the WX report suddenly changed and that a low pressure front would be visiting us with rain for a few days. 

Here's the Patrol Cabin / Ranger Station.  My Bro John chats with VIP BC Ranger Phil. 

Check out the high snow level entrance door.  Phil says that there was 6 ft of snow here this June.

The next day was Thursday- the day we were scheduled to hike out of Devils Dream Camp to Somewhere.  The plan was for us to hike across Emerald Ridge (the most scenic part of the Wonderland Trail, IMHO) and to South Puyallup Camp to spend the night.  OR  We could hike back to the car.  The best choice for everyone was to hike to the car.  The skies were rain free whilst we packed everything up... but as soon as we beat feet the 6 miles to Longmire we caught rain most of the way.  

Here's our campsite at Devils Dream Camp the day after the trip to Pyramid Pk.  Ranger Phil was right about the WX change... as it rained on us all night.  

Epilog:  My apologies to the Chasers who followed my APRS tracks which had the wrong status message- which said that I was heading back to the TH instead of to W7W/RS-012.  Of course, Thanks to the Chasers for being there to help make this somewhat difficult activation successful.  Last thing:  Sorry Phil that I didn't operate on 40M this time- as there was a lot to do in a short time and I just didn't think of it.   

Flickr photos with captions can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157635145237964/


Happy Trails to You... Until we meet again.... on 14.061.

Rich kr7w

W7W/RS-033 Mt Ararat

Prologue:  Tuesday, Aug 12, Myself, Ms Pat WT7N, my Bro John KF7MYI, and Chuck AC7QN began a four day backpack trip in Mt Rainier National Park along the Wonderland Trail to the Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and Emerald Ridge areas.  Indian Henry's is a large meadow with four good sized peaks surrounding the meadow outskirts.  Three are SOTA Peaks- which the map shows highlighted in yellow.

Chapter 1:  Pat and I arrived early (about 2 PM) at Devils Dream back country campground and claimed our site by setting up our tent.  At 3 PM we agreed to head up the trail 1.1 miles to Indian Henry's meadow which is the beginning of the ascent to the top of Mt Ararat.  Garmin showed the climb to be about 800 ft elev gain in 3/4 mile.  My plan was to walk the Kautz Creek Trail until the apex was reached and then head up Ararat.  Why walk through brush when there is a trail some of the way?  Turns out that the route up Ararat from there was up a rocky face.  So we retreated back down the trail to a less steep approach according to Garmin.

Mt Ararat viewed about 3/4 mile east of the base.  The rock face with drop off can be seen in the center near the top.

Back in the  the 80's I'd trekked to the top of Ararat twice.  One of those outings I camped on the summit for two days to explore, to find the Ark, see flying saucers at night and hear and feel large ice chunks fall from the nearby glaciers.  Back then it seemed like an easy trek down/up to fetch water... but I can tell ya 30 years later that those trees have grown taller, the brush is thicker, and the slope is way steeper.  We headed up a rocky gully.  When that gully ran out we were in a sloping meadow, then another gully and it repeats until we reached the vast flat topped summit where a small plane could land.  The highest point looked to be 1/8 mile to the west... but Garmin said we were on the summit +/- 10 ft.

I figured out that a few folks musta been following my APRS tracks because as soon as I circled the the top of a small knoll to find a comfy spot... I began to receive calls on 146.52.  The fish pole mast was strapped to a snag tree, the 44 ft doublet was hung in an inverted Vee fashion, and radio set up in the shade.  OTA at 0004 UTC the next day.

The mosquitoes and biting flies were extra pesky and contributed to my Morse being extra sloppy.  

On each band I spotted myself via APRS to call sign-SOTA.  Only one Q on 40M- with Phil NS7P- who is always in my log, it seems. 4 Qs on 30M. When I got to 20M, I sent dah-dit-dah-dit-dah on 14.061, I was greeted with a cacophony of callsigns- pretty amazing.  15 Qs on 20M CW were made and many more that could be made but I had to shut down in order to have enough time for me and Pat to safely retreat down to the meadow and back to camp.

I decided to follow the 80's route down- due east- with the patrol cabin in sight- which took us to a rocky face with a drop off.  Uphill was needed and zig-zag to the south then down a series of gullies and in 45 minutes we were back to the meadow and the trail back to camp.  

Back in the meadow the National Park Service patrol cabin can be seen.  Some years this meadow can have 6 ft of snow in it in June.  This view of Mt Rainier shows the Tahoma glaciers.  

Thanks to the Ionosphere gods who made for low noise - high E layer propagation radio contacts during our outing.  Thanks to the chasers who waited until late in the day to make contact.  I am sorry we couldn't stay there longer and make more QSOs.

Flickr fotos with comments can be seen here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kr7w-sota/sets/72157635130064235/


Best Regards,
Rich kr7w