W7W/KG-134 Little Si Jan 2, 2012

January 2 was unusual because the sun was shinning for the whole day. On the spur of the moment we decided on a hike in the woods. Our destination was Little Si, which is next to the popular Mt Si, located near the town of North Bend, WA.

Little Si is a mole hill of 1550 ft compared to Big Mt Si at 3900+ ft. Little Si is just to the south of Mt Si, about 1.5 miles from the Starbucks at exit 31 on I-90.

The temp was 37 degrees with pretty gusty winds at the trailhead. The 5 mile round trip with 1200 ft elevation gain hike was uneventful. Most of the trail is under the tree canopy and foilage looked especially green. No rain for a few days meant no mud to walk in. The last 1/4 mile was pretty steep over rocks and roots. Little Si is pretty much a big rock which reveals itself on the top. The views from the summit were spectacular with the sun on the low horizon. Some snow was seen at the higher elevations.

I operated my SOTA station which consists of an Elecraft KX3 and homebrew vertical dipole made from scrap wire and a 16 ft crappie pole. Propagation seemed poor and not the usual amount of contacts were made. I made QSOs on 30M and 20M CW, but no takers on 20M SSB after calling CQ for 10 minutes. I was able to spot myself to sotawatch.org with my Kenwood handy talkie. 1 hour and ten minutes were spent on the very windy summit.

Link to Flickr Photos