W7A/CO-002, Ramsey Peak and W7A/AE-013, Miller Peak

I was desiring a very long hike after my busy season ended, so early in the morning of April 18th, 2019, I got up early and made the long drive from Oro Valley to the Ramsey Vista Campground in the Huachuca Mountains.  This mountain range lies along the US/Mexico Border, near the town of Sierra Vista.  My targets for the day were two summits, W7A/CO-002 Ramsey Peak, and W7A/AE-013 Miller Peak.  I actually thought there might be a possibility to add a third summit, W7A/CO-001 Carr Peak, which I had previously activated, but only if time permitted - as it turned out, I skipped Carr.

I parked in the campground, hung my USFS pass in the window, and began my day of hiking about 7am.  Early on, I could see the mountain looming in the distance, its rocky eastern sides looking rather intimidating.

Starting on the Hamburg Trail, I began the hike.  The first 2.5 miles or so were actually downhill, dropping about 700' into Pat Scott Canyon and the Hamburg Mine.  It was nice and cool, with a decent trail and plenty of trees.  I even found some running water in a few places.

After the canyon, the steep climb began with multiple switchbacks.

Ramsey Peak was drawing closer, and continued to look rather interesting.

At about 4.7 miles in, I reached a junction with the Crest Trail.  Turning North, I took a path that would take me across Pat Scott Peak on the way to Ramsey.  There were some interesting sights including some discarded old mining equipment (which is not unusual in Arizona).

There were a few sections with steeper climbs and more evidence of human presence from days gone by as I continued onward.

Eventually the trail became less apparent - there clearly were not as many hikers who go this far up.  But it did level out for a while and was pleasantly forested.  I saw a deer run by and breathed in the fresh air as I prepared for the coming bushwhack.

At about the 5.5 mile mark, I reached a boundary sign to inform me that the trail was about to enter the Fort Huachuca Army Base.  This is where the bushwhack to the summit begins, and there is a fence to define the boundary of the Coronado National Forest and the US Military property.  Although I doubted that the army would have anyone stationed up there, I decided it was probably best not to be bushwhacking through the forest on the military side of the fence.

So, I began the final ascent up to the summit.  At first, it looked relatively simple - a mild slope in the pines.  However, that did not last long! 

It was a tough, dense, and at times rather steep bushwhack to the summit.  It took me almost another hour to hike that final mile.  But I did reach the summit, and had a nice activation starting at about 11am.  I was testing out a shorter (and lighter) push-up mast so my antenna wasn't quite as high as normal, but it all worked out well.

Since I had plenty of hiking ahead, I only ran 20 and 40 meters, for about 45 minutes, before packing up.  The bushwhack down was just as rough, and I was glad to be back on trail after a mile down.  I headed back along the Crest Trail, but at the junction I kept on going instead of turning back down towards the canyon.  I was really enjoying this trail, being alone in the quiet forest, with plenty of scenery.

There are quite a few trails in the Huachucas, but fortunately I had carefully mapped out my route and saved it to my GPS in advance.  The Crest Trail is actually part of the Arizona Trail, and although I didn't see any other hikers all day, I'm sure there had probably been some through-hikers in this area within the past few months.

Some areas of the hike took me through sections that had obviously experienced forest fires.

My second summit target, Miller Peak, was a fairly good hike away from Ramsey.  Around 5 miles into the hike between the summits, I reached what I believe was "Bathtub Spring".  This is also a trail junction and I stopped to take a drink before starting the next climbing section.  I was very sweaty and grubby by this time, but I decided not to take a bath.

Continuing on, I soon saw Miller Peak tempting me in the distance, roughly 2.5 miles away, and about 700 feet higher.

I was beginning to get a bit tired at this point but the magic of the outdoors kept me feeling excited.  As I got higher, there were even a few sections of trail that had a snowy surprise to cool me off.

I reached the final spur trail to Miller Peak and turned up for the final ascent.  It was rocky and rough, but not too far to reach the summit.

I set up and began operating about 4pm, but kept it very short as it was chilly and I knew I only had a few hours of daylight to finish my hike.

The hike out was very nice, with long shadows and the stillness that slowly takes over wilderness as evening approaches.  At one point I saw a deer who seemed surprised to see a human out here in his domain.

I walked so close to Carr Peak, in fact my final section of the hike took me right past the summit and around it, but there simply was not enough time to scurry up and activate.  When I came around to the North side of the peak, I could see into Sierra Vista, and nearby was the famous tethered border surveillance blimp that has kept an eye on the area for many years.

The hike down after Carr Peak is rather steep and rocky, which was a bit tricky to navigate safely in low light.

I finished the hike right when twilight was pretty much done.  The moon was full and was peeking through the treetops to add a mystical aura to the finish. The total mileage for the hike was 20.2 miles, with total elevation gain of around 5,400 feet.  I was tired but very happy!

Date First Activated by KR7RK:  18 Apr 2019

GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  Yes

Approx Hiking Distance:  20.2 mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  5,400'

Summit Elevation:  8,737' (Ramsey Peak), 9,466' (Miller Peak)

Summit Grid Square:  DM41tk (Ramsey Peak), DM41uj (Miller Peak)

Summit County:  Cochise

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3

W7A/AE-011, Heliograph Peak

Heliograph Peak is a special summit for me, because it's where I got my start with Summits On The Air.  See this post from July 16, 2016 for a blog about that first adventure that I had with my friend Quinton, NU7Y.

Two years later, I was fully immersed in the addiction of ham radio and summit hikes.  I had activated enough to reach "Mountain Goat" status, which requires attaining 1,000 points using the SOTA scoring system.  I wanted to return to Heliograph Peak, which is worth 10 points, to cross that 1,000 point mark and earn my MG, so on July 6, 2018, I headed towards the Pinaleno Mountains for some fun.

I first hiked to, and activated, W7A/AE-010 Webb Peak, which is just a bit further down the road from Heliograph and makes for a nice double-activation option.  It was a nice cool day and there were a few light rain showers but nothing to prevent a good activation.

There are at least two main routes up to the summit of Heliograph.  The longer option is actually the easier way, because it involves hiking up a dirt road for about 2.3 miles with a bit under 1,000 feet elevation gain.  The shorter option is to hike up a trail for about 2 miles, which is steeper with roughly 1,100 feet of gain.  I've posted tracks for both to the SOTA Mapping Projects Tracks page.  I think the trail option is more scenic but they both are pretty good and you can combine them since the starting point is nearly the same either way.

For my MG activation, I took the trail.  There was some fire damage evident from the 2017 Frye Fire, but overall it was in decent condition.

Towards the top, the trail does get steeper, and became somewhat vague - because it had only recently re-opened after the fire, there had not been a lot of use to keep it well-defined, but there wasn't much chance of getting lost.

There are commercial towers and a fire lookout on top, but the summit is fairly broad and has plenty of space to set up a SOTA station.  Here is a 360 summit view video (split into two due to size limits):

It was a wonderful day, and some of the same Chasers who showed up in my log from that first SOTA activation in 2016 gave me contacts again in 2018, which was fun.  And of course, first in my log was NU7Y!  I did cross the 1,000 points level, and a couple of months later received this nice glass trophy to commemorate earning SOTA Mountain Goat.

Heliograph is in the Coronado National Forest, and is managed by the Safford Ranger District.  I found them to be helpful when I called to confirm the status of the area - there are many fires in Arizona and they often result in closures, and sometimes information on the internet is not current.

Date First Activated by KR7RK:  16 July 2016
GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  Yes

Approx Hiking Distance:  4.1 - 4.5 mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  1,000'

Summit Elevation:  10,022'

Summit Grid Square:  DM52bp

Summit County:  Graham

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3

W7A/AE-010, Webb Peak

The Pinaleno Mountains in Southern Arizona contain some high summits and provide an opportunity to find some cooler temperatures during the warmer months.  Mount Graham is the highest, but it is off limits to most due to the observatories and to protect the endangered Red Squirrel population.  Other summits are accessible, though, including Webb Peak.  I chose to activate Webb Peak in July, 2018, as my first of two summits on the day I reached the Summits On The Air "Mountain Goat" status.

It's a long drive from Tucson to the trailhead - roughly 3.5 hours.  As I neared the base of the mountain range, I noted some gathering clouds near the top but I was excited for the day and not too concerned.

As I neared the top, I noted some signs restricting access to certain areas.  There was a very major fire in 2017, the Frye Fire, and the Forest Service had only recently re-opened some areas; others remained closed.  Along the drive up, the damage was evident.

Initially, the trail appeared to be relatively untouched and it was a pleasant hike.

Further up, however, the fire had completely burned everything and the trail was basically a soft layer of ash.

At the top of Webb Peak, there is a fire tower.  There was also plenty of evidence of other structures but the fire burned all but the tower.  It was a windy day but I had a great activation.  Here is a 360 video of my operating position (split into two due to size limitations).

After this activation I headed down the trail and made a short drive over to activate Heliograph Peak, which I'll post about in a separate blog.

Date First Activated by KR7RK:  6 July 2018
GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  Yes

Approx Hiking Distance:  2.0mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  500'

Summit Elevation:  10,030'

Summit Grid Square:  DM52ar

Summit County:  Graham

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3

W7A/AE-009, Greens Peak

Greens Peak is an easy Drive-Up 10-point summit, with a dirt road (FR 61) that leads to the top.  I drove up in a Jeep Cherokee and although 4wd was not needed, I was very glad to have high clearance.  The final mile or so was full of deep washboard grooves.

The mountain itself has grassy slopes and if you wanted to hike instead, you could hike up the road or probably bushwhack up the slope without much trouble.  I chose to drive up, since I was doing an evening activation, but once up top I made a short hike around the broad top to look for a good setup location and to make sure I got as close as possible to the high point.

The top is full of commercial towers, so expect RF interference.  There is a restroom at the top.

Here's a 360 view video that I took while I was up there (split into two files due to size limits):

I made plenty of good contacts, including some nice long-distance QSO's on 60m and 40m as the evening set in.  After only an hour I was in total darkness and packed up to carefully navigate my way down.

Date First Activated by KR7RK:  09 September 2018
GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  N/A

Approx Hiking Distance:  0.25 mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  0'

Summit Elevation:  10,133'

Summit Grid Square:  DM54fc

Summit County:  Apache

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3

W7A/AE-001, Humphreys Peak

Humphreys Peak is the High Point of Arizona, with summit elevation of 12,633 feet.  It's located near Flagstaff, in the Coconino National Forest.

Because Humphreys holds the crown for the Arizona High Point, it's a popular destination for hikers.  There are multiple routes up, but the Humphreys Peak Trail is the most common way to approach it.  Starting from the parking lot at  Arizona Snow Bowl, the trail heads into the forest after passing below a ski slope.

The trail is obvious the entire way up.  In most places it is steep but no real rock climbing is required.  There is a trail register after a mile or so - you should veer left at this register.

The forest begins to fade away after a few miles, as the elevation gets higher.  Eventually you will find yourself hiking along rocky terrain, but the spectacular views that open up offset the loss of the beautiful forest greenery.

Even in the summer, you may see areas with snow.  Also be prepared for extreme weather - when I activated in 2018, the winds were in excess of 50mph and at one point near where the photo above was taken, I was literally blown over!  There are several false summits before you reach the peak, and the reduced oxygen at the high elevation will slow your progress.

The reward of reaching the summit after 5+ miles of tough hiking makes it all worthwhile.  This is one of those "airplane-view" summit experiences, with stunning panorama landscapes in every direction.

Radio operation from Humphreys is truly a wonderful experience.  There are zero manmade noise sources and the height advantage is obvious.  In 2017 my son Jason used a 2 meter handheld and beam to easily work stations in Phoenix, over 150 miles away.

It's also a great place for HF, but you may need to set up slightly off the true summit because there are many other hikers.  In 2017, we used some rocks to hold a push-up mast and inverted vee.  Unfortunately a thunderstorm arrived soon after - you can see it over the neighboring peak in this photo, and about 10 minutes after a hasty take-down was necessary!

In September, 2018 I activated Humphreys for the Arizona 10-point Summit-to-Summit Madness event.  The winds that day were very extreme, and although storms were all around, they were mostly lower down.  But the temperature at the top was very cold!  I set up next to a small rock wall and shivered for about 3 hours while operating.  

I highly recommend doing this summit.  Be prepared for harsh weather, as well as possible closures due to wildfire.  Lighter gear will be helpful and be sure to bring plenty of hydration as there are no sources of water anywhere along the trail.

To reach the Trailhead, take N. Snow Bowl Rd from Route 180.  Note that since this is in National Forest land, you will need a USFS Permit to leave your car parked while you hike.  The TH is at the far North end of the parking lot.

Date First Activated by KR7RK:  16 July 2017
GPS Track Uploaded to SOTA Mapping Project Tracks Site:  Yes

Approx Hiking Distance:  10.7mi

Approx Elevation Gain:  3,500'

Summit Elevation:  12,633'

Summit Grid Square:  DM45di

Summit County:  Coconino

ITU Zone:  6

CQ Zone:  3

National Parks On The Air 2016

The American Radio Relay League really hit a home run with their National Parks On The Air program last year.  In hindsight I really wish I had participated in it more.  I worked a few NPOTA activations (including a couple with the Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club gang, which did not count towards my own participation credit), and never really made much effort to chase.  I did enough to earn a couple of nice certificates though.

Reached a Goal for 2016!

The last few years have been much slower for me in terms of ham radio operations, but I'm gradually finding ways to get back on the air and have some fun.  Earlier this year, I decided I'd like to see my "Total QSO's" count reach 12,000 on the ARRL Logbook of the World (LoTW) system.  I normally only log HF contacts and my LoTW account does not have 100% of all my contacts ever made, but it's a pretty good record especially for contacts from around 2005 forward.

Reaching 12,000 wasn't an easy task without any major contests and not a whole lot of daily activity.  Certainly my SOTA chasing and activations helped, as they have made up the majority of my contacts in the past 6 months.

I did reach the 12,000 mark on December 30th, and with a short NPOTA activation of Saguaro National Park on New Year's Eve, I jumped up to 12,055 for my final year-end tally.  (The screen shot below includes a few QSO's from Jan 1st and 2nd).

Not sure yet what my 2017 goals will be, but I'm sure that my #1 Goal, to have FUN, will definitely be a priority!

Earning the Winter Bonus - Radio Fun on Chiricahua Peak in the Snow

SOTA has a "Bonus" point feature which rewards operators with a few extra points for activating peaks under less-than-favorable weather conditions.  Usually this is in the form of a Winter Bonus (although in Arizona, we also have many summits that qualify for a Summer Bonus instead).

Chiricahua Peak, W7A/AE-012, is one of the summits that earns the winter bonus.  My friend Paul, K9PM, and I decided to have a go for Chiricahua Peak as a joint activation.  Paul has a 4WD vehicle and we certainly needed it to drive in to the starting point of the hike at Rustler Park!  The road was getting very difficult by the time we parked, due to both snow and mud.

We had two options, either get on the Crest Trail, or walk further up the FS42D "road" for another mile and a half or so.  We chose to walk up the road, but that doesn't mean it was easy hiking!

It was very beautiful with pine trees and animal tracks in the snow everywhere we looked.

Some parts, like in the photo above, were not bad but other parts of the road were quite steep.  After a while we reached the trailhead and left the road.

Paul and I are about equal in hiking ability and this was an area where having a buddy along really improved safety.  (As an aside, I did a backpacking trip here in my college days and we got lost in a blizzard, and ended up being in the mountains for a full week, wandering around.  So it was nice to return under safer conditions!)  The trail is a good one but with nearly 6 miles each way, it's a fairly serious hike for a single day.

There have been some major fires in the Chiracahuas, and some parts of the hike went through some fire-ravaged areas.  One place in particular that made me sad was a place called "Round Park".  When I did the college backpacking trip, Round Park was a lovely forest-surrounded meadow; now it is a barren spot of earth surrounded by dead timber.

There are some amazing vistas further up, with views for many, many miles.

As we approached the summit, I noticed this interesting looking tree.  Mountain conditions are harsh - I suspect that this tree was the victim of a lightning strike.

The summit was snowy and there were lots of trees around.  Although we had read forecasts that predicted high winds, we were fortunate that they did not materialize.  But it was very cold and even the light breeze was enough to give it an extra chill.

There was plenty of room for us both to string out our dipoles.  Paul found a dry tree to use as a seat and got to work pretty quickly on 40m.

We set our antennas up in approximately the same plane (i.e. end-to-end, with plenty of space between) to mimimize interference.  I never did have any interference from his station.  I also found a log to sit on and started my operating on 20m.

I had to put on some warmer gear and it still was very cold.  But, I was loving every minute of it!  Being up high on a summit (Chiricahua Peak tops out at 9,760 ft), operating a radio, free from the daily grind, makes me so happy.  I have to credit SOTA for completely re-invigorating my amateur radio activities and providing an extra incentive to head for the hills.

With such a long hike, we only had about an hour of actual operating time up top.  I made 31 QSO's, about 2/3 on 20m, a few on 30m, and a few more on 40m.  Band conditions seemed a little worse than normal but my log still contains contacts across the continental US.

On the hike down, we noticed that the snow was a bit "slushier" - the daytime sun had warmed it up just a bit.  We had a nice hike down.  Although we saw animal tracks at every point of our hike, we only saw an actual animal once - a curious mule deer doing a bit of grazing.

I'm already looking forward to more snow hikes!

A Little Christmas Snow and a Peak - Activating 5471 Peak

I wanted to do a hike but didn't have a lot of time, so I browsed the mapping project and decided to give one of the lower peaks in the Catalinas a try.  This particular peak is simply called "5471" - there's no official known name in the SOTA database, so they just name it after the height, along with the catalog reference W7A/PE-025.  My friend Paul K9PM had previously activated this peak, so I messaged him for some details.  He confirmed to me that there is no trail to the summit, but that the hike up would be fairly short - maybe an hour from the parking lot at the Gordon Hirabayashi Campground off the Mt. Lemmon Highway.

The Arizona Trail runs alongside the peak, but really isn't helpful for this summit assault.  I was happy to see that a nice Christmas snow covered the ground - this was going to be a fun one!  Basically, my approach was pretty much a scramble up the North facing side of the hill.

It was rocky and steep, and icy in some places so the going was slow.  This wasn't a problem for a herd of deer that I startled though!

Some of them seemed to know how to pose for the camera:

There were some parts where the climbing got pretty steep.  But it was a great workout and since the hike was a short one, I didn't mind much.

Eventually Ireached a saddle next to the summit.  The highest point was atop a very large boulder, which was easy enough to climb up on.  The views from the top were very nice!

I operated for a little over an hour and made 40 QSO's.  Most were on 20m, plus some on 10m, 30m, and 40m.  I was surprised at the noise levels - I guess this peak is close enough to Tucson that it's not immune from all the RF.  There was also continuous loud traffic noise from the highway down below. But the weather was nice up top and I enjoyed it.

There wwasn't anything at the top of the boulder to strap the antenna mast to, so I just leaned it up against the boulder instead and found a few jagged rock edges to hook a bungee cord to.  It wasn't the ideal mast setup but it wasn't terribly windy so it worked ok.

After I packed up, I decided to try hiking out by scrambling down the South side, which was snow-free.  

This turned out to be a mistake, though.  It wasn't really any easier, and it seemed like I would need to hike pretty far to the West in order to get around the hills and back to my car.  I ended up hiking back up on the South side, along a large rockfall area, and through a passage.  It turned out that I came rather close to being right back up to the same elevation that I was at on the peak!

I did eventually make it back down though.  Another fun SOTA activation, this time one that didn't require a full day of hiking.  I expect to be back to activate this one again!