I got up early and left my home QTH near Redmond with a mountain bike in the car along with a heavy backpack full of food water and batteries. I knew the weather was supposed to change to showers later in the day but what a beautiful sunrise as I neared the trailhead off of the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River Road. The construction along the road is ongoing and road connditions seem to change every week but I have no troubles with my low clearance electric car.
After getting my bike set up and strapping on my heavy pack I began the long slog up the Bessemer Road, one of the few remaining active logging roads In the area. I started slow and was glad I did as the climb up is relentless. I made it to about 3200' elevation before walking my bike the rest of the way to a saddle in th ridge separating Moolock Mountain and Bessemer Mountain. Unfortunately my plan to ride from that saddle to the base of Moolock I was spoiled when I encountered snow drifts up to about 7 feet deep. I ditched the bike and potholed my way to the base of the summit.
After obtaining the summit, I quickly assembled my tape measure yagi and fired up my trusty old Icom mobile and give a call on 146.52 simplex. After about 3 minutes my coworker Dave, kg7sem who lives in Blaine (110 miles from the summit) replied with a good signal. Another 13 QSOs followed including 3 from Stations in BC.
I did have some uneasy feelings when I started getting shocked and could see sparks coming from the handmike whenever I touched it as a result of static discharges from an approaching storm system.
All in all it was a fun experience although I did get wet coming off the summit and completely soaked on the bike ride down
