Shriner Peak is home to one of the four remaining fire lookout cabins in Mt Rainier National Park. The 4.5 mile hike is strenuous with rewards of spectacular views of the west side of Mt Rainier plus the six SOTA points.
A brief description of the hike is here: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/shriner-peak No Parking pass is needed at Trail Heads along Hiway 123 in the national park. Also, FYI- No dogs or pets are allowed on trails in the national park.
The hikers at our house describe and compare other hiking trails to Shriner Peak. Example: “How steep is the trail up to Mt Walker?”…. “It’s about the same grade as Shriner Peak”… or “The trail to Eagle Peak is half as steep”, and so on. The trail itself is good, solid, and pretty well maintained but consistently steep according to Garmin with a 3500 ft gain in 4.5 miles. Because of exposure to sun in south and west directions for 2/3rds of the way… A clear-crisp fall day would be the ideal time of the year to go to Shriner Peak.
I arrived at the TH at 0900 and noticed 5 cars already in the parking area for a beat the heat early start. I made it to the summit around noon and set up my station in back country campsite #2- the same place each year since 2012.
The Techy SOTA stuff: I began with 2M FM on dot five two. No QSOs on 2M were made from here, as expected from past experience- as this summit is not within line of sight to any towns or communities. However, there is a repeater at Paradise- 10 miles west, monitored by the hams in Eatonville- [145.130, minus, PL=192.8] incase a call to nearby civilization is needed as there are no cell/smart phone signals to be had.
I used my Elecraft KX-3 at 6 watts which was connected to a Dan’s Doublet (44 ft + TV twin lead + balun) hooked to the sky with a 21 ft fish pole. I spotted myself via APRS. I was surprised that I had zero QSOs on 40M CW. Two QSOs on 30M CW, and had 8 QSOs on 20M meter CW. At first I was worried about not having enough valid QSOs to gain the 6 points... but it all worked out with 4 valid QSOs.
Last thoughts: I am glad to find that another SOTA op besides me has been to Shriner- Peter AF7GL.
There is an APRS network in the national park with a digipeater nearby for APRS comms from this peak.
I just noticed that I reported on this summit in 2012… sorry for the redundancy. End of report.
Happy Trails – Rich KR7W.
