Eight Dollar Mountain lives up to it’s notable name, somewhat unusual in an area that has may nameless mountains. On a topo map it looks like one of the nearby Cascades, a very definite cone not attached to the nearby hills, but it’s doesn’t share their volcanic origins. I was surprised it had never been activated as there is a (very steep) jeep track to the research station on the summit, and the trailhead is just a mile or so from highway 199.
I’d convinced my mother, a pretty avid hiker, to come along for the expedition. Despite the threatening rain, we set off. Eight Dollar is a very straightforward mountain. The jeep track goes as directly up at the summit as possible, often attaining grades that would be thrilling to travel in a vehicle. The total distance from trailhead to summit was about 3.5mi.
We were ascending into the clouds, so there weren’t many vistas on the way up, and the top was completely socked-in. Halfway up the drizzle started and every so often it would switch to full on rain. At the top I snapped a quick photo of the antenna array and then set up my station. There was no view given the cloudbank, but I suspect it would be very scenic in clear wx. I had no time to locate a BNC terminated coax cable locally, so I was once again using my rigged up end fed wire, though I had added a few feet of wire counterpoise.
I quickly got several calls on 40m with signal reports generally better than on the previous summit. I was especially excited to make contacts with a number of people I know. The feeling of being on a summit in a far-away place and hearing a familiar callsign come back out of the (rainy) ether is something new to me and I found it very fun.
That said, at the first lull in responses, I sent QRT and packed up. I’d come on the trip without walking poles as they’re apparently not allowed on airplanes for some reason. Because of that, I think the trip down was nearly as grueling as going up. If you do $8, definitely take along hiking poles. The name of the mountain, by the way, has a bunch of origin stories. The one I like the best: the first guy who climbed to its top wore out his $8 shoes on the trip.
Roundtrip hike was ~7mi, and I had good data service on Verizon at the top.
