AG7GP's blog

I have done Surveyor a couple times. The first time I had my closest experience with a bear as one started climbing up the very rocky summit ridge as I took a selfie on top, not seeing her below! I think it was a mama and a young one may have been in a den in the rocks that she pushed out that came around the ridge to where we were. It was quite an experience and I was glad I was not alone. Maggie treed the young bear which added to the excitement. It also could have only been one bear, hard to tell size of them all when caught off guard!

Lake mountain has been on my list for quite a while but for some reason I had the impression it was going to be much harder.  I was waiting to do it with a partner for safety reasons but it ended up being a great day of just me and Maggie. It is a steep mountain but most of it is either trailed or open meadow until you get towards the very top. I made the mistake of going straight up not looking at my GPS satellite images and got very tangled up in the manzanita and buck brush. This is definitely not Maggie's favorite way to hike, sometimes refusing.

W7O/SC-214 was a nice little mountain that I did after Holcomb Peak. Basically you drive past Holcomb peak a bit SE and it's pretty self explanatory of where to go. You'll take a small spur road and depends on your vehicle how close you can get. You can park in some large pullouts just a little ways up the road or jeep it another 1/4mi or so. Depends on how much pinstriping you're looking for, it gets narrow with sharp manzanita and no easy turnaround. 

Snow was coming soon so I really wanted to get out and try and get a few new mountains in before winter came. A couple on my list were Holcomb peak and a no name summit right next to it, SC-214. I put these on hold before because they are a drive to something that I've never been to and have no info on, however with winter bonus and no snow yet, it made the trip worth the risk. My 1st summit was Holcolmb Peak which looked like it had the possibility of being a drive up if timber corp allowed, but much of the mountain and surrounding area had no trespassing signs.

I left with not much ambition and the day wasn't really looking good. Lots of fog. We went to Arnold (not sure what's with the different name on maps vs SOTA), very early with the plan to also do Whisky, which we did. Arnold is an old mining area with cabin, shelters, outhouse, etc. It is still claimed as far as I know. It is a really neat place and I hope to go back and maybe camp for a day to explore more. Be sure to take a peek in the cabin if you can.

Whisky is a fun hike up a rocky trail to where there used to be a lookout and still are remnants of it and other buildings including the outhouse. I had never seen a lookout built so close to the edges of the mountain. Two sides of the foundation basically came to the edge that to get to the far side of the lookout you would have to go through it when it was standing. Some of the best views of Red Buttes and the wilderness, and beyond. 360 view.It was very windy when I was there so I set up a little below, near a pile of rubble for a bit more elbow room.

Not recommended at all. This was treacherous. I got pretty torn up trying to get through some difficult brush and rocky cliffs. I never made it to the very peak and had to call it good enough because of exhaustion, dangerous drops, being alone etc. I also lost my pole somewhere trying to get through the 10ft tall thickets I am guessing. It was rough. If I every try again I will try a different route and will definitely not do it alone.

de AG7GP

I did Condrey the second day of CQP with call K6G, needing to get some walking in after sitting for so long. We were camped a few miles away from it. It is a pretty easy and short hike up from the main road. I went up the SW ridge and it was probably about a mile RT. Nice open summit with great views. Some brush and plenty of rock for an easy set up. If I am in the area again I will probably do Condrey and White same day, they were both very nice summits to hike and activate.

de AG7GP

I hiked to White Mountain in a hurry in a race against sundown, we still needed to find a place to pitch a tent for the weekend before CQP started. It was a very pleasant hike and I wish I had more time. Most of the trek is on the PCT until you climb the final 400' up to the peak. The trail is beautiful, well forested and lots of great views and interesting rock formation. White is basically a bare rock mountain to the north consisting of milky green rock, maybe serpentine?, so it is white in appearance from a distance.

Porter Butte is a drive up summit if you have the right rig. It is pretty jeepish towards the end though. Equipment on top that had a little rfi but not horrible. There was a little flat just above and to the right of the tower to set up and also get a peak down into the basin.  It got very windy up there so it was a quick one! I did this after Cherry Peak. As mentioned in that summary, October is a beautiful time to see this area. Rocky Point and 140 are golden with aspen.