Good Parking At Trailhead

During the first week of October, I was delighted to receive an invitation from accomplished SOTA activator KR7W to accompany him to the not-yet-activated Huckleberry Ridge summit.  I expected to take my HB1B along, but testing my equipment, the day before our outing, I managed to toast something inside while trying to get a good antenna match.  So I petitioned Rich to let me pack along his trusty KX3 as an alternative to the HW7 he was planning to bring for his own use.

Seeing Red...and orange, yellow, blue and green.  The reference here is to fall colors and the ongoing hunting season.  Beautiful fall day, with mostly sunny weather, fall foliage on display.  Several hunting parties in the Teanaway, Beverly and Bean creek valleys necessitated wearing bright colored clothing, and making our presence known.

Last full day of summer, 2014 - A short Activation hike to a beautiful mountaintop view from the somewhat smallish summit area of Mount Catherine.

A last minute decision to attempt a SOTA Activation on the last full day of summer 2014, led us to choose Mount Catherine, behind the Summit East (Hyak) ski area, near Snoqualmie Pass. 

This peak is 68.5 miles east of Interstate 5 along State Route 2. Go over Stevens Pass and very soon after the highway divides, turn left on Smithbrook Road #6700. Travel in, over and around the potholes for about 3.7 miles to a wide left-hand curve at about 4600' in a saddle of the Nason Ridge. Park along the road or on a nearby spur road and you'll find the trail for access on the east side signed as Nason Ridge Trail #1583. No permits required here.

Dock Butte has great views of it's Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest home. There is plenty of antenna room on the summit and it's only a short 3-mile roundtrip hike. The trail is great - a bit steep and requires just a very short scramble near the top. It took us about an hour from the trailhead. 

Located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness off the West Fork Foss River Trail #1064 near Skykomish, this peak is between Big Heart and Angeline lakes. Big Heart Lake is about a 7.3 mile hike in, and the trail is steep and rocky at times. You'll also pass Trout, Copper and Little Heart Lakes on your way with wonderful scenery at all times.

Surprise Mountain is right off of Section J of the Pacific Crest Trail #2000 in Washington. We were hiking south from the Steven’s Pass trailhead and camped at Deception Lakes - about 17.5 miles from the trailhead. From that point, it is only 1.3 miles and a 1300’ gain up the Surprise Mountain Trail #1063 to the summit. Following the horse camp signs along a very well maintained trail got me on the right path.

Pinnacle Peak is a popular spot for beginning activators in this area:  it's very accessible, and there are both northen and southern trail routes. My YF and I used the Cal Magnusson trail on the North Side.  It is a popular spot for hikers (often with dogs) and runners -- steep but only about a mile to the summit.  One runner told us she'd made the ascent in 32 minutes.  We took more like 50 minutes.

Browder Ridge is one of those hikes that you really don't want to tell anybody about. Its well known for its wildflowers and mentioned as an alternate to crowd-packed Iron Mountain/Cone Peak. Unlike the more popular Iron Mountain loop, Browder Ridge stays in bloom far into summer. It has a number of great views and dramatic old growth fir/hemlock/cedar forests. I was there in early August and there were an amazing number of flowers and blooming things.

No Joke on Jester Mountain, but Mr. Murphy (as in Murphy's Law) showed up. Fall is nearly in the air.  The flowers are long gone, replaced by late season berries and mushrooms.  Air temperature when leaving the car at 9:00 AM was 44 degrees F.  Crossing Snoqualmie Pass, the weather was rainly, foggy & windy.  It did not look promising, but the anticipated East Slope of Cascades Rain Shadow was in effect, and we had a glorious day in the Wenatchee mountains.