Pass Required at Trailhead

Winter Adventures in Joshua Tree National Park, California.  On a recent trip to California to visit family, we took some time to visit Joshua Tree National Park, and Activate a couple SOTA peaks.  We made the town of Twenty Nine Palms our base, "roughing it" in the relatively new Holiday Inn Express facility, and making day excursions on February 1 & 2.  This is report 1 of 2, detailing Activation of Ryan Mountain.

Lions Mane (W7W/KG-125) is an intriguing 2 point bump that sits between a gravel county road and the North fork of the Snoqualmie River. The trip is about 3 miles round trip with about 750' of elevation gain. Most of the hike is along an old overgrown logging road that presents few challenges. The last 200' of elevation gain is an 1/8 mile cross-country scramble through new growth and slash. There are some nice views and good coverage on VHF into the Puget Sound region.

Mud Creek Ridge is a summit by Trillium Lake near Mount Hood that's good for a short backcountry snowshoe. Since there doesn't appear to be a trail, the best bet is to wait for three to five feet of snow to cover the brush and downed trees. The elevation gain is about 700 feet from the road and a total distance of about two miles one way.

A cold, windy & snowy winter activation of Amabilis Mountain, 4,580 feet, located east of Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, was undertaken by me and my SOTA Buddy - Tim, KG7EJT.  The forecast was for a substantial change from the sunny but cold weather this area had been enjoying the previous week.  The TH is easy to reach, most of the time, being right at Exit 63, Highway I-90.  The route we took followed the XC Ski groomed logging road leading from the Lodge Creek / Swamp Creek Basin to the summit area of Amabilis. The route was 11.18  m

Outerson Mountain is one of a trio of summits near Triangulation Peak located
just east of Detroit Oregon. Outerson Mountain, Timber Butte, and Triangulation Peak
are all within about 2 miles of each other and would be a good set of summits
to do in a day and more importantly, one car trip.

Outerson Mountain is reached by taking Oregon Hwy 22 east from Idanha. Just east
of Idanha, (MP 56.2) take NF2233 left. The turn here is also marked as "McCoy Park".
Mc Coy park is a popular motorized off-road vehicle recreational area. Follow NF2233

One of the last beautiful Fall weekends of 2015, yielded an activation of Thorp Mountain and Hard Knox Mountain together with my "SOTA Buddy", KG7EJT and Dexter the SOTA Dog.  The weather was superb, a successful dual activation, including a First Activation of Hard Knox, followed by a great dinner and local "Brew" in Roslyn, Washington, made for one of the more memorable SOTA outings in my career! The views, and great access, make this a highly recommended double SOTA objective.  This report describes Hard Knox Mountain Activation.  Thorp Mountain

One of the last beautiful Fall weekends of 2015, yielded an activation of Thorp Mountain and Hard Knox Mountain together with my "SOTA Buddy", KG7EJT and Dexter the SOTA Dog.  The weather was superb, a successful dual activation, including a First Activation of Hard Knox, followed by a great dinner and local "Brew" in Roslyn, Washington, made for one of the more memorable SOTA outings in my career! The views, and great access, make this a highly recommended double SOTA objective.  This report describes Thorp Mountain Activation.  Hard Knox is listed under a

Middle Sister is in the Three Sisters Wilderness of Central Oregon and is a committed alpine climb - it cannot be considered a hike as there is not a 'trail' to the top. It's about 14 miles round trip, 4800 feet net gain and took us over 13 hours. 

Broken Top is in the Three Sisters Wilderness of Central Oregon. Broken Top is a committed alpine climb - it cannot be considered a hike as there is no 'trail' to the top. 

A return trip to San Gabriel Peak, which I last activated on May 23, 2014.  Taking a break from babysitting duties with our grandson, we snuck away for a quick SOTA Activation, as access to San Gabriel is very easy from the Los Angeles Basin.  It is accessed from SR 2, also known as the Angeles Crest Highway.  I have described this scenic byway before, as part of Activation reports on the many SOTA Summits scattered along its 66 mile long windy pathway trough the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles national Forest.  See: