7-17-23 W4T/CA-013 (Black Mountain)

 


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11-10-23 W6/NC-221 (China Grade Benchmark)

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  I did this one after activating Ben Lomond Mountain.  It was maybe an hour away down some fairly windy one lane paved roads. But it was midnight GMT so technically a different day. This summit is literally along the road to Cutter Scout Reservation, where've I've been to a number of times before it was burned to the ground in the fires a few years ago.  There is a locked gate just a few hundred feet past the summit, but it's accessible.  A parking turn out was maybe 80 feet down the road. The summit itself towers about 50 feet above the road, and there's some deer trails that seem to go to the top, but when I pulled my phone out and noticed the AZ extended to the road, plus it was going to be dark in an hour, I decided not to hike up.  There was a very nice rock right at the gate that made a perfect chair, so I decided to set up just inside the gate. There were a couple of tall emergency cones on either side of the gate, one of which made a perfect place to st...
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11-2-23 W6/NC-399 (Coyote Peak)

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  I decided to go for a hike at lunch today, and the trailhead for Coyote Peak is a few blocks from my office, so I grabbed my SOTA kit and took off.  I've done this peak already a couple of times, the last time being just after I recovered from Covid and I remember it wasn't very fun, with all the respiratory issues I was having at the time.  I was hoping today would be easier. Just after entering the park, there is a kiosk to pay the $6 day use fee.  The automation station only takes credit cards and not cash. There's no permit required, but if you don't have the parking ticket on your dashboard you'll get an expensive ticket. I know they weren't charging during the pandemic, but that's over now. I parked in the main lot.  The trailhead here heads up to the Bay Area Ridge Trail.  Right at the start is a supply of paper maps. I'd suggest taking one if you've never been on these trails before, and then returning it when you're done with it.  They...
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11-9-23 W6/NC-178 (Ben Lomond Mountain)

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  On may way home from a client call in Santa Cruz I took a last minute unplanned detour up to Ben Lomond Mountain.  The area was extremely fire damaged a few years ago, and while a lot of that damage still remains it no longer looks like a total war zone, and is open for normal traffic.  I've gotten into the habit of throwing my SOTA go bag in the car whenever I leave San Jose, just in case. The AZ is a very long path along the road, maybe even a mile, so you can setup on the side of the road just about anywhere.  The actual summit is inside a government training facility that is right next to a county incarceration center of some sort. I've seen past posts that indicate it is a CalFire station but I didn't see any indication that was so. Due to the barb wire fence and keep out signs, I decided not to set up in the parking lot like previous posts mentioned.  I drove down the road just a bit and found a large turn out right next to some antennas, checked SOTAGoa...
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