N1CLC: 02-02-2020 Sheephead Mtn.

Today’s expedition took my sister and I to Sheephead Mountain, SOTA summit W6/SD-020. IMy sister joined me on the hike today which was awesome. The weather in the area was a bit toasty yesterday due to a small heat wave through the area but today was back to a very mild day and clear skies. It was cool but not cold as we set out.

Just before we were supposed to turn on Kitchen Creek road, we saw some deer. Mary Sue spotted them. She’s always been able to spot wildlife before anyone else.

Once we got to the turnoff, the road was closed. I figured the road closure last year was due to the snow but that’s not the case since the area is very dry. I’ll double check but they must close off the area for the off season. There are campgrounds in the area and I’m guessing they close it off for that. Anyway, with the road closed there was no indication that the area was closed to hiking. Having to hike to the trailhead adds 3.2 miles to the total mileage for the hike, bringing it to 6.7 total miles with 1,391 ft of elevation gain. (Route here)

It’s an interesting hike since from the trailhead you actually descend from where we parked into a small valley and then start a strait up approach to the summit. From today’s starting point it’s a little over a mile and a half down hill to the trailhead. That means the trip back to the car has a lot of uphill. It’s not that steep but you feel it.

The area was very dry and the trail on the final attack up the mountain is becoming pretty overgrown. This is a cut trail maintained by a local nature group. I’d do some trimming but I have no idea what the acceptable approach is.

This is one of those hikes where hiking poles come in really handy for the big incline toward the end. I’ve had a pair of extra hiking poles in the back of the car for when someone joins me that forgot theirs etc. The one day we could have used them, they were missing. I pulled them out a few weeks ago when I cleaned out the car and forgot to put them back in. Bummer. We shared mine however and all is well. The only way to get up to this peak is via a cut trail through shoulder high chaparral. You definitely want to wear long pants and sleeves.

Overall the hike up was enjoyable. Once on top, we continued to have fantastic weather, with very light winds. Once setup, I turned on the radio which was set to 7.033 and another ham on a SOTA summit working contacts on CW. So my first contact was a summit-to-summit with WA6MM. I followed that by 12 more CW contacts before switching over to SSB on 20 meter. I only had one contact there, W0MNA, a very reliable chaser (thanks Gary). I chased a few more summit-to-summits via CW.

Just before I left, I got a S2S contact using my little 5 watt hand held on FM 2 meter with Cam, KN6DFX. He was using a Yaesu Ft2dr hand held 5 watt radio and used a roll up J-pole on top a 20 ft mast. Nothing fancy but a step above the rubber duck set up that I was using. Cam was on W6/CC-056, Sandstone Peak by Malibu, 168 miles away!

The trip back to the car was an easy one with the long uphill to the main road made easier by chatting with my sister on the way. Summary: Great hike, great views, and fantastic weather.

Contacts

Own Callsign	Date	Time	Summit	Band	Mode	Station Worked	Notes
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:27	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	WA6MM
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:28	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	K6KM
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:36	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	KR7RK
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:37	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	WW7D
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:38	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	K7MK
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:40	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	WU7H
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:41	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	K6HPX
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:43	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	WC6J
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:48	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	NS7P
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:50	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	W7RV
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:50	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	N0TK
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:52	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	N6PKT
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	18:56	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	K6ARK
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	19:01	W6/SD-020	14MHz	SSB	N4EX
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	19:06	W6/SD-020	14MHz	SSB	W0MNA
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	19:06	W6/SD-020	7MHz	CW	KX0R
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	19:35	W6/SD-020	144MHz	FM	KN6DFX
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	19:38	W6/SD-020	144MHz	FM	W6RWS
N1CLC	02/Feb/2020	19:40	W6/SD-020	144MHz	FM	KA5MUG