Anyway... Mike only managed a few contacts, funny enough one with @tsherrygeo here!!

"...No cellular service up there. I strung up my long 40m wire and made several 40m phone, mostly west coast California. I shortened my wire to 20m got reliable Darryl WW7D in Washington. K6STR joked about me not spotting on a CW frequency so I made a 20m attempt. I was successful with N7KOM, Tim in Oregon. Thanks for your patience!.."

#hamradio #sota #wilderness

His story here, btw...

"...Evan got us as close to shore as he comfortably could in the skiff. Adding to the difficult surf conditions, the outboard motor was consistently dying when at idle! Brit and I bailed from the skiff about 50 yards from shore. Dry bag and collapsible mast (fishing pole) in one hand and swimming with the other. We timed it as best we could but we did get smacked by a couple of three to four footers. It has been a while since I’ve been in the surf and I now remembered how it felt! We had life jackets on as well so it was not easy to get very far under the waves. Once on shore we opened the dry bags for our hiking clothes and radio. This was when I discovered my dry bag was not so dry. My soft case radio bag was wet and moist on the inside. At this point I packed my radio (Xiegu X5105) at the top of my pack so it could dry out as we hiked. It was not soaked but it was wet. ..."

https://www.sotadata.org.uk/en/summits/article/37215/view

#SOTA #hamradio

But, that is NOT AS HARD as this also 1 point peak on Santa Cruz Island, W6/SC-343. Mike also activated that one. Mike had to get a boat ride out there, and SWIM there with all his radio stuff in a drybag... then had to swamp his way up the hill there all the way to the top, BRUTAL hike bushwhacking.

He had to get a permit from the Nature Conservancy, a boat ride, etc.

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SC-343

#hamradio #sota

(one of the hardest local SOTA peaks to activate, and only 1 point!! It should be a 5 pointer for the effort required, or more...). Mike K6MII activated it last month. W6/SC-336

https://sotl.as/summits/W6/SC-336

#hamradio #sota

So in the end, we could not access Magic Mountain (the actual mountain), Snow Benchmark, and Peak 4020. Eventually drove north on 5 to another SOTA peak, coincidentally ALSO called Peak 4020. The bands were utter dog barf, and the flies were indescribable. But we got our contacts and four points, all that matters!

And a very fun day driving around Angeles National Forest of course. 70ish with the gentlest of breezes.

#hamradio #sota