Woody Mountain, W7 / AE-037

  As Mark-K5LXP and I made it back to the Ft. Tuthill campgrounds, Fred-KT5X & Steve-wG0AT were leaving for another summit.  I knew they were talking about activating another summit, but I didn't know it was going to be the same day.  I dropped off Mark at his campsite and I followed Steve & Fred on our way to Woody Mountain, SOTA mountain designator AE-037.  We turned down one road that to us did not look like a fire service road.  Steve and Fred would continue down that road while I kept going down the main road.  I went down the road a ways when Fred made contact on 2m to hold up, the road they were on was definitely not a forest road.  I drove a little farther until I could get a data signal and looked up Woody Mountain on my phone.  By the time I had read about Woody Mountain, Steve and Fred had made their way back to me.  We could see a road ½ mile down the road that may be what we were looking for. We knew were close as Fred had spotted the fire tower.  Sure enough it was the right road and it was a really nice road to drive on.  We were gaining elevation fast as we zig-zagged up the mountain, but we came to a fast stop as there it was a gate that was blocking the road that I had read about and it was padlocked.  

L-R, Fred-KT5X, Peanut, Steve-wG0AT

So Steve unloaded the goats and I took off my hiking boots and put on my tennis shoes.   It was a nice hike up the rest of the mountain.  On the way up there was an opening to the NE allowing us to see the summit we had activated just hours earlier.  We were at the summit in no time!

Elden Mountain to the NE from Woody Mountain.

  The summit had a nice fire tower and we were the only ones there.  Fred climbed up a couple of levels of the fire tower and set up his 2lb 20M CW station.  I called CQ on 2M and made my 4 contacts on 2M simplex with guys at the Ft. Tuthill campground.

Fred-KT5X on the 2nd level all set-up, Rooster looking on.

Woody Mtn. Look Out sign

  Steve climbed up to Fred and they took turns at the key making contacts across the U.S. and one into Mexico City on 20M CW.  The 2lb station was getting out!  Steve had climbed up to the top of the tower and took several pictures from a higher point.  He could see a storm coming from the south and since we all had more than enough contacts we thought it best to get back to our vehicles.  Fred’s station was dissembled in no time and down the mountain we went.  On the way down Fred & I talked about mountain top antennas and hiking in general, many tips were picked up.  Another SOTA summit bagged!

L-R, Fred-KT5X, Steve-wG0AT

L-R, Fred-KT5X, Steve-wG0AT

Woody Mountain W7/AE-037, 8045ft, July 29th, 2011, 8 points

Woody Mountain Lookout plaque

Woody Mountain U.S.G.S Bench Mark

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73 de Jon N7AZ

Elden Mountain, SOTA W7 / AE-017

Elden Mountain Trailhead

I exchanged emails with Steve-wG0AT about hiking with him & Fred-KT5X and Steve's famous goats Rooster & Peanut.  We planned on activating Elden Mountain for SOTA on Friday just before the Cactus Con gathering in Flagstaff, AZ.  We ended up picking up another ham to go with us on Friday morning, Mark-K5LXP.  Steve & Fred followed us to the trailhead.  Steve got the goats out of his truck and the fun began.

Fred-KT5X was anxious to get going.  Fred starts doing a running in place and Mark and I look at each other and Mark remarks "he's going to run up it" and sure enough, Fred made it up the mountain in 55 minutes!  It took Mark & I right at 2 hours to summit.  Steve and the goats were way ahead of Mark & I by a considerable amount.  We had kept in contact on 2m simplex.

Mini-break, L-R, Mark-K5LXP, Steve-wG0AT, Rooster, Peanut, Awed hikers.

Until half way up the mountain we were given several mini-breaks from all the people coming down that wanted to pet & talk about the goats.  I swear every girl we met, no matter the age commented on how cute the goats were.  Steve carried peanuts that he would hand out so hikers could hand feed the goats.  Many videos of the goats are available here  wG0AT

At the top Fred-KT5X already had 20M setup (his whole station, radio & antenna weighs in just a smidge over 2lbs), Fred & Steve operated on the north side of the mountain on HF, while Mark & I went just below the fire lookout tower on the south side.  We had a direct line of sight to all the Cactus Con  hams that were camping at Ft Tuthill.  Mark & I easily made out 4 contacts on 2M simplex.

Fred & Steve/R&P headed back down after making many HF Q's.  Mark & I weren't half way down when they let us know they were at the TH, goats packed up and was headed back to the campground.  Say what!!  Fred and Steve are retirement age, those two guys are in great shape!

I can't wait until I hike with these guys again, little did I know it would be real soon.

73 de Jon N7AZ

Bill Williams Mountain, SOTA W7 / AE-018

N7AZ at the top of Bill Williams Mountain (W7/AE-018)

Welcome!  Here is my first post of a blog that will combine two hobbies of hiking and ham radio.  Hopefully I will get away from the home QTH to populate this blog.


My first SOTA activation was on Bill Williams Mountain close to the town of Williams, AZ in the northern part of Arizona.  I started at the Bill Williams Trail Head late in the day thinking I'd get to the top in short order.  I was wrong, by the time I got to the top, set up and called my 1st CQ it was time to head back down.  Good thing I had a head lamp as the last half hour was in the dark.


The next day after being at the top powered by people power and knowing that it was possible to drive to the top, I did just that.  Close to the top, I parked the vehicle and carried the equipment in my backpack the rest of the way.  The very peak is surrounded by commercial equipment and was quite noisy along with an occupied fire tower, so I stayed to the east but  was still in the required 100 ft from the summit.  Once someone answered me on 20M, I made my required 4 contacts to successfully activate SOTA W7/AE-018.  




On September 5, 2010 I activated the first SOTA summit in Arizona by making a total of 11 contacts on 20M running QRP+.

Thanks to:

ND0C, W5DTY, K9DMV, K7BDU, W8KJ, WA2USA, WB4ETT, KE7RVL, K6DGW, W0RW, &  N7UN

Only few parts of the trail was this flat

Bill Williams Mountain Trail starts out at 7000' elevation with a elevation gain of 2256' in 4 miles.

73 de Jon N7AZ