Black Mountain, W7A/MN-057

  It's been awhile since I composed a post on this blog. So a little update is in order first before the report.
 
  Been over a year and things have changed since then.  I hadn't been active with SOTA for sometime.  I hadn't even done all that much hiking in general. Last fall my wife Donna aka XYL KB0JOK went into the hospital for back surgery.  Long story-short, after being in the hospital for 3 months, she passed away.  I visited the various hospitals and care facilities at least once a day.  With a full time job, it didn't leave much time to do much.  In March/April I joined back with a hiking club I belong too and got active again.  Then it turned hot.  After watching my weight go back up, it was time to get active again.
 
  The Arizona association (W7A) of SOTA changed since my last post.  Instead of 119 summits and a couple of activators, it is now close to 2500 summits and many active activators and chasers.  SOTA has really taken off in AZ! 

    On Sunday September 1, 2013 I drove to Cave Creek, AZ to activate Black Mountain.  This is a 3397 foot mountain with a trail head elevation of 2195 feet.  Point value is 4pts.  At the summit on this day were hundreds if not thousands of gnats.  Luckily they were only at the summit.  I dropped back down 20 ft or so and they never bothered me there.  So I setup after letting know the local chasers that I had arrived and was setting up. 
 

  From the summit, one had 360 degree views of the Valley of the Sun.

  Looking East/NNE.  In the lower left corner you can see my Black Widow pole.

  To top off the summit activation was a S2S (Summit to Summit) with WA7JTM on 40M.

  With enough contacts in the log, back down the hill I went.

Thanks for the contacts!



more pictures here

until another summit...73 de Jon N7AZ


2M
N7AMA
W7RV

20M
W7RV
KA7CVJ
W7USA
N7AMA
W5ODS
N1EU
W0MNA
N5XL

40M
N5XL

20M
NS7P

17M
N5XL

20M
K3XD
AE4FZ
WB0PTD

40M S2S
WA7JTM



73 Jon N7AZ

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