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Mount Tamalpais is a 2,571 foot landmark situated above Marin County in California’s coastal mountain range. Known locally as Mt. Tam, the mountain has been a refuge from busy city life in San Francisco for more than a hundred years. The Coast Miwok people, who lived around the mountain prior to European settlement of the Bay region, gave the mountain its name which roughly translates to “coast mountain.”
Earlier this year, in March 2024, it was my intention to activate Mt Tamalpais State Park (US-1178), however foul weather prevented me. Today the mountain was more inviting with lots of blue skies and mountainside grasses still green from Spring rains.
Just off West Ridgecrest Boulevard there is a picnic area set on a forested hilltop that offers a little elevation and tables to set up a field radio station. Though I had a 20 meter EFHW antenna, it seems the arborist throw line didn’t make it into the kit, so those good looking trees would not be able to support my antenna today.
Plan B for the antenna was a ground mounted vertical on a tripod. Winds were fairly light, and the trees surrounding the site offered some shelter to help keep the 17 foot telescoping whip from toppling over.
I’d forgotten how difficult the vertical antenna can be to tune up over the rocky, low conductivity ground on the mountain. In fact, without an antenna analyzer I was really having a hard time getting the MFJ whip to tune up. Eventually, I switched out the whip for the Gabil GRA-7350T loaded whip vertical which gave me better control over the tuning.
Up to this point, I’d taken the QMX radio on several POTA activations conducted from my vehicle at the Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Site (US-7889) but this would be the first time it saw use in the proper out of doors environment.
Knowing that cell service can be very spotty up on Mt. Tam I scheduled the activation ahead of time on pota.app. I was beginning to think the RBN was not going to pick me up so I took advantage of Sotamat to spot the activation using the Garmin inReach service.
The QMX performed well and after about an hour of operating, the activation was complete with a total of 13 QSOs spread across 20m, 17m, 15m, and 12m. I would have moved up to give 28 Mhz a try but signals weren’t all that great and it was starting to get a little chilly.
The wooded hillsides and grassy meadows of Mt. Tam are home to deer, elusive mountain lions, soaring hawks, and even wild turkeys. The rocky outcrops of Serpentine provide ample opportunity for a multitude of lizards to warm themselves in the strengthening springtime sun.
Here a single California Poppy, the official State flower, thrives in a crevice of Serpentine, the official State rock.
Mount Tamalpais offers colorful and surprising vistas of San Francisco and the Bay Area.
SOTA summit: Blind Spring https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-067
Activation Date: December 26th, 2023
Unique: Yes, peak number 280
Call sign used: W6PNG
Portable operation: Yes
Radios: Elecraft KX2
Antennas: SOTABeams Bandhopper 60/40/20
Band/Modes used: Morse (CW) on 40m
Operating highlights:
Pack weight: Approximately 15 lbs
Drive: Jeep
Hike: ~5 miles R/T with 1,300 ft ascent.
Hike and AZ profile:
Recommend: Absolutely
Solo operation: With Rico M
Cell Coverage: Good cell coverage
Photos: Copyright Paul Gacek 2024
It’s not often that I think of deer and even less often deer in headlights, however at this point empathy abounds and I’m feeling rather uncomfortable.
Lots of sounds, dits and dahs akin to a barrage of shells. Unlike shells these are wanted and everyone seems to have accommodated me, by spacing characters and matching my speed. I’m pretty slow but it all feels like a German autobahn, fast and far too fast!
Chances are the first character is a K, W or N and it is.
W what I ponder and send morse “W?”. Ah, I hear an OT and surmise accurately that WB6POT is calling me. He is and one is in the bag.
The fun continues and while I haven’t really given much warning of my arrival, I seem to have coincided with Red NJ7V’s activation in Arizona and presume I’m getting his party goers on the way out. I assume Elliot and Ken are coming. K6EL seemed more manageable to me but still requires a K?. Despite umpteen practices of sending K6HPX I send a medley of incorrect characters but manage to fumble through this. Thanks Elliot, thanks Ken.
Rex is here and has an easy callsign as it ends with an M and T, very rhythmical to me. I get a kick out of Q with Rex as he is my W6 AM successor.
I have a much stronger appreciation of callsigns since trying morse for real. There’s a ring to some, Fred’s KT5X and in particular the X sounds rhythmical and easy to identify. My UK callsign, M0SNA picked unrandomly and with no thought to morse sounds quite nice to my ear but not so my California vanity, W6PNG.
I’m somewhat flummoxed…a prize catch in the form of a contact with a fellow mountain top activator is coming in as dits and dahs. Dave N6AN is sending S2S to me and I’m not entirely sure how to handle the next set of exchanges. At one level it’s easy or so it seemed as I knew almost without hesitation that his summit to summit was from his personal temple (like mine W6/SC-369) was W6/CT-225.
It’s a horseshoe journey to this peak via Bishop with 30 miles along the base of the Whites. I’ve done all the easy peaks in the Whites and always marvel at its compact majesty that belies the meadow like nature of its upper reaches that transform into groves of the oldest living things; Bristlecone Pines. We try to identify peaks but fail abysmally requiring help from PeakFinder. My now retired accolade is hiding behind the behemoth that is Montgomery. Truth is Nevada never really likes to admit that Boundary is it’s highest point but would rather that Wheeler, the subject of another adventure be it, be it.
Blind Spring wasn’t really our destination but rather Antelope or even Trafton (a dirt road too far for this Jeeper ages ago) and I’m not fully prepared to navigate the optimal way.
The mine road looked appealing on a map but once onto it caution saved the day as it clung to the side of the mountain, was strewn with rocks and ever larger boulders that ultimately would dictate a very difficult down hill reversal.
Rico’s disappeared. I call into the wind. Nothing, I call again. Finally a fix on a voice. This way I shout. We repeat this again but no response. The faux destination has numerous ways around and I fear he’s off on the wrong one. I backtrack to a pinnacle and regain a fix on him. Collecting rusted mining junk like cans is a slow and methodical business.
The West is littered with mines. It’s a story that never ceases to intrigue me but the terrain can be dangerous. Tailings suggest caution, depressions suggest alternate tracks and ultimately we have found our way to the peak and then safely back to the Jeep.
It was fun, very fun. I love scrambling through the western sage, around bitter brush, Mormon tea and all that the Eastern Sierras have to offer.
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