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.

Looking at reports from other activators, it appeared that the approaches to the summit of Bald Hill in Marin County were steep, steeper, and steepest. In the hopes of starting the hike with as much elevation gain as possible already behind us, I chose the route that starts at Crest Road in Fairfax.

The information sign for Bald Hill Open Space Preserve stands just past the locked gate where Crest Road becomes Crest Fire Road. There is enough space for two cars to park at the turnaround before the gate.

About a half mile from the gate you come to the spot where the Google Maps pin for is dropped for Sky Ranch Open Space Preserve. The trail system intertwines through both Sky Ranch OSP and Bald Hill OSP, and with the names of both locations sprinkled around on different bits of signage it can get a little confusing as to which preserve you are in. But it doesn’t matter much, just go “up” and you’ll find the summit.

My hiking buddy used an app on her phone to collect some stats on our ascent to the summit of Baldy. From the trailhead, where the equestrian area is, the fire road goes steeply up and over a knoll to where it joins the Worn Spring fire road.

I recommend to take the Sky Ranch trail from the trailhead. This skirts around the eastern side of the knoll and avoids the steep elevation gain, much of which you give right back on the other side. We took this trail on the return leg rather than climbing straight over the knoll again.

The fire road to the summit is a steep climb but offers enough level spots where you can take a rest, hydrate, and catch your breath while watching other much more fit people run right past on their way up the hill!

The broad summit and activation zone offers panoramic views of the northern part of the Bay Area, but nothing in the way of antenna supports, so be prepared to supply your own.

With the GRA-3750T vertical antenna and the Mountaintopper MTR-4B on 20 meters I collected 15 QSOs within 20 minutes.

The first call was from K6EL a few miles north on Loma Alta W6/NC-350. The familiar duo of W0MNA and W0ERI checked in from Kansas and WU7H and WW7D were on W7W/CW-068 in Washington state.

After securing the HF operations and a successful activation I gave 2 meters a try. A pair of QSOs on FM was enough before heading back down the hill.

From Bald Hill there are views of Mt. Tam, San Francisco, southern Marin and Bay Area, including Mt. Diablo to the southeast.

73 de W6CSN

California’s coast features many dozens of POTA references that are easily accessed right off U.S. Highway 1. The centerpiece of today’s POTA plan was activation of Pigeon Point Lighthouse State Historic Park, additionally there are several nearby State Beaches that could make for a nice coastal rove.

Driving southbound and making right turns into State Beach parking lots is easier than trying to turn left, crossing the busy highway. For me, this meant activating my “secondary” beaches before getting to the main event at the Pigeon Point lighthouse.

The first stop was at Pomponio State Beach, which is a short distance south of San Gregorio SB which I activated back in July. Today, the day after Thanksgiving, the beach was pretty quiet, although the ranger kiosk was open and charging the $8 day-use parking fee. Fortunately, the California “Poppy” pass gives access to many of the state beaches, including Pomponio.

Wanting to stay out of other visitors’ way, I chose to activate from an unused picnic area farthest from the beach, between the parking lot and the road. The traffic noise from the highway is loud, but nothing a pair of earbuds can’t handle.

The 17 foot telescoping whip antenna was clamped to a barbecue grill and extended fully. I meant to start on 20 meters, but for whatever reason I couldn’t get a low SWR with today’s setup. I didn’t bring a tuner and adjusting the radials wasn’t helping, so I shortened the whip by a couple of segments and got a good match on 18 MHz.

There is no cell service at this location so a Garmin inReach message to sotamat got me spotted. The 17 meter band was hopping today and the activation was complete in about 20 minutes, which is fast for a QRP CW activation from a California coastal location.

With Pomponio in the log book, it was time to continue south toward Pigeon Point. There are places along Highway 1 where single lane traffic controls are in place for construction work, although only the stoplights were working today, not the road crews. The long red light afforded an opportunity to snap a picture of the waterfowl on Pescadero Marsh.

The next stop is Bean Hollow, a picturesque beach on a small bay shaped like, a bean. There is much less parking available here than at the other beaches, so the lot was full when I arrived. Fortunately, just as I went once around the lot, a car was pulling out so I was able to snag a spot.

There are actually two beaches on either side of a low rock outcrop. A picnic table was available above the outcrop so that’s where I setup the FT-818 once again.

This location offered nothing in the way of antenna supports, at least none that I was comfortable using. So I turned to the GRA-3750T on a tripod set in the ice plant with three radials outstretched.

I was hoping to get more contacts on 17 meters but couldn’t find the match with the loading coil. This antenna provides an easy match on 15 meters though, so I set it there and sent out another sotamat spot on the InReach mini.

This activation was substantially harder to come by. It took nearly two hours but I was eventually able to gather the ten contacts needed, plus one for “insurance.”

Because the Bean Hollow activation took so long to complete, enough of afternoon was consumed that the Pigeon Point Lighthouse activation was now off the table. I hope to activate Año Nuevo before the end of the year, maybe I can get Pigeon Point at that time.

73 de W6CSN