2. Ham Radio

Adams Peak (W6/NS-158) SOTA Activation 9/12/2013

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  • The SOTA Northern Sierra region logo. This logo is available on Northern Sierra T-shirts, sweatshirts, beer steins, mouse pads, etc. for SOTA participants who qualify for the Northern Sierra Award (offered by yours truly KU6J). The award rules are linked to from my page on QRZ.com.
  • Adams Peak as seen from the west.
  • Zoomed in.
  • To get to the trailhead, I rode my ATV from near Chilcoot along the route shown in red that is suitable only for ATVs and dirt bikes. The trail begins on Plumas National Forest road 24N88 where it intersects the paved Frenchman Lake Road at the P24N88FRNCH point (39.81516N, 120.13821W). It is a fun, tight trail with a lot of twists and turns.
  • Plumas National Forest apparently refers to it as Trail 74. They rate it as intermediate ("more difficult") which seemed about right. I wouldn't bring a first-timer on it due to a few rough and rocky spots, but someone with half a dozen rides under their belt should be able to handle it just fine.
  • If you don't have an ATV or dirt bike, the best approach would be up the green road (dirt) that begins on Frenchman Lake Road at the P24N44FRNCH point in the prior map (39.86049N, 120.15506W). I've never been up that road and I don't know what it's actual road number is. I did ride down to intersect it up near the top, and it looked like it would be fine for 2WD vehicles.
  • Continue up the green road to the CRYSTALADAMS point (39.93033N, 120.11915W). Bear right onto the rougher and narrower blue road to the ADAMSRIDGE point (39.92959N, 120.1114W) and turn left. Continue along that blue road to the meadow at ADAMSMDW (39.91976N, 120.10451W) and park. You may be able to drive a bit further towards the ADAMS4X4 point (39.91806N, 120.10255W) that I would consider to be the hiking trailhead, but there is a very steep and rough downhill segment just before reaching that point. I rode my ATV all the way to ADAMS4X4 but had to winch myself back up that steep section on the way back.
  • Segment of Plumas National Forest's Motor Vehicle Use Map for the Portola area that shows these roads, but with no information on road quality. The entire map can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/plumas/maps-pubs/?cid=stelprdb5322854">here</a>.
  • My ATV parked near the ADAMS4X4 point.
  • From ADAMS4X4, hike up an old 4x4 track that runs up onto the ridge. It narrows into a single-track trail that appears to be more of a hiking trail than a motorcycle trail. Per my GPS, the hike from ADAMS4X4 to the summit is 0.92 miles long and the topo map shows an elevation gain of around 880 feet.
  • The trail runs through a grove of aspens about halfway up.
  • There are actually two distinct peaks up on top. The SOTA coordinates are from ListsOfJohn and point at the one to the east, so that is the one I climbed. The one to the west is shown on topo maps as the official Adams Peak. They looked to me to be identical in height, although <a href="http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=17460">ListsOfJohn says that the east peak is 8199 feet in elevation, two feet higher than the west peak</a>.
  • Both peaks are rocky and surrounded by the trees (brush?) shown here. Sorry but I don't know the name for these. What I do know is that going through them is impossible, unless you were wearing a leather suit or some other kind of armor. Getting onto either of these peaks requires weaving your way around them and/or crawling under them. As you can see from my track in the prior topo map, I weaved my way through to the north side of the peak which looked to be the only way through and up.
  • After making my way through those trees, this wall of boulders was the last obstacle to get to the summit. I stowed my hiking poles and climbed up them using both hands. Does that make this a class 3 summit? Or is it class 4? Dunno, I'm not a real climber (only play one for SOTA) but I was careful and this section really wasn't that difficult.
  • After making it up the wall o' boulders it is an easy scramble to the top.
  • My hiking poles and SOTA cap at the summit.
  • The camera is looking north. I'm glad that I brought my Alexloop for this one. The summit area is just a rock pile and it would have been tough if not impossible to string up my 88' doublet. I crammed my Buddipole shock cord mast into a crack in the rocks, crammed in a small rock to hold it tight, and put the Alexloop on top using my homebrew adapter that screws onto the mast.
  • Looking the other way (to the south) you can see that there isn't much more room up on top.
  • My operating spot among the rocks.
  • Ready to roll.
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