2. Ham Radio

English Mountain (W6/NS-151) SOTA Activation 10/07/2013

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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.
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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.

SOTANorthernSierra

  • 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.
  • English Mountain as seen from Bowman Lake.
  • To get to English Mountain you can either take Bowman Lake Road from Highway 20, or take Tahoe National Forest road 07 that runs to Jackson Meadows Reservoir from highway 89. The Bowman Lake Road route is EXTREMELY rough from the point the pavement ends. It is so rough that my friends and I try to avoid it even on our ATVs. The route from Jackson Meadows Reservoir has rough spots, but the distance you travel on rough road is much less. I recommend going that way and leaving Bowman Lake Road to the deer and bears!
  • Whichever route you choose, the key point you need to reach is ENGLISHRD between Bowman Lake and Jackson Meadows Reservoir at 39.46368N, 120.58561W. This is the beginning of Tahoe National Forest road 843-31 which runs up onto the side of English Mountain. The road number is on the post below a small "Road Not Maintained" sign. This road is slated for closure, so you should plan on parking at ENGLISHRD and hiking the rest of the way. The hike is about 4.1 miles with an elevation gain of 2200 feet.
  • Follow road 843-31 (shown in blue) up onto the side of English Mountain. It will end at an old log landing at the ENGLISHTRL_1173 point shown above (39.45187N, 120.56697W). An old 4x4 trail (shown in red) continues up from there. Follow this trail up to the saddle, somewhere near the LEAVE4X4 point (39.45354N, 120.55543W). Contour along southward through the forest, go past the false summit on the north end of the ridge, and when you see a climbable route up through the big boulders and rocks, head for the top.
  • Google Earth view showing my GPS tracks in the vicinity of the summit. The brown line is my track going up and the black line is my track going back down. On the way down I tried to find an easier route but it ended up being harder than the one I climbed up.
  • Looking up towards the false summit from below the ridge.
  • This Google Earth view shows how I headed for the saddle in between the false and real summits (EnglishSaddle), then made my way to the top. The arrow is pointing at the toughest section: steep with large boulders and I had to use my hands during that part of the climb.
  • Up near EnglishSaddle, looking back down the way I came.
  • Once that toughest section is completed, it is an easy walk through the rocks to the summit.
  • Heading up through the rocks and boulders near the top.
  • An especially steep section of rocks and boulders that I bypassed.
  • I wish I was a geologist and knew what this mineral deposit is, but I don't. There was lots of it embedded in the rocks, along with some dull greenish stuff as well (copper?). There is an old mine down on the west side of English Mountain at the 6400 foot level so something in these rocks must be valuable?
  • The back of my SOTA cap and the benchmark at the summit.
  • I went with the Alexloop and Buddipole shockcord mast for this activation, as it is easy to get a stable setup by cramming the mast into a crack. Now that I've seen the summit and how big the rocks are, and how deep the gaps between them are, I think I could have gone with my 28' Jackite pole and doublet. Oh well, the Alexloop worked fine. That's Sierra Buttes W6/NS-139 in the distance between me and the Alexloop. The camera is looking NNW.
  • Zoomed in shot of Sierra Buttes. For more info on that one, see my <a href="http://www.grizzlyguy.com/HamRadio/SOTA-Activation-9202012-Sierra">activation album from last year</a>.
  • Another shot of yours truly and the Alexloop. Sierra Buttes is now on the left edge of the photo, so this shot is looking almost due north. The lake closest to the camera is Catfish Lake, and the water that continues behind my head is part of Jackson Meadows Reservoir.
  • Zoomed in without my ugly mug, that's Jackson Meadows Reservoir on the left and Catfish Lake on the right.
  • All set up and ready to roll. The other structure that you see a few feet away in the background, on the east edge of the ridge, is a mast that has a solar panel and antenna on it. Maybe a forest service repeater? The camera is looking SSE down the rest of the ridge.
  • I'm literally sitting right at the summit. The summit benchmark is in between my feet.
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