2. Ham Radio

Mt. Fillmore (W6/NS-194) SOTA Activation 7/18/2014 -

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Zoomed in on the summit of Mt. Fillmore.
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Zoomed in on the summit of Mt. Fillmore.

  • 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.
  • Mt. Fillmore W6/NS-194 as seen from the east, along Plumas County Road 900 as it rounds Stafford Mountain W6/NS-245. The best climbing route is to follow the spine that you see descending from the summit to the right (north).
  • Zoomed in on the summit of Mt. Fillmore.
  • To get to Mt. Fillmore via the easiest route, take the paved Quincy-La Porte Road (shown in black) to my C51119 point (39.74254N, 120.90902W) approximately 6.7 miles north of La Porte. Turn onto Plumas County Road 900 (a.k.a. Johnsonville McCrea Road) shown in green. The signs at the turnoff may indicate Gibsonville or Delahunty Lake. I don't know for sure because I used a different route and haven't been on that road in years. My recollection is that it is a rough road but rugged 2WD vehicles with good ground clearance should be able to handle it (4WD always preferable). Drive for approximately 5.1 miles to my C900F22N43 point at 39.74411N, 120.84187W.
  • At my C900F22N43 point, turn onto the smaller Plumas National Forest road 22N43 shown in blue.Travel about 1/4 mile to the junction with Plumas NF's motorized trail 10M06 (the red solid line above) at my F22N43P10M06 point (39.74245N, 120.84623W). <br /> <br /> If your motorized vehicle is something other than an ATV or motorcycle, you'll need to park here and walk the rest of the way since trail 10M06 is only open to those types of vehicles. If you are lucky enough to be on a bike or quad, you can turn right onto 10M06 and drive for another 1/4 mile to my FILLMORE_955 point at 39.74218N, 120.85019W. However you reach this point, begin your climb up the north spine of Mt. Fillmore.
  • The route marker at the beginning of Motorized Trail 10M06 at my F22N43P10M06 point.
  • Dave K6MTT came along with me, so we rode our Yamaha Grizzly 700 4x4 ATVs along a much longer and more interesting route to Mt. Fillmore. We started at Plumas Pines along highway 70, far to the east of Mt. Fillmore. This is a shot of Dave later in the afternoon, admiring one of the many views along the way. The cumulonimbus cloud that you see later developed into a major thunderstorm dropping 1/4-inch hail that (fortunately) we missed.
  • Dave and I started from near the Plumas Pines Golf Resort at the beginning of Plumas National Forest road 23N37 (a.k.a. the dirt part of Poplar Valley Road) shown in blue near the right side of this map. We unloaded our ATVs at my F23N37PARK point (39.79512N, 120.66634W), the label for which is partially hidden behind my PPGOLFCLUB point. You'll need a 4x4 vehicle with good ground clearance to handle a short but rough, rocky and rather steep section of this road. If you don't have a rugged 4x4 vehicle, you can instead take Highway 70 northward to Sloat Road and make your way to the beginning of Plumas National Forest road 23N08 at my P23N0810 point (39.85943N, 120.72701W). Follow 23N08 (a smooth graveled road) to my P23N3708 point at 39.80931N, 120.71326W.<br /> <br /> We rode up 23N37 to the junction with road 23N08 at my P23N3708 point, turned left, and climbed up onto Eureka Ridge. We continued through the major intersection with roads 23N09 and 22N75 at P23N0908 (39.78137N, 120.74054W) and dropped down to McRae Meadows at my C507P23N08 point (39.74871N, 120.75611W). We turned right (westward) onto the rougher Plumas County Road 900 (shown in green), climbed up and over McRae Ridge to the west branch of Nelson Creek, then continued on and climbed up to the C900F22N43 point described earlier in my write-up for the easiest route to Mt. Fillmore. From here the route is the same as if you had started from Quincy-LaPorte Road to the west.<br /> <br /> Yet another starting point for an approach from the east is to go to Plumas Eureka State Park, continue through the park onto the dirt and moderately rough Plumas County Road 570 (shown in green), go past Ross Campground, and turn right (northward) at my C507BP23N08 point (39.73492N, 120.75606W). Drive a short distance northward to my C507P23N08 point and continue westward as described above.
  • The sign at my P23N3708 point. The arrow pointing to Plumas Pines is for the 23N37 road that we rode up on. Continue on 23N08 towards Johnsville and Eureka Ridge.
  • The sign at my P23N0908 point on Eureka Ridge (photo by Dave). Continue towards McRae Meadows and Johnsonville on road 23N08 which is the one to the right of the sign in this photo. There is yet another road further to the right (23N09) so you will actually be taking the middle fork overall. <br /> <br /> The road to the left of the sign goes to Eureka Peak W6/NS-215. That roads requires 4WD for a short section about halfway to the peak. We rode all the way to the peak on our way back, but with thunderstorms moving in we decided not to activate it.
  • The sign that is about 200 feet west of my C507P23N08 point, at McRae Meadows. You will only see it after you make the turn onto County Road 900 and are headed west.
  • Dave's shot of our Grizzlies parked in the shade at the FILLMORE_955 point. With no more roads or motorized trails to follow, it was time to start hiking!
  • Topo map showing the GPS tracks from my hike up to the summit (red) and back down (green). The thin dashed line was my planned route. The actual one-way hiking distance is approximately 1.1 miles with an elevation gain of around 950 feet. There is no trail, although if you look carefully you can sometimes find footprints from other climbers. It took me an hour and 4 minutes to get to the top, longer than I had anticipated, because there are some obstacles along the way.
  • A Google Earth view of my hike, looking north.
  • A Google Earth view of my hike, looking west.
  • A Google Earth view of my hike, looking east.
  • The first obstacle along the hike is this area of forest with a number of downed trees. It looked like a big gust front came through and knocked them over or snapped their trunks. Or was it an avalanche that knocked them down(?).
  • The second obstacle was this rocky point with nearly vertical sides that I headed straight for, thinking I would climb up and over it. I didn't, and ended up moving westward (to the right) along its base until I could find an easier way up and around it. A better route would be to aim for a point to the right of it, then climb past it through the forest. This rocky point is where you see my downhill (green) track bend westward to go below it.
  • Another shot of the rocky point. The rocks on that point are similar to the ones in the foreground: bound together by (presumably) volcanic action.
  • Google Earth view of the rocky point, along with my red uphill track (I went left trying to find a way straight up it, gave up, then headed along its base to the right and around it) and my green downhill track that avoided it entirely.
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