Four SOTA Summits in One Day – A 100-Mile Montana Adventure

This was a first for me: activating four SOTA summits in a single day. It ended up being about a 100-mile adventure. Three of the four were drive-up summits, but that doesn’t mean they were easy to reach. There were plenty of sketchy 4WD trails, made even more exciting by the fact that my Jeep’s 4-wheel drive wasn’t working. Somehow, I made it through.

One of the highlights of the day was working ZL1BYZ for Summit-to-Summit (S2S) twice on 15 meters, from two different summits.

Mount Belmont (W7M/CL-099)

This trip was mostly unplanned. I felt like getting out for a SOTA activation, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go. And, like I too often do, a quick hike to one summit turned into trying to get a second because “it looks close on the map.”

I’d wanted to activate Esmeralda Hill for quite a while just to knock it off my list. I glanced at a few maps, an idea was born, and I departed my driveway in the Jeep around 10:30 a.m., headed for Mount Belmont.

At the saddle before the final push to the summit, the road seemed chunkier than I remembered from my last visit, so I shifted into 4-wheel drive. To my dismay, I immediately heard an unnerving clicking noise coming from the front end. That’s not the sound you want to hear at the beginning of a mostly off-road day. I quickly shifted back into 2-wheel drive and made it to the summit without further issue.

I had previously dismissed any concerns about the high-RF environment created by all the antenna towers on this summit, but I now recognize there really is a problem. I couldn’t hear anyone on my HT, and later learned people had been trying to answer my CQ calls. HF wasn’t much better, and I managed only 10 contacts before moving on.

Roundtop (W7M/CL-127)

This was the only summit of the day that required a real hike. After parking the Jeep at the highpoint of the road, nearly due south of the summit, I headed up a short but steep climb.

For the first time, I caught the scent of tobacco root in the air. Mixed with the familiar aroma of pine, it smelled incredible.

The bands were fairly quiet, so after only finding 10 contacts I headed back down. Along the way I found myself walking through a field filled with blooming beargrass, making me feel like I’d stepped into a Dr. Seuss book.

The drive to Esmeralda proved far more adventurous than I anticipated. Thankfully, someone had already cleared the countless trees that had fallen from recent windstorms. The five-mile trail twisted west, climbing and descending through deep mud holes that I was fortunate to navigate without needing four-wheel drive.

Esmeralda (W7M/GA-122)

Once on top, I was rewarded with breathtaking views from this nearly treeless summit north of Elliston, Montana, with the Continental Divide stretching just to the east.

The wind had picked up since the last summit, making it difficult to throw my EFHW antenna into a tree. My first attempt didn’t deploy correctly and became hopelessly tangled. Thankfully, I managed to shimmy up the tree and free it. The second throw worked perfectly, and I was soon on the air.

Leaving the summit, I had two choices:

1. Retrace the rough route I’d used coming up and return to the main road about three miles back.
2. Take a trail I’d never driven before because it looked shorter on the map.

For reasons I still can’t explain, I chose option two.

I regretted it almost immediately.

The “trail” was little more than two worn tire tracks descending the steep southeast face of Esmeralda. Before long, I found myself creeping down a narrow, technical path through dense timber. The whole time I kept thinking, If there’s a fallen tree blocking the trail ahead, I’m going to have to back all the way out because there’s absolutely nowhere to turn around.

Several times I stopped to move logs and rocks or carefully check that I had enough clearance to squeeze beneath partially fallen trees.

On the OnX app, I could also see a gate at the bottom of the trail. What I didn’t know was whether it would be locked.

By the time I finally reached it, I’d already decided that if it was locked, I’d simply camp there and wait however long it took for someone to open it—while promising myself I’d never take that “shortcut” again.

Fortunately, the gate wasn’t locked and I was back on a “real” gravel road again. Heading down into the valley from Mullen Pass I could see a train stopped along the route, blocking the only route back to Highway 12. By the time I arrived at the crossing, a second train came lumbering down and also stopped. I took that opportunity to pull out a camp chair and eat some snacks out of the back of the jeep as some shade. It was a nice little rest, about 25 minutes, then I heard breaks releasing. One train continued up the hill to pass through the tunnel, then the other rolled downhill once the track was cleared.

7215 (W7M/CL-105)

The last summit of the day.

Once I regained cell coverage while driving up the west side of MacDonald Pass, I called my wife to check in and ask if it was okay to squeeze in one last activation. With her blessing, I turned off the highway just east of the summit and headed up the CDT road.

I’d activated this summit twice before, but only during the dead of winter. The summer version was much more pleasant—aside from the relentless black flies and mosquitoes trying to carry me away.

It was a quick activation because I still had a drive home ahead of me. I finished my contacts just before the Zulu-day rollover at 0000 UTC (6:00 p.m. local).

By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted. I expected to be sore, not from hiking, but from spending hours getting tossed around inside the Jeep on rough Montana backroads.

Despite the Jeep drama, questionable navigation decisions, and rough trails, it was one of those days I’ll remember for a long time. Four summits, around 100 miles, countless obstacles, and another great day playing radio from the mountains.

73, 

Allen ~ KH7AL