I know points shouldn’t be my main goal but points sound nice. I will be alone for this run and it will take me roughly 8 hours to drive to the area I have picked. I have been doing POTA for a few months, my main goal of this rove is SOTA but they also fall into POTA areas. this is the list, I want to run they are mostly Drive ups / short hikes as I will be alone. I will be leaving my house the morning of 17 May 2021 and returning sometime on 19 May. Just wanted to give everyone a heads up if my plans well in advance. Also to seek any helpful information of other summits on my route that might work for me. This picture the green line is a bad version of my route
2 Likes
Beau,
Welcome! Wow, with a list like that, you’re sure to get a lot of ACTION!
2 Likes
You are extremely abitionist! Do not disappoint yourself! It should still be fun.
To achieve my goal: “mountain goat within a year”, I also made such actions. (20 x 10 points summits in 5 days).
However, as far as I remember, it was never more than 4 summits a day.
There were the journey to the area itself,
walking with an average of about 90 min per summit there and back,
the drive from parking lot to parking lot,
the setup and operation.
In addition, one should leave a time reserve. Maybe you have to find the right way first.
If I had set myself higher goals, I might have been disappointed if I hadn’t achieved them. I might also have been rushed and made mistakes on the descent and hurt myself…
Today I also like to do several peaks in one day. Especially if the journey takes longer. 2 weeks ago I simply left out the originally planned 4th summit and instead just sat in the sun and continued making QSOs. It was beautiful!
In any case, I wish you lots of fun and a happy return home!
73 Armin
2 Likes
Thank you for the insight, I know that this a heavy load. Also one of the reasons I have stacked it mostly with 10 point drive ups. Goals 1: SOTA 2: add to states I have done activations in which these are all new on the SOTA front since I have 0. On the POTA front it should add KY TN NC and WV.
Like I said I know points shouldn’t be my main goal, but I would like to get 100 points. I think Monday will be drive to the hotel (8 hours) then Drive to KY (2 hours) do that summit. Drive to the next nearest summit (in VA 1 hour) do that one then back to the hotel. Tuesday when I wake up, off to TN and work my way back to the hotel during the day. Hit as many ask I can. Wednesday on the way home hit WV and one more in VA.
I know that I might not get to all of the ones I have on my list but as long as I get 1 in each state I will be happy.
Minor point…
If you’re doing Flagpole Knob, you should also do Reddish as they’re virtually next to each other and actually easier to reach than Flagpole (paved road vs moderately rough forest road).
I can’t tell from your map, but if you’re going up I81, there are a number of easy summits to reach via a short detour.
Chris
1 Like
Thank you for that. I got the flagpole knob from a couple different off-roading pages. I have a 4wd drive truck though it is not built like my jeep was. I’m sure it can make the Flagpole drive as I heard cars have done it. Hihi yes I will be using 64 / 81 for my travels, and I have added Reddish to my list. Thank you.
Coming up from Harrisonburg, you’ll drive right past the spur to Reddish. From there, the route to Flagpole can be tough for some cars, but anything with a decent amount of ground clearance (including some cars) will be fine. The road itself isn’t too rough, but there are some water bars that can cause low cars to drag bottom a bit. However, if you’re approaching Flagpole from the opposite side (rt33 IIRC), you’ll need a 4x4.
On Reddish, there aren’t many supports for antennas available, but if you’re activating on 2m FM, you don’t need much more than an HT and rubber duck antenna. Last Sept, my buddy accumulated plenty with his HT in about 10min.
BTW, we’ll be camping up there and activating both summits the weekend of May 7th.
Chris
2 Likes
Awesome thanks for the info.
1 Like
Last weekend I activated Reddish, Flagpole and High knob easily on the same day. The first two are easy drive ups if you have a little ground clearance (not a mustang, corvette etc) you will be fine. I parked a little ways from the summits to get a hike in but there were cars on top. High Knob is a fun 2 mile RT hike from Rt33.
If you start at Front Royal and head south in the SHNP you can hit Compton, North Marshall, Hogsback, Pinnacle, Stoney Man, Hawksbill and Hazeltop. All are under an hour RT hikes if your fit! You can then head over to Flagpole and camp out doing the Reddish and High Knob next day!
All these peaks will be pretty easy to activate on 2/70cm as KI4POT mentioned have a better antenna than the rubber duck.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
Erik
KE8OKM
Awesome thanks for the info. I will see which ones I have time for when I get to that area. I’m going to hit KY first then TN and NC, then work my way back north. This won’t be the only SOTA run that I make do I will keep those in mind for future adventures.
1 Like
But watch out - It can be addictive 
73 Armin
Oh I know that is true. I have 74 POTA activations this year already. But those are way closer to my QTH.
What equipment are you using?
Hey Amy, I plan on using my FT891 with KM4ACK 40M EFHW in an inverted V on my 12M Spiderbeam pole. I thought I said that in my OP but looked and did not. I also have a WRC Mega Mini that I could use.
Great escapade. Love seeing Flagpole Knob on your list. Visited there in the sixties. It was Reddish Knob from which I did Field Day in 1968. Caught a Timber Rattler there, too. It was totally undeveloped place at the time, drove my 4x4 IH Scout. No idea what either looks like today. - Fred KT5X / WS0TA
I will be taking pictures and video of my adventure. I will post the videos here. Although they won’t be super hike intensive videos.
Well, the view from Reddish Knob is pretty nice but the summit itself has gone straight past undeveloped all the way to ghetto… 
Good luck on your trip, Beau!
73, pat - ki4svm
1 Like
That WRC Mega Mini will be ideal for Reddish since there aren’t any good trees for hanging wire antennas.
Let us know once you get to Reddish/Flagpole. That’s an easy S2S from the northern end of Skyline on 2m FM and 6m FM.
Chris
Right on. Yeah I will have the WRC and the EFHW I have been using the Spiderbeam pole inverted V and it works real good
