Samish Overlook and the Oyster Dome hike are very popular, and the area can be very busy. An overcast June Friday was a great time to enjoy hiking a loop to Chuckanut summit, and then Oyster Dome. Enjoyed this hike more than my prior 2020 summit hike from the Upper Parking area, and without the Oyster Dome visit.
I tracked the hike at 7.4 miles and 1,421 feet of total gain, and have posted gps tracks at the SOTLAS summit link below. To access the summit, hiked south from North Butte similar to the last time I was there. Some mountain bikers went by while I was on summit, and so I decided to see if there was access from the south. There was an un-sanctioned bike trail (well marked), and it came back to the main trail just south of Lily Lake. Stopping by Oyster Dome on the way back was a highlight, and highly recommend if youâre going to the summit.
For amateur radio on the summit, I activated SOTA summit Chuckanut W7W/SK-155 and POTA Blanchard State Forest K-5566. From Samish Overlook, you can also activate the Pacific NW National Scenic Trail (if within 100 feetâŚit does go through the parking area). While I hiked on the PNW trail for a portion of the hike, it wasnât close enough to the summit to count as an activation. I used the Yaesu FT3D with a rollup J-Pole, and then added the 2m band-pass filter. Had a hard time getting stations south of Everett, and finally made qso with a Vancouver, BC station (think North Chuckanut partially in the way of line-of sight?). After VHF, I set up the SOTABEAMS linked dipole with KX2 and made a few contacts on HF. Overall a quite day on summit, except for the bikers coming through).
Please see video links for additional informationâŚ73, James WA7JNJ
Keep learning and exploring!
