I woke up early at 4 am and turned on the coffee. I got dressed quietly, trying not to wake my wife. It did not work. LOL. I made it into the truck and headed out. No animals were seen heading out of the valley. I fueled up and did my ritual of a McDonalds sausage , egg and cheese McGriddle. On to the 101 Freeway and Highway 166. I made the turn on to Soda Lake Road about 06:45. Driving next to the San Andres Fault always makes me feel strange, thinking of the predicted “Big One”. I made the turn onto Padrones Canyon Road. I had planned to hike from the place I did the last time, but read the next paragraph.
I have done Long Benchmark before only as a SOTA. The last time I may not have had GAIAGPS. I did not know I could drive to within 100 yards of the summit. I highly recommend GAIAGPS! The trail to the summit had me questioning my choice to drive my truck rather than my Jeep. There were two places I thought about turning around. I suggest having, at least, a stock 4 x 4 vehicle to do this trail. Drive this trail at your own risk. Do not continue past the summit. The road becomes very steep and rocky.
I made it to the turn where I parked before but I looked on the map and could see that the road continued to the north and west and around the back of the ridge up to the summit. I made the call to try it. I was pleasantly surprised. The trail is rocky with some big ruts and off camber in a few places. The area is very rugged with views of the Cuyama Valley. I made it to within 100 yards of the summit and parked the truck.
The temperature was 49 when I got out of the truck. I hit the message button on my InReach to say I’m starting my hike, the truck is parked here (It keeps my wife happy). I started up the trail. I was in the AZ in about 5 mins. I arrived at the summit and took pictures of the three summit markers and the summit register. I opened the register and found my SOTA card from 2021 and added a new one. I setup the antenna and radio. I sat down in my chair and called CQ on 10 meter CW. First in the log was WA2OTC Dave from MD. Next in the log was EA4R (Spain),F4WBN (France) and SQ9IDE (Poland). So cool to work EU on 10 meters! I made 19 contacts. I decide to try 10 meter SSB. I am using a new logging program (Ham2K), I am still getting used to it. I like it so far. It has a self spotting feature. I did not know that it was not working. I tried to spot my self and I thought it went through, but it did not. Called CQ for 10 minuets and not one chaser. I had spotty cell service but I looked on SOTA Watch and could see I was not spotted. I used SOTLAS to spot myself but I still only had 2 people call me. After that I jumped around looking for s2s. I found 3. I then called CQ on 40 meter SSB. Again I was not spotted by my logging program. I spotted myself on SOTLAS and got a few locals. I finished up on 40 meter CW, all with local stations. I was trying not to fall asleep in my chair, the temperature was cool and the sun was warm.
I packed up and snapped a few more pictures. I got back to the truck and ate lunch. I drove down the trail slowly. I took a different road back to Soda Lake Road, I would recommend Padrones Canyon Road over the one I took. I did do some exploring on my way out of the Carrizo Plain NM. It is a very interesting place.
Totals:
35 QSO’s
10 DX Spain, France, Poland, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal and England.
5 s2s
1 p2p
