ACØPR, ham radio blog: 1st Activation of Bull Mountain W7U/WS-095

Bull Mountain from the base

This is a never-before-activated summit that looks at me every time I go by it. It's a "real" mountain, not just a hill. No trail of any kind. It's a two-pointer, which is probably why I haven't taken the time to tackle it. But at this point, I'm looking to activate those elusive summits in my area that still need activating. The allure of a first activation is strong for me, so it's time to get this in the books.

Trail report:

A look at the high point once on the ridge

Access is gained either through the town of Veyo or the town of Gunlock. The roads from both meet at the start of Veyo Shoal Creek Rd. This is a good dirt road and can be taken all the way to FR-354 (about 4 miles from the entrance to Dixie National Forest). FR-354 is off to the right, it’s not easy to spot and at that point it’s really just an ATV trail. It does have a trail marker. You do cross a little stream to start on the trail. After 1.3 miles there is a turn-off, not marked and not well used, but obvious, that leads to what I used as a trailhead. There are a number of possible approaches, and no trails.

This approach is to reach the northwestern edge of the ridge of the mountain. It takes some ups and downs to reach the draw at the base and then heading up to the ridge. It’s grassy, rocky, with dead trees mostly. Once on the ridge you follow it to the top. As it curves a bit you’ll be able to see the actual summit (a number of false summits along the way). The top ridge turns quite rocky, bushy at times—not easy going for a good part of it. The summit proper has a cairn marking it. Rocky and bushy. There is cell service once on the ridge.

The experience:
February is a good time to take on the summit. There was still snow on the north side but clear on the south. It was a good hike, a good workout with some great views. Once on the ridge the rocks became much rougher. It was steep on both sides and it was slow going. The highest point doesn't really look like it just from the terrain along the ridge. This last section took quite a bit longer than planned.

Once there, setup was fairly easy. No trees at all but plenty of rocks and bushes to setup. Again, awesome views, many other SOTA summits can be seen. With so much time lost on the hike I cut my on-air time and was only on for some 18 mins. I did get a surprise call from Bob, AC1Z in New Hampshire for a summit-to-summit which was my farthest contact of the day, so that was cool. I carefully hiked back and was pumped to have finally activated this summit!

Video of the activation.

Date:17/02/2020 | Summit:W7U/WS-095 (Bull Mountain) | Call Used:AC0PR | Points: 2 | Bonus: 3

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
18:43	W0MNA	14MHz	CW
18:43	KI0G	14MHz	CW
18:44	W0ERI	14MHz	CW
18:45	AC1Z	14MHz	CW	s2s w1/mv-006
18:46	K0LAF	14MHz	CW
18:47	W0VD	14MHz	CW
18:48	W0ITT	14MHz	CW
18:56	N6JFD	7MHz	CW
18:57	K6HPX	7MHz	CW
18:57	ND6P	7MHz	CW
18:58	W7RV	7MHz	CW
18:58	K7TP	7MHz	CW
18:59	NS7P	7MHz	CW
19:00	W5GNB	7MHz	CW