ACØPR, ham radio blog: Brian Head W7U/SU-016 (my 5th time)

At the summit, 11,307 ft. with stone shack

The second summit of the day that I always do together with Navajo Point is Brian Head. It's just up the way and being a drive-up you can get from one summit to the next in about 40 mins. At times the way is blocked by snow, even in June, but July is usually clear, which is was this time.

Trail report:

This is a very easy accessed summit as Brian Head is a popular ski resort town. From I-15 you can either take SR-14 from Cedar City then 143 (closed in winter to Brian Head) or from Parowan take Highway 143. There is a road that goes all the way to the summit in good weather. Most vehicles can make this route when there is no snow. However, in May is has been blocked by snow and in July there is often still some snow around. You can also hike from a parking area below, my personal preference (making the hike about 300 vertical feet). There is an outhouse and information in the parking area.

At the top there is a parking area and a stone shack which marks the actual highest point of the summit, which also has two benchmarks embedded in the floor. Awesome views, you can see into Cedar Breaks National Monument as well. There are no trees on the summit. Quite windy every time I've gone.

I highly suggest considering W7U/IR-002 Navajo Point as well, very nearby and a beautiful hike.

The experience:

The wind wasn't actually too bad this time. Interestingly, people had put up cairns all over the place that had not been there before. It actually looked kind of cool I thought. I went away from the shack, where people always go when they visit, to not disturb anyone. Setup is pretty easy with the rocks there to keep the mast up. I heard a number of them talking and wondering what I was doing, but I was far enough away that they didn't want to come over to actually see, which is fine since once I'm making contacts it's hard to interrupt the flow and get it going again.

While the contest was still going, I didn't have my frequency taken over this time. By the time I switched to a new band, all those who had been visiting were gone, and I had the summit all to myself. I had a few summit-to-summit contacts and finished the day with Steve, wGØAT, as my last chaser.

Date:11/07/2020 | Summit:W7U/SU-016 (Brian Head) | Call Used:AC0PR | Points: 10 | Bonus: 0

Time	Callsign	Band	Mode	Notes
16:40	WA2USA	14MHz	CW
16:41	K9OZ	14MHz	CW
16:41	K3TCU	14MHz	CW
16:42	WC6J	14MHz	CW	S2S W6/SN-049
16:43	W6JMP	14MHz	CW
16:44	KF7WI	14MHz	CW
16:44	AB6SO	14MHz	CW
16:45	ND0C	14MHz	CW
16:46	AI6XG	14MHz	CW
16:46	NJ7V	14MHz	CW
16:47	AC7P	14MHz	CW
16:49	W6STR	14MHz	CW
16:49	W5ODS	14MHz	CW
16:50	KF7SEY	14MHz	CW
16:57	W0NF	7MHz	CW
16:57	NQ7R	7MHz	CW
16:58	K6KM	7MHz	CW
16:59	K6QCB	7MHz	CW
17:00	K7TP	7MHz	CW
17:02	W7USA	7MHz	CW
17:03	KB7HH	7MHz	CW
17:04	KR7RK	7MHz	CW	S2S W7A/CS-003
17:05	W6TDX	7MHz	CW
17:06	N9KW	7MHz	CW
17:07	WG0AT	7MHz	CW