Capturing the Art of Nature
McKee Peak
Small but popular, a mountain on the edge of town
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2017
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In my ongoing pursuit of hiking the many summits around my home, McKee peak was one I had been eyeing since last summer. We recently added it to the Summits on the Air list and so it was ripe for an activation. Though I wasn’t the first to activate the summit in the program, it was still a first time activation for me. Originally I had planned to do this hike the week previous but the weather was iffy and we opted to delay it a week.
So today we set out at a reasonable hour for the hike knowing that we had to be back early for a family event being held at our place this afternoon. A short hike was all we could fit so the McKee summit looked ideal. We made good time to the parking area at the trail head and then started up. My GPS track followed the old road to the summit but when we started off, the road was blocked by a fence with private property signs and keep out all over it. That seemed an irritating start to the hike. But a well-used trail travelled alongside the fence and we opted to follow it. The trail worked around the fenced area and soon met back up with the old road. So the route continued on as I had originally expected.
The walk along the old road was fairly easy to navigate being in good shape for hiking. It was well used and we encountered many other hikers on the trail. The road wasn’t all that steep for the most part but there were a few short sections that required a bit of effort. Now the one challenge with this route is the many crisscrossing trails used by the swarms of bikers using the slopes. We encountered quite a few as we traversed the route. Some were sailing along at ease, others were really slogging it out to reach the top! Getting past the bikers and the funny named side trails, one was able to enjoy one of the benefits of this hike - it is in the trees for most of the distance. So the travel was not overly hot. As we neared the summit the road crossed an open alpine meadow where we enjoyed some views of the valley. Continuing past the open area the trail again was engulfed in trees but very soon reached the summit and a cell tower. Here there was a nice bench where one could sit and setup my radio gear.
I soon had my Yagi set up and I was making calls to the local ham community. It wasn’t long before I had my first contact – Ralph from the club back at home. Over the next half hour I completed 6 more and successfully activated the summit. During this time numerous groups came by with several asking about my activity. Some were very interested. My contacts were mainly in the valley but I did enjoy reaching a chap on Patos Island in the north end of the San Juan Islands. He was manning the lighthouse there as a member of the lighthouse preservation society.
Well, once the contacts were in the log, we packed up and started the trek back down. It went very quickly and soon we were relaxing in the A/C of the car as we drove home. We arrived with lots of time to get ready for the family event. So a very successful day all-around.