Jackson Flat Snow Camp

Since HALT classes have been canceled for the year, Rich and I decided on an overnighter in the local mountains.  Due to some recent storms we were confident of snow coverage in the San Gabriels.  We drove up to Grassy Hollow via Wrightwood.  It was good to see Mt. High ski area open with plenty of snow.  We made it through all the snow play folks and parked alongside the road at the Grassy Hollow ranger station. We geared up and started hiking up the road to Jackson Flat.  Rich towed the sled and I walked in my snowshoes.  However the road was pretty sparsely covered and were grinding our gear pretty good.  The campground had plenty of snow thankfully and we found a good spot near one of the group sites.  The wind made it pretty cold so after dinner we hunkered down in the tent for a long night.  In morning, we made some coffee and quickly broke camp.  Overnight a slight dusting of snow covered the road a bit more but also added quite a bit of ice.  It was great trip and good to get out with friends.

North Face four season tent is rock solid

Didn't have to dig out a table

Morning dusting

Mt. Baden-Powell from Jackson Flat

This sled was retired after this trip

More San Diego Hikes

 Jyoti and I have been getting in some good local hikes:

• Daley Ranch Engelmann Oak Loop - nice hike especially when you get off the main trail
  
• Stanley Peak - fairly long and strenuous but worth it
  
• Boden Canyon - nice secluded oak-lined canyon 
• Fletcher Point - great spot along Lake Hodges
• Double Peak - surprisingly hard hike and crowded
  

Along the Engelmann Oak Loop

Summit of Stanley Peak

Fletcher Point trail run

Summit of Double Peak

Snack time in Boden Canyon

 

 

Stop policing, murders go up...who would have thought

I guess if you stop policing, the bad guys just don't go away.

Mini Ham Field Day

Sunday was a mini field day to test out my Nooelec SDR dongle and 40m dipole.  I drove up to our condo rec area parking lot and found some palm trees to throw my antenna over.  I quickly discovered that you need to secure the ends of the dipole lest they get into a big tangle when hoisting the feed line :(  The other big lesson was to set the offset when using the upconverter (-125Mhz for the Nooelec Ham It Up).  After getting the antenna up and CubicSDR software configured and running, I was able to get some 40m phone.  I didn't get any JS8Call traffic though.  Overall a good success.

 

Dipole in V hung from palm tree

Mobile ham shack