Emigrant Peak, Nevada - SOTA activation trip report
(Originally posted on the SOTA Reflector)
March 1, 2025.
I love reading about SOTA activations in other countries.
Weather, flora, geography, etc are endlessly fascinating to me. I
thought a few of you might be interested in reading about an activation in
remote western Nevada, where the terrain may be quite different from what many
of you are used to.
Lorene (W6LOR) and I set our sights on Emigrant Peak
W7N/EM-114, an unactivated desert peak in Nevada. The peak is about 40
miles west of the nearest town - unincorporated Tonopah, NV. The
'EM' in the peak designation is from Esmeralda and Mineral counties. Emigrant
peak is in Esmeralda County, which with a population of less than 800 is the
least populated in Nevada and one of the least populated counties in the
lower 48 states of the US.
The combination of remote location and unknown road
conditions lent an air of uncertainty to our trip. Although we searched for
online hiker trip reports and satellite imagery, there is only so much that one
can learn without being there. We went out driving on a Saturday
morning with good weather. The temperature at the summit was predicted to
be in the 50s (deg F) with sun and calm wind - perfect for a desert trip.
As we drove east on a paved highway, a sign reminded us of the wild
horses that roam some of the higher elevations and manage to eke out a living
here.
As we continued, we could see the hills that contained the
day's objective come into view.
The crux of the trip would be how close we would be able to
drive to the base of the hills. Although a dirt road was shown on our
topo maps, there was no guarantee that the road still existed or hadn't become
impassable due to erosion. As it turned out, we were able to leave the paved
road near an old ghost town and drive to the base of the hills along a sandy
dirt road without incident. We had seen an occasional car or truck on the paved
road, but after the turnoff, we would not see anyone for the rest of the day
until we returned again to the pavement.
We parked the car when the road worsened noticeably and started off for the summit. It was now late morning, and the skies were clear.
The peak was not in view at this point. We weren't sure how difficult the going would be, but we soon picked up the remnants of an old mining road. Vehicle access was blocked by rockfall, but the disused road made for easier foot travel. Looking back to the east, the views were expansive, and if you look closely, you can spot our car where we left it.
We attempted to move quickly with a combination of power
hiking and easy jogging. In some places this worked well, and in others
the surface was covered with too much rubble to move quickly. The mining
road led through a break in a cliff band, which was helpful.
After ascending for a while, we came to a small saddle that
had a nice view to the north. The prominent white area is the Columbus
Marsh, a salt flat that was a site for borax mining in the late 1800s.
Ground cover was sparse with a few grass clumps, a few
shrubs, and occasional cholla cactus.
The summit objective soon came into view as well.
We took the north summit ridge, as this appeared to be the
easiest route. There was some scrambling, which was generally easy but
with a bit of loose rock.
We reached the summit and found a survey mark from 1950, but
could not find a summit register.
The views of jumbled topography with many desert hues
extended in every direction.
We arrived on the summit at 1:29pm - one minute to spare for
our alert! We set up with a KX2 and a 41' EFRW antenna, arranged as an
inverted vee. While Lorene had a well-earned lunch, I worked 15 stations or so
on 20m cw, with the farthest being Christian F4WBN. After a nice run on
20, it was Lorene's turn to operate and my time to have lunch. Lorene worked a
few stations on 40m and 30m cw, but conditions on these lower bands were either
not so good or else the chasers were also off having lunch. Activity
picked up for her on 15m cw with a good number of stations, including several
from Japan. She had a nice summit-to-summit contact with 7M4QZE, a distance of
over 5000 miles.
After an hour or so on the summit, it was time to head back.
We made good progress on the return.
We reached the car around 4pm, and rested and enjoyed the
views for a bit before beginning our drive back.
It was a wonderful outing - a successful summit activation
of a scenic, remote desert peak and a safe return to a functioning vehicle.
On our drive back out to reach pavement, we were treated to a broad view
of Lone Mountain.
Lone Mountain (W7N/EM-025 ), elevation 9108', is another remote unactivated desert peak, with a few additional nearby prominent sub-peaks. It's just begging for someone to plan a trip out there!
Thanks for reading and hope to hear you on the air.
73,
Mike K6STR
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