Found myself up in the Bellingham, WA area for a work function over Memorial Day weekend, so why not take advantage of the North Cascades and bag a summit?

South Lookout Mountain looked quite doable and literally right across the street (and down a long road) from the Airbnb. This is early in the season, probably the worst time to try and hike it because the snow is still 3-4 feet deep yet the temps are warm, making for a Slushee-like consistency. Microspikes, GORE-TEX shoes, and shin-high gaiters definitely helped minimize the suck.

The sun was out and I had the day to myself with frequent glimpses of Mount Baker just to my east. After becoming frustrated with the difficult snow hiking, I made the decision to bypass the switchbacks of the road and just head straight up the side of the hill–that wasn’t the best decision of the day.

Once at the top I stamped down a good spot to operate, set up the EFHW and fired up the ‘ol Icom 705. This was a bittersweet activation as it was most likely the last time I’d use the 705. A new radio was ordered and shipped… more on that at a later date.

With nary a smidge of cellular coverage, I didn’t bother spotting myself and just hunted around for random SOTA ops calling CQ. I only made six contacts but all were summit-to-summits, which is pretty fun. That includes one made on 2m with the handheld, something I don’t get to do very often over in the sparsely populated eastern side of the state.