https://video.benmook.com/videos/watch/cd237b6a-d3bc-4a0c-9114-1b9bd651acdb https://blog.benmook.com/w6-in-042-crater-mountain/ Crater Mountain is just to the west of Big Pine, CA. It’s easily accessible by a dirt road on the west side of the summit. I drove up to the high point on the road, parked on the side, and cross country hiked across the lava fields. There were grazing cattle everywhere. About half way up I picked up a use trail to the summit. At the top is a register and a pole to attach a mast to. On the day of my assent, the wind was brutal. My mast snapped in half, I couldn’t sign the register without the whole thing blowing away. You could do that thing where you lean far into the wind but not fall over. I found a a bit of shelter from the wind on the lee side of the summit. Used a KH1 with the whip antenna to make QSOs on 20M, and 17M, then headed down. The route back was close to my ascent, zing-zagging around the cows. Looking at a map later, I found that use trail I picked up leads to some lava tubes. Next time I’m out there I need to check those out. https://sotl.as/summits/W6/IN-042 Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:09:57 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.benmook.com https://video.benmook.com/lazy-static/avatars/298a662a-dfdd-4a9f-b98f-8ffd38337b70.png https://video.benmook.com/videos/watch/cd237b6a-d3bc-4a0c-9114-1b9bd651acdb All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.benmook.com/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.