MIke's SOTA Adventures: Granite Benchmark W6/CT-132

Took an early morning drive up the 14 fwy, exiting in Palmdale and drove to Bouquet Canyon Road. Parking is at the same location as Mt McDill W6/CT-118. The hike up to Granite Benchmark is via a dirt road is four miles each way with a 970' elevation gain.

I scouted the area a couple weeks ago after activating Burn Benchmark. When scouting the road, I was stopped at this water runoff rut. I didn't want to chance it and I don't think I would have made it. A 4wd vehicle would have no problem getting past this spot. Had I been able to clear this spot in my 2wd Toyota, I could have made it to the turnout.

I stopped for a couple of the geocaches along the way.

Roxy took a break while I located the geocache.

At 34 35.858 N 118 19.808 W, you will come to a clearing off the dirt road. Turn right and hike up the dirt power line road to Granite. The distance from parking to the clearing is 2.77 miles. From the clearing to the peak it is 1.21 miles.

After making a right at the clearing, walk past the gate and follow the power line road. I could hear the lines "buzzing" the entire section of this hike.

The final approach to Granite is quite loud, due to the "buzzing" of the power lines overhead. After walking past the metal giant, there is some light, easy bushwhacking to the summit.

When I got to the summit, Roxy was laying down next to one of two benchmarks on the summit.

On the summit, someone had put up two PVC poles. Perfect spot to attach my pole. I ran the antenna north to south. I also attached the new J pole for 2m/440.