Strawberry Butte (W7M/HB-128) SOTA Activation by KH7AL

 

The ham shack on Strawberry Butte.

Every once in a while the stars align while activating a summit and you have a great hike and a full log book at the end of the day. That was exactly my experience when I hiked Strawberry Butte on 6 December 2020. This is a great little two-point summit that makes for some easy SOTA winter bonus points.  

Getting There

From Montana City take McClellan Creek Road for 4 miles. Turn right at Strawberry Lookout and continue for 1.7 miles. The last mile up Strawberry Butte is not accessible for motorized traffic during the winter months but you can park at the bottom and enjoy the easy hike up as it spirals up and around the mountain. Additionally, there is a small cabin on the summit you can rent, and a fire lookout tower.

 

Parking is located at:

Google Maps

Or on the summit.

Summit Info:

SOTA data

Peak

The Hike

When I hiked this the trail was closed so I parked near the gate and headed up the road. It was another perfectly clear day. The temperature at my house when I left was in the teens but luckily there was an inversion and the temperature at the TH was in the upper 20s. The spiral rise you get hiking up gives you a nice rotating view of the surrounding mountains. Within twenty minutes I was at the top.

The quaint Forest Service cabin sat nestled in the trees and a predominate metal fire lookout tower rose up to the sky next to the cabin. There are also pit toilets and a nice picnic table, that I used to operate from. The sun shown through the trees onto the table and kept me warm for an hour until the light shifted to shade. The trees were useful to string my antenna up as well. Then came the chasers.

For this activation I also posted an alert for POTA, something I had never done before. Little did I know that Montana POTA contacts were in high demand so when I began calling CQ on my radio I hit a pile-up honey hole. After nearly three hours I logged 115 contacts (easily more than double the max I had logged on any summit previously), about half on SSB and the other on CW. I also had a PR of 9 summit-to-summit contacts and 3 park-to-park contacts. Although the hike was easy my brain felt like mush when I finally turned off my radio. The time had flown by while I was pulling in on average 2 contacts per minute. I look forward to activating this summit again, perhaps next year for New Year's rollover and a night's stay at the cabin.

A view of the Elkhorns from Strawberry Butte.

Radio Gear:

HF:  Elecraft KX3 

Antenna:  SOTAbeams 40/30/20M linked dipole.

HT:  Kenwood DH-72; APRS work almost the whole hike up.

Cell coverage: Worked throughout the hike.

 

73 and safe hiking!

AL