Maguire peak SOTA activation 2021-11-21

Outdoors, SOTA, K0SSK
Maguire peak SOTA activation 2021-11-21
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Hello and welcome back! As I wrote in my previous post, I need one more activator point to reach my goal of 100 points by the end of 2021.

I wanted this one to be fairly simple and fast so the mountain today is Maguire peak aka W6/NC-516 located in the Sunol wilderness - the backyard of Silicon Valley.

Besides the SOTA activation I wanted to visit one the first European permanent settlements in the Bay Area - Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA, about a fifteen minute drive from the trail head.

Mission San Jose

Franciscan missionaries were among the first Europeans to establish outposts in areas of Alta California then inhabited by First Nations peoples. Introduction of the new crops, animals, diseases and forms of land management disrupted local communities and put them on the brink of extinction.

Mission San Jose was established in 1797, the fourteenth of twenty one missions built. To add to the confusion prior to this in 1777 El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe was established some distance to the south and would eventually develop into the present day city of San Jose, now the largest in the Bay Area.

Original mission buildings fell into disrepair and were virtually destroyed by earthquakes. What you see are mostly modern restorations finished in 1985.

Historical landmark tablet

Historical landmark tablet

Mission San Jose church

Mission San Jose church

In the church

In the church

Livermore, CA is named after Robert Livermore, an early settler and ranchero from England. He is interred under San Jose mission church.

Robert Livermore’s grave

Robert Livermore’s grave

The altar

The altar

Mission San Jose cemetery

Mission San Jose cemetery

Ohlone people map

Ohlone people map

Ohlone tools

Ohlone tools

Museum and church admission costs $10 as of November 2021. There is a twenty minute informational movie playing in the museum, plan ~50 min visit duration. Park down the street.

Getting to the trail head

Here is the trail.

Before you drive to the trailhead visit Sunol park entrance to pay the fees - you may be fined if you don’t display the ticket properly. Parking space is fairy limited, if you can’t park directly by the trailhead drive another hundred yards - there is another parking spot.

Note you’ll need to break off the road to the right here to reach the summit.

As you climb from the gorge views of Sunol wilderness start to open up

As you climb from the gorge views of Sunol wilderness start to open up

On the road

On the road

Maguire Peak

Maguire Peak

View from the summit toward the Mission Peak and Mount Allison

View from the summit toward the Mission Peak and Mount Allison

View from the summit toward the Sunol Peak

View from the summit toward the Sunol Peak

View from the summit toward San Antonio reservoir and Mt. Diablo

View from the summit toward San Antonio reservoir and Mt. Diablo

Maguire peak aka W6/NC-516 activation

No surprises there - quickly deployed and activated on HF.

The shack

The shack

Dipole deployed on the summit

Dipole deployed on the summit

Stations worked from Maguire peak

Thanks to all the chasers! Made a summit-to-summit contact with KX0R in Colorado.

Time UTC Call sign RST sent RST received Frequency Mode Maidenhead grid
21:04 KX0R 579 579 14.062 CW DM79
21:05 W0MNA 559 559 14.062 CW EM29
21:08 K7SO 559 559 14.062 CW DM65
21:10 WW7D 559 599 14.062 CW CN87
21:12 W0ERI 559 559 14.062 CW EM29
21:17 WB4FUN 559 459 14.062 CW FM28
21:18 AE4FZ 229 449 14.062 CW FM04
21:19 K0NO 559 559 14.062 CW EN21
21:20 K6QCB 559 559 7.032 CW DM14
21:22 WB6POT 559 579 7.032 CW CM99
21:30 W6LDQ 559 579 7.032 CW CM87
21:32 WB7VTY 559 559 7.032 CW CN95

This is it, I’ve reached my goal for 2021. See you next time! 73, K0SSK out.