This is/was a miserable summit for me. It took me three attempts on 3 different days to finally get to the top. When I made my first attempt, the summit had not yet been activated. By the time I got back, K6HPX, beat me to it, which didn't really matter because I failed on that attempt to. The climb etc was not particularly difficult, there was just something about the way this summit is nestled in with other summits, that threw my gyro off.
Third time was the charm.
I did manage to run into my first rattlesnake of the season. Go figure, all that hiking on the desert floor and no snakes, but there, on a mountain top is the first one. I have a painters pole that I use as a walking stick/antenna mast. I bang it in front of me when I walk in an effort to make everything out there aware that I am coming, and it worked. The snake was in the scrub and very difficult to see. I tried to get a better angle for a picture, but it was in there too deep.
