No Joke on Jester Mountain, but Mr. Murphy (as in Murphy's Law) showed up. Fall is nearly in the air. The flowers are long gone, replaced by late season berries and mushrooms. Air temperature when leaving the car at 9:00 AM was 44 degrees F. Crossing Snoqualmie Pass, the weather was rainly, foggy & windy. It did not look promising, but the anticipated East Slope of Cascades Rain Shadow was in effect, and we had a glorious day in the Wenatchee mountains.
This was a weekday activation of Jester Mountain. I was accompanied by 2 friends, who are not Hams, but were very helpful and supportive none the less. We never saw another soul on the entire hike.
Access is via Iron Creek Trail #1351 from National Forest Service Road NF-9714, itself reached via SR 97 north of Cle Elum. The hike / scramble is between 7 - 8 miles RT with about 2,000 elevation gain, counting a few minor ups and downs.
We had planned to consider hiking / scrambling over to Miller Peak for another activation, but technical problems with the antenna mast wasted some valuable time, and we decided ultimately to save that activation for another day.
