https://video.70cm.net/videos/watch/f46c3f3e-5ab2-4454-869b-e5b71f4fd558 http://blog.benmook.com/w6-nd-334-alpine-butte/ This was my second activation of the day, having just left Lovejoy Butte earlier. I parked my small car as far up 136th Street East as I could and walked the short distance to the base of the butte. From here it’s just a short scramble to the top. Once at the summit, I found thousands of red flying ants, the same I’ve seen at other desert summits. I wonder why they like peaks so much? Not wanting to get friendly with them I setup my endfed half wave just off to the side. I had just over an hour before UTC time changed so I worked quickly while I noticed a monsoon coming my way. The the middle of a QSO on 20M, I felt a big fat raindrop, then a few more. I quickly tore my station down, scrambled down the butte and over to the car. By the time I got to the intersection of 136th street and Ave O, the rain was absolutely pouring to the point my wipers couldn’t keep up. Driving around a bit I noted the washes, dry most of the time, were starting to turn into rivers. I stopped at a high point and walked around in the desert to enjoy the rain before heading back to Los Angeles, where it didn’t rain at all. https://sotl.as/summits/W6/ND-334 Sun, 19 Jul 2026 16:16:14 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.70cm.net https://video.70cm.net/lazy-static/avatars/fa26bfa5-80d3-4a25-b884-607bfbc49a7b.png https://video.70cm.net/videos/watch/f46c3f3e-5ab2-4454-869b-e5b71f4fd558 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.70cm.net/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.