From the top of Strawberry, I decided to head over to Lawlor. Since my parents were also with me on the trail with me, we planned to meet up at the bottom of the fire break just below Lawlor. They did great on the trail, but I didn’t feel like risking injury bringing them up Lawlor with me. Heading down Strawberry was a fun, punchy descent, I only wish there were less people on the trail. Once at the saddle between Strawberry and Lawlor, the terrain changes and the trail is all but gone. Heading up the ridge to Lawlor, there are a few patches of large rock you need to skirt around or scramble over. Nearing the top, the trail is very overgrown with waist high buckthorn type foliage.
The summit block was covered in large black flies, so it was going to be a quick activation if I could make it happen. Again, no cell-service so I was hoping that my alert would trigger once I got on the air. Similar band conditions on this summit, 40M was decent with a few contacts being made on 10M as well. I’ve said it before, but I really need to learn how to spot via APRS. Before my next summit, I’m going to figure it out.
The route I took back down from Lawlor was terrible. If you choose to take the fire break back down to the trail, prepare for some falls and slides. It was very steep and loose and if I had to do it over, I would have gone back down the way I ascended.
KN6RDC on W6/CT-089 (Mount Lawlor), 04 May 2024