Deryl had planned to get his flu shot first, but the line was very long at his medical group. He decided to skip it and headed on over to pick me up. We got underway around 9:15 am. We were headed to Frazier Park due to Doug RJN & Dave MJNʼs bearings on the t-hunt email list the night before. On the way up we stopped at Pyramid Lake and took a bearing, still towards Frazier. Also stopped at Gorman and the bearing there still said Frazier Mountain. As we approached the exit for Frazier Park we heard T2. It got very strong for a short time. I said out loud jokingly Hungry Valley.

Starting out later than usual we did not have breakfast before starting the hunt, so we decided to have an early lunch at the Dennyʼs in the Flying J truck stop. We discussed our options and decided to go up to Frazier Mountain to get the main T (T1), then on the way home get T2 that we heard so strong near the off ramp. This would prove to be the wrong decision.

As we headed towards Frazier Mountain on the main road, Doug RJN passed us going the other way. Deryl contacted him on the radio and Doug indicated that he did not find anything on Frazier Mountain. Given the nature of t-hunting, this was not believed and we continued on.

Going up the mountain there was never a definite clear indication that we were headed correctly to find T1, but that never stopped us before so on we went. Also the short on air time of the t made it very difficult to zero in on the signal.

At the fork in the road on Frazier Mountain we decided to go to the Lookout (further distance) and if it was not there we could circle around to the other side. We encountered Don GQ & Steve LAJ headed the opposite direction. They said it was not there, unless it was on the side of a cliff. They seemed sincere, but we were close to the peak, less than five miles, so on we went.

We arrived at the Lookout and radio transmitter sites, with no “you are there” signal, not even close to that. I got out of the vehicle and went up to the dilapidated lookout tower. It had been trashed. All of the windows broken, stove and a large cabinet thrown out on the ground. But the mattress and another cabinet were still inside. I took a few pictures and we went on to check out the area.
 
We did some sniffing on foot to determine if it was just over the edge. Determining it was not there and still unable to get a good direction, we continued on around to the other side. The road went from good to extremely rocky in places. Dark clouds were rolling in and it looked like rain was coming, just hope no lighting. We got to the other side and the signal had not improved. Deryl decide to go for a hike with the sniffer. After a while Deryl returned slightly winded and declared it was not there. We came to the conclusion that the other hunters were telling the truth and decided to head down the mountain. Where to? Not sure, but down the mountain we went. We got some rain on our way down.

Once on pavement we decided to head back to where we had heard T2 so strong. We drove along the street that went along the freeway. First street we came to had a blue open gate, inside it said PRIVATE ROAD and another sign that said Traffic Laws Enforced. We were not clear if this was open to the public. Scott MI happen to call us while we contemplated this road and the signs (the signal indicated it was that way). Scott said the road sounded ambiguous whether it was open to the public and the road he used was not ambiguous. So we went on down the road to the Hungry Valley Sate Park entrance. We stopped and contemplated going in. Being a State Park, I figured there was a charge to enter. Historically hidden tʼs were not placed where you had to pay to enter. So we left and went back to the ambiguous road. After a short time on the windy (ambiguous) road, it became clear we were driving towards a large school. We had arrived at Frazier Mountain High School. There was an event going on and after driving thru one of the parking lots we decided there was not a way over to the signals.

Back to Hungry Valley State Park. We drove up to the shack and the gentleman there said something to the effect that it looked like we knew where we were going and to go ahead. Earlier Deryl had looked on Google Earth on his iPad and saw a dirt road that seemed like a good candidate, so we went thru the parking lot and found the dirt road. We traveled along the dirt road and the hills, still not 100% sure we were finally on the right path, we did have a pretty good signal to hunt (T2). We also had an earlier radio conversation with Don & Steve while leaving the High School, they had said to pick up the transmitters when we found them.

We came to a high road/low road decision, we could could see the High School down below. So we took the low road and eventually came to a chain across the road that was right at the back of the school. No transmitter here, so back to take the high road. We continued to snake through the hills and eventually came to the end of the road. I got out and looked for T2 visually. I eventually found it in a bush.
 
We collected the transmitter and sign in sheet. We headed back out the way we came to where we had seen a turn out. After searching a couple of trees visually, I found the main transmitter. The antenna was a Quad. Well that somewhat explained the ambiguous signal we had been following. We had our hunting antenna vertically polarized. We did change the polarization (to horizontal) a few times on the mountain, but it did not seem to make a difference.
 

So if we had gone after T2 before going up the mountain, we would have found it (probably) with in a couple of hours. Even though it had been frustrating, it was still fun. Thanks Scott.

Ray N6EKS