Tikaboo Peak, October 6, 2016
by Don

The process of driving up to the camp site, hiking up to the top of Tikaboo Peak is more than the average effort most people are willing to make. The off road drive in is very sandy and not for the average car. Consider this! I was in my Chevy K1500 and barely cleared the sand to manage the tire track ruts. The climb to the top is very steep and dangerous. It's very remote so there is no help, very bad cell phone coverage. Conditions can vary depending on the time of year. The viewing spot "Tikaboo Peak" is 23 miles away from the base. You'll need a camera lense that can handle that. I've gone up three times, camped out overnight on top. My backpack with tent/water/sleep bag/ camera/scanners/food/etc' easy got over 75 pounds. So get a backpack, pack it full with what you think you'll need (Water for one) and climb a set of stairs 90 times with that on your back. That will come close to the effort you will need to get to the top. Having said all this if you can it's worth it. Now consider you do all that and come home, post your pics and somebody else takes them? You get no credit for the effort? That is the real reason why DLR has no high quality panoramas. Some like to go take pics and are afraid to post online. So that's what's going on. Basically the effort to drive in and climb amounts to a few hundred dollars maybe more if you get stuck in the sand. It's a very remote place, bring lots of water there is none up there. If you just go up with a lite pack its easier but that will limit your time. The best photo time is sunrise. Afternoon you're not going to get a detailed picture with the sun in your eyes. Summer months even harder you'll have heat waves distorting your pictures very soon after sunrise. That's why I camped out overnight on top and yes it's mostly cold up there. I will show you this picture for example of what you can get. I'd prefer you not pass it around but if you do please give a credit note or something as to where it came from. The scanning up there is interesting, the base is encrypted on a trunking system but the planes talk on VHF air and UHF milair. I also saw this F-16 fly over the main camp staging area for a look at us. Lazy as I am, I saved us a little labor by using a Suzuki quad to get to the upper most camp site. Pretty much the farthest you can go with a quad safely. It did help for that little bit because our packs were so heavy. Anyone planning on going I must stress one thing "Be Prepared! Plan for Everything" It's not worth getting hurt over. Bring water and food and be careful!!


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