Matheson Lake Park

I was back in Victoria; this time the weather was nice and I planned to activate two parks on two days. My first was to be a new park for me – Matheson Lake. This park in out west near the East Sooke Park.  Looking at the satellite maps of the park it looked like it was all trees and water, no open spaces at all. I also could not see any picnic tables. The park was for water adventures and hiking through the forest. Fortunately, I don’t really need much when activating a park. I have gotten a bit spoiled with the conveniences of the parks back home with tables and covers. The Navcom showed a 50-minute drive and so I left the room at noon.

The drive proceeded well though I seemed more on edge than normal. I wasn’t really sure why; I had had a good rest and breakfast and the road was familiar for much of the way. I managed to enjoy some of the views along the way but for some reason I was more impatient than normal. Perhaps I just wanted to get started. At the 50-minute point of the drive I was finally pulling into the parking lot. It had a few cars in it but was almost empty – a benefit of mid-week visits. Once parked I took a walk around the area. The trail to the beach was well upgraded and I followed it down to the close end of the lake.

The lake was quite scenic, the trail continued along the north side of the water but I settled in for a stop on the east end where there was a small sandy beach. While I was gathering a few photos a chap and his shepherd dog came by. He repeatedly threw a stick into the lake for the dog to fetch who eagerly dove after it quite enjoying the swim. After watching the dog a bit, I started back along the trail to the car. I wandered across the parking lot to another trail which climbed a short rise. Here I found a spot I could use.

I returned to the car and moved it to the end of the lot where the second trail came out. I loaded the cart and wandered up the trail a few dozen meters. Soon I had the antenna up and the radio on. As I was setting up a few walkers and cyclists wandered past, and a couple asked about the set up. Once I was done chatting with the couple I got back to my task. I decided to start on the 15m band as the propagation looked good there. After posting myself on the list and calling for five minutes I still had no responses. I was beginning to wonder about my set up. Eventually a chap in Florida came by. He reported weak but clear signals. A couple minutes more and I had a chap named George from Austria! So, I was getting out to Europe at least. Immediately after George was a chap in Indiana. It was slow progress but I slowly made my contacts and finally reached the needed 10.

Once I had ten in the log, I did some hunting on the 20m band. There I found a very strong station from California. I worked him and had my first park-to-park for the day. I then moved up the band and started calling. It took a while but I eventually had another station come by. Then I had a long gap before I had my next response, this time from a station in California again. Another long gap and another park activator called giving me a second park to park. Another station responded right after. After calling for another 5 minutes with no further contacts, I decided to shut down my station. I had 17 contacts logged, so it was more than enough for the activation.

I had been operating for a bit over an hour with a slow response but it was still an enjoyable time operating and making a contact in Austria was quite rewarding.   Having another successful activation completed I packed away my gear and soon I was loaded into the car.

Before leaving the area, I stopped for a few more photos and then set out for my hotel. The Navcom was reporting a 50 minute drive back, traffic was no worse it seems than when I was coming. Rush-hour isn’t as severe here as it is back home. I made good time and arrived as predicted. I enjoyed the park though return for a nice walk along the trails would be a fun adventure at some point and it would let me see more of the area. Seeing the lake from other spots along the trail would give me many lovely scenic views to capture. While at the beach I could see the top of Mount Matheson, just to the south, it was where I did a SOTA activation a few years back. I was initially thinking of adding that to the day’s adventure but the access road was from the opposite side of the lake and would have required a fair amount of driving to get there. So, I settled for just the park activation. Unfortunately, the park boundary doesn’t extend to the summit so one couldn’t do them together.