Back to Iron Mountain

I t has become an annual trek for Ralph and I to activate Iron Mountain. It is a small summit in the Maple Ridge/Mission area. It isn’t that popular as it is only a one pointer and the summit has no views due to tree cover. Ralph and I were the first to activate it back in 2021. The quiet walk up the 1.25km service road is an easy way to enjoy a bit of nature’s solitude without an overly high level of effort.  Our adventure for the day  began at my home with Ralph arriving around 10:30 and us setting out in my car for the coffee shop where I also picked up a sandwich for lunch.

The drive is only around 50 minutes from my house and goes fairly smoothly as we are not on the congested areas for most of the drive. We arrived at the end of the pavement and start of the service road in good order and we were able to park next to the entrance to the road there being no others parked there this year. The neighbouring house was making a lot of noise at our presence via the two goldens that were patrolling their yard. They soon brought out the owner who was wondering what we were up to, we chatted with her last time as well.

Backpacks donned we began the walk. I was having a bit of trouble with my camera’s GPS not recording the information on the image. So today I was checking after each shot to ensure it was recorded which was a bit annoying and I hope I can find out why the behaviour has changed. This was our first time up in Summer and though it would be the hottest time of the year the day was cloudy and not too hot, ideal for the hike. Being cooler, we made very good time up the road. And soon we were at the summit where there is a couple of service buildings for a cell tower.

We both set out for a now regular operating position. Ralph began stretching out his wire antenna to work CW on the 20m band. I assembled my yagi and started calling on the 2m band. I had a quick response from a chap on my notification list followed by club member Bob. Then came a response from a fellow SOTA activator – Bruce – who was on his way up the small summit right next to us. We would later talk again once he was on his summit and thereby gain a summit-to-summit contact. After Bruce came club members Jim and Stuart. Between calling and eating lunch I managed to complete 18 contacts over an hour of calling. Meanwhile Ralph was busy making CW contacts and finished with 20 in his log including one from Japan.

It had been a good activation again this year. The day was showing a bit more sun but it was still cool enough to be ideal for hiking. We made good time on the descent. Being summer the road was completely dry which meant we didn’t have to waste time trying to avoid mud and water puddles. We were also late enough in the season that road maintenance had already cut back all the brambles that try to claim the road making life safer as the vines were normally in aggressive search and rip mode. The neighbour warned us of bear in the area and though I saw some scat we sensed no unwelcome visitors while up there.

The drive home saw us stop for a cool drink at Starbucks. The rest of the drive went smoothly as traffic was light. Another lovely time in nature with our technology! I do quite enjoy the combination of the two coupled with my camera it makes for a great time out of the house. Now to do a few more summits this fall before we return to Iron next year.