Capturing the Art of Nature
A day trip to Brae Island Park
Today we visited an island park in Fort Langley
Category
Parks on the Air
2022
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Brae Island Park is on the side of the main road which used to lead to the Albion Ferry that crossed the Fraser River. Back in those days traffic just passed by ignoring the park, today only a few even come this way. Not sure which is worse, being there and ignoring or just not thinking about it. Well for us, Ralph found three Fort Langley parks on the list and Brae Island Park was the first of them for us to visit.
This park has a day-use parking area with trails that walk along the Fraser River but a large part is given over to a trailer campsite. When we arrived the trailer portion seemed to be well used, the day area lot was mostly empty. That is nice for us as we can get a decent parking spot near to where we are going to set up our gear. Once Ralph pulled into a space, we loaded the cart and made for the grassy area and a map. There were a number of picnic tables scattered across a wide grassy area with a gravel trail that made its way to and then along the river.
We didn’t want to be too close to each other today as here we had the space to spread out. So, we decided to walk the path along the river to scout for a second location. We came across a bench a couple hundred meters along with a small grassy area next to it. Ralph thought it would be a good site for him and so we unloaded his gear and then I back-tracked to the grassy area at the entrance. The furthest table from Ralph was my destination but a family had taken it by the time I got back. I chose the next furthest table. It may actually have been the better choice in the end.
Once selected, I placed my cases on the table and then walked out to plan my antenna placement. Today was the first time with my reconfigured mast after it fell and broke. The new configuration may actually work better as the smallest extensions were too weak to hold up the antenna and just drooped down. With them not there the remaining portions result in a higher spot for the center of the antenna! Once the mast was up, I stretched the two wires out and used my portable fence posts. The grass made for easy placement. I finished setting up the radio and listened for Ralph’s CW noise, nothing heard. The distance between us seemed to be enough.
I found a loud station on 15m and tried t work him but his pile-up was too big so I just move up frequency a short way and then started calling. It was now 2:17pm and over the next 11 minutes I logged 12 stations. Then the activity dried up and so I switched to 20m. The band was busier but not like it often is and I was able to locate a spot quickly and spot myself. I made another 9 contacts in 6 minutes but then it quieted down. I had more than enough so I decided to wander around and gather some photos of the area. I then walked back to Ralph and touched base with him. He had around the same number and felt he had enough and so we decided to pack up and head home.
I returned to my station and as I was shutting down, I detected a really loud park activator just up from my frequency. I made a number of attempts to reach him but the pile-up was again too strong to get through. I didn’t want to stay too long at it so after a few more tries I shutdown and started to pack up my equipment. It didn’t take long and then it was back to Ralph to collect his stuff. Today I worked a Hawaiian station for the first time from a park. So, I covered the globe from Hawaii to South Carolina. Still missing a Florida station though.
Our drive home went smoothly though we noticed considerably more traffic on the roads. It was now Friday Rush hour and even out here the volume spikes. While inching through traffic we decided to drop in to Starbucks for a coffee before heading home. It was a very pleasant warm outing and we quite enjoyed the adventure. Next will be a summit but a small one until the snow clears.