Garibaldi Recreational Park

Not to be confused with the large provincial park with the same name, this little park offers only a kid’s area, tennis courts, a walking path and a grassy picnic area. The park has homes along two sides and a creek that crosses across the eastern and southern edges which is surrounded by a forested area. Not a lot here but it serves the local community well enough.

Garibaldi was the next park on our list of North Vancouver Parks. We are working on a plan to activate all the parks on the north shore this year and this was the next one on our list. Ralph came by my place at 10:45 and we set off for a coffee and the park. Traffic was light and we were soon driving along Mt. Seymour Parkway. Arriving at the park we found the small parking area and squeezed my car into a stall. We then wandered the park. The eastern trail follows along the small creek and was being used by a few people walking their dogs. We followed it to the south side and then crossed back over the grass.  Not really much here.

Back at the parking lot we decided on our locations, not a great deal of separation but it will be enough. Once loaded up with our gear we carried the gear to our spots, I had selected a picnic table near the play area. Ralph crossed the grass to a bench on the far side. I then chose a location for the mast and set it up. Soon I had the radio ready and was waiting for Ralph. Once he was ready, we proceeded to make our ten contacts on ten bands. We are getting faster at it! Taking only ten minutes to complete. We then went on our way to try for other stations.

The band conditions didn’t look too bad on the chart but there had been a solar disruption of the ionosphere earlier this morning and we were concerned that it may get in the road. I was calling on 17m to start, I didn’t bother with the higher bands but even 17m proved dead and after almost ten minutes with no response I moved down to 20m. Eventually I had a response from a station in California and then another in a few more minutes who was activating a summit in the SOTA program. Things were progressing very slowly, another five minutes of calling and I had a New Mexico station logged. All were reporting weak signals. After another 5 minutes Ralph called to say he was done having spent the whole-time 40+ minutes calling without a single response though the automated reporting stations had found him.

We felt we had been there long enough and were not finding anyone so we packed up. While packing I tried a call on my handheld and managed to get a chap in New Westminster. So, I had 14 contacts for the day. If not for Ralph we would not have been successful this day. We finished packing up and loading the car and then set out for the nearest Starbucks – only 500m away to lick our wounds and commiserate on our poor performance. It still felt good getting out and seeing a new park. I did have a chance to chat with a local lady who asked about my antenna setup. So, there were a few positives for the day. Hopefully things will be better next week for our next adventure.