Gwynne Vaughan and Ferry Island Parks

Jim arrived at my place at 10am and after loading my gear into his truck we set out for Chilliwack. Our plans were to activate two more parks in the Parks-on-the-air program. Both would be new to us though others had already been to the parks. We made good time along 16th Avenue and the highway, even in downtown Chilliwack traffic seemed to work for us. This time we followed the right-hand branch of a fork that we did wrong last visit. It doesn’t make much difference in time but this way was the main route.

Soon we were driving alongside the park looking for the entrance. The parking lot was very small and all the stalls fronted on a grassy area overshadowed by trees. None would provide a place where we could raise our mast. As the lot was empty, we decided to stop along the southern side which was not a parking stall but it allowed us to raise the mast in a clear area stretching across the width of the lot. It worked quite well in an empty lot. While there a single truck did come by but left after a few minutes.

Once parked, I got out and did a quick wander around the park gathering a few photos and thinking about the various features I could spot. There is a community garden area, walking trails, which were being used by dogs with their slaves today, some formal gardens and grassy picnic areas. Though a small urban park it seemed to offered a variety of services. Back to the truck I helped Jim finish setting up his antenna and then we began the radio part of our adventure.

We scanned the 10m band but heard nothing, nor on the 12m. Moving to 15m we worked a station in Arizona, then we picked our own frequency and began calling. It wasn’t long before we got a response. They started coming at a decent pace from then on. After about 45 minutes there was a pause and we decided to shutdown and move to the next park. We had 35 contacts in the log ranging from the N.E. coast of the US to California nothing in the South-east region this trip. It had been a good run and we both felt good about the effort.

We quickly packed up the antenna and mast and then set out for Ferry Island. This park is accessed from highway 9 just south of the Rosedale-Agassiz bridge over the Fraser. We drove along Yale Road through the countryside to reach the highway where we were on it only a short distance before turning off onto the Rosedale Ferry Road.  Shortly after we got on the road, we encountered a number of parked vehicles making through driving a bit challenging. They were parked so that the occupants could skate on a small pond just below the road level. We saw a small group shooting pucks and having fun on the ice.

Driving past the skating area we dipped under the highway and drove alongside the river for a kilometer to a spot with an opening to the river. This area was blocked by concrete barricades to keep vehicles off the bank of the river. It was effective for us but beside the small pull-off area was a 4x4 path that vehicles had made to bypass the barricade! It looked well used. We parked nose into the barricade facing the river. We then got out and explored the river bank. In high streamflow this area would all be submerged but today there was a wide sandy stretch alongside the river. It sported patchy snow and some ice but was generally clear. I wandered along it capturing photos of the bridge just upstream and of the icefloes making their way downstream in the current. It was a pretty site.

Though warmer than it was earlier at our first park, the wind was much stronger here making for a much lower wind-chill. We didn’t want to stay outside too long. Finished with taking photos I returned to the truck and helped Jim finish putting up the antenna. We then settled into radio calling from the comfort of the cab of the truck. We again scanned the bands and found an activator in a park in Pennsylvania which we were able to work with a good signal. We tried a few other bands but heard nothing and so returned to 15m and began calling. It took a few minutes for our first response but then they started coming a fast order. After 20 minutes we had 21 contacts logged. Things quieted down at that point and so we tried calling on the 10m band again. This time we managed to work a station in Arizona with a strong signal but others were not coming by so we moved to 20m and hunted up a couple more parks before shutting down.

It had been a good pair of activations with the second being a double as the Trans-Canada Trail runs alongside the location we were parked at. So, three parks activated in the cold winter day. It was time to head back and get some late lunch. For that we drove to the Sardis area and pulled into the local White Spot. After some warm coffee and a light meal, we continued the drive home making decent time. Another fun adventure seeing new sights and talking to new people across the continent.