Capturing the Art of Nature
Mount Work, Try Number Two
It was a pleasant day to be out in nature and exploring the trails
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2021
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Back in 2018 I first hiked Mount Work. I had planned to activate the summit on that hike as a new summit. Once I attained the summit, I setup my yagi and got my 2m amp connected but then I discovered I was missing a connector and couldn’t use the yagi or amp. In the end, I failed to make the needed four contacts though I did mange one vhf contact and a second on HF. Well, this trip I promised myself would be better.
As I packed my gear, I quadruple checked everything to make sure I had it all and then I set off for the summit. Traffic was fairly light at 10am and I was soon out of the city core and riving the highway and then onto Munn Road. That old rural road twisted and turned, climbed up and down rises for some number of kilometers as it made its way through the highlands area. Though not really high, the ruggedness of the area makes it well named.
I arrived at the small parking lot around 10:20 and got my boots on and then set out for the trail. My Gaia app on my cell phone was acting funny when I arrived. It took me a few minutes to coerce it back to normal mode so I could see the trail marked on the map. Once that app was working, I started up the trail to the summit. I made decent time along the lower section but things slowed down as I reached the steep sections. On one of the steep areas, I encountered a pair of guys coming down and we stopped to chat for a while, it gave me a needed rest before continuing. They were quite interested I the summits-on-the-air activity and thought it would be a fun thing to be involved in.
Soon I was making my way up the steepest rocks and sliding through the cracks between boulders and then finally along the upper ridge to the summit area. The summit is quite broad and many locations could be used for SOTA, but I wanted to find the true summit and set up near there. Fortunately, there is a nice marker secured to the highest rock stating ‘summit 450m’ and so I was finally there. I selected a shaded spot just off the trail and spread out my tarp. I was able to secure the pole in the soil after trying many spots as the soil was very shallow and then I assembled the yagi and radio.
I put out my first call, nothing, I tried a few more times but still nothing was heard, it seemed the hams were abed. I was starting to wonder about this summit when I finally heard fellow club member Don (VA7GL) respond and I was able to have a clear signal with him. He said my signal was strong, so I knew I should be able to work more stations. I soon had a three more in the log and had reached the four minimum. Over the next half hour, I managed 14 stations and so my concerns about the summit were resolved. As it was now past noon, I didn’t want to stay much longer as I had to get back to the room and do some shopping with Carolyn. So, radio contacts done, I packed away the equipment and started back down the trail. The afternoon was now getting much warmer and that was taking a bigger toll on my performance than I had expected so my return was not as quick as I expected. I did stop for photos at several spots during the way back which slowed me down but I eventually reached the car, more worn out and drenched than expected. After regaining my breath, I replaced my heavy boots with runners and started on the windy drive back to the hotel.
It was a very good hike; the views were good though of only one direction. The trail is fairly easy but steep near the summit. In the heat, it become more challenging. At least this attempt got me my one point for activating the summit.