Murdo Fraser Park

Continuing in our goal to visit all the POTA listed parks on the north shore, today Ralph and I ventured through Murdo Fraser Park. This park is near the Capilano River and one takes the Capilano Road exit off the highway to reach it. As has been the pattern lately, Ralph arrived at my place a bit before 11am and we soon set out for a coffee and the park. I still had my self-driving feature active and so we let the car do the driving again today. It did a reasonable job though being more familiar with it I took over more readily when I wanted to do things my way. Perhaps I am more of a control freak than I want to admit, but it is only a car.

We arrived at the west end of the park where there is a small grassy area with a few picnic tables and a kids play area. The place was busy and the parking was full as were most places alongside the road. We did find one spot and I parked in it. Next was a walk through the park. The grassy area was a long narrow strip bordering on the road. Its east end had the kid’s area and then one came to the tennis/pickleball court area. We wandered through that. I was surprised to find so many posted signs telling people what they can and cannot do! It seems that the north-van parks are full of over-active bureaucrats lording it over ‘their’ parks, or perhaps the residents are just needing some help being nice to each other.

Passing past the courts, the trail wandered through a lovely wooded area and crossed a solid wooden foot bridge that crosses McKay Creek. A bit further along one passes through some huge Rhododendrons then the path edges along a pond with a cabin on the east side. The cabin was bult in 1950 by Vancouver businessman Victor Golden as a hunting lodge using rough-hewn logs. More recently the cabin in its idyllic setting has been a popular choice for the filming of well over a dozen film productions. We wandered around the pond and looked over the cabin. Then returned to the car to gather our gear for the radio portion of our visit.

Ralph set up across the grass from the car, I walked back past the courts and into the first portion of the forest where I had spotted a bench. Arriving at the bench I decided on the tripod location and began setting up the antenna. The major down side of the location was the power sub-station only 200 feet to the south. Once set up, I called Ralph and we proceeded to complete our ten contacts on ten bands. Once that was completed, we started our separate calling. I checked the bands, the higher ones had no postings but the 20m had an S9 (very high) noise level on it likely due to the power station. It would not be usable. So, I moved up to the 15m band and started calling.

It took a few minutes of calling but I eventually was heard by a station in Virginia and we completed a contact. A few more minutes and a station in Georgia came by followed by one in Tennessee. It was slow going but they were coming in. A few more minutes and I had a North Carolina contact and one from Alabama. Around this time, I noticed the antenna was leaning a bit much and I went and fixed it up before it fell over. I went back to calling. Meanwhile Ralph called to say he had only 3 contacts and was about ready to pack it in. We decided to go for another few minutes. There didn’t seem to be anymore stations responding so I decided to try the 17m band and so I moved there and spotted myself. It took quite a few minutes but then I finally had a response from a station. I just managed to get his callsign when my antenna mast started to fall over. It fell right towards me. I managed to catch it before it hit the table and bench which could have damaged it.

Mast in one hand and my microphone in the other, I notified the responding station that my mast was down. He likely didn’t hear that but I tried. I then walked the mast up but as I was adjusting it in the tripod it collapsed into itself. I figured it was not worth setting up again as we were about to pack up. So instead, I started packing up the equipment. By the time I was done and starting back to the car I felt a pain in my back. Some how I had wrenched it and a muscle in my lower back was not happy. I hobbled back to the car where I met Ralph. We stowed the gear and set off for a cool drink and then home.

It had been a decent day in the park. The walkways were quite pleasant and the small pond was indeed scenic with the cabin though not spectacularly so. I guess it is also the convenience that counts for movie making. The sounds of the rushing creek and pathways do make for a pleasant spot to enjoy a bit of nature within a short walk from home. The rest of the drive home went smoothly and was fairly quick as we got out ahead of the main traffic period.