Capturing the Art of Nature
A Quick Visit to Mount Doug
A pleasant little hill to visit with a lovely view
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2022
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A visit to Victoria is not complete without visiting a few of the local summits. We arrived via the 11 am ferry which gets us in at 12:30 and after a pleasant lunch at Boston Pizza, we still had time to spare before checking into the inn. It is the perfect time to take in a quick SOTA activation. Mt Doug is reasonably close to being on the way so that was where we headed after lunch. I set the car’s navigation to lead us to the summit. It selected a route I hadn’t been on so that gave us a pleasant ride there. The challenge with Mount Doug is that the upper parking area is quite small and may be full. Fortunately, when we arrived there were two spots open.
After parking I collected my gear and followed the short path to the summit, Carolyn came along for the walk. I gathered a few photos along the way and when I reached the summit, I selected a spot NE of the viewing platform. The next challenge is finding a way to get my pole to stay upright. The ground is all rock and one must find a way to support the pole and wedge it into place. I used my backpack to hold it against the rocks. After numerous attempts I finally found a spot that would work.
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Once secured I turned on the radio and heard Don (VA7GL) calling. I responded and had my first contact in the log. Several more followed in quick succession and after 15 minutes I had 12 in the log book. More than enough, so I shutdown and grabbed a few photos before packing up. During this time a number of groups had come by to see the sights and several stopped to ask about my activity. They seemed quite interested in the range and one was asking about the need for repeaters. When I explained that none are needed, he was quite surprised.
Done with the calling and packed up, I gathered a few more photos as I made my way back to the car. Carolyn and started off before me and I didn’t want to leave here there too long waiting for me. The trees at the summit are quite interesting and I really should come by just to gather some nice photos. Maybe one day but for now it seems that I want to get the radio activity done first. It was a quick drive back down the slope and most of the way to the hotel, but we finally hit some traffic and the last 3 kilometers were quite slow.