Capturing the Art of Nature
Speed Activating Black Mountain
A lovely hike on the way up, a wet one on the way down
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
Summits on the Air
2020
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My goal for July is to activate four summits in Cypress Park. Last week it was Hollyburn, today I enjoyed Black Mountain. This year has been so wet on the weekends that it is getting a bit depressing. So, as I watched the forecast this week, I was little encouraged about my prospects of hiking on Saturday. By Friday it was clear that the morning would be much drier than the afternoon, so it was worth taking a risk and attempting the summit. On Saturday morning it looked little changed though a bit of sun was peeking out from the odd cloud, so I felt it was a go for the hike.
My thinking on Friday was that with Black being a short hike though steep I felt I could get up and done the activation before any rain started so I sent out my announcements and planned for the event. Joining me would be my friend Ralph who wanted to activate on 20m CW, he would be using my KX2 for the day along with his loop antenna. I planned on my usual 2m gear – a 4 element Arrow yagi and a mobile radio running 25 watts. Come morning I had the privilege of being a passenger rather than driver which left me feeling a bit disconnected with the process while we drove to the parking lot, but once there I was back in gear and getting ready for the onslaught.
The total distance to the summit is only a bit over 2km with around 300m gain, so not too bad but the steep sections do slow one down, at least for us, the young folk sailed past in what seemed like a relentless stream. Ralph and I made great time across the parking lot and up the trail to the first steep section then things slowed a bit. I enjoyed gathering some photos while Ralph caught his breath, so the ascent worked out well for us both. Along the trail I was chatting with a family who immigrated from Nepal, the husband was telling me of their mountains and gorgeous views and how this scenery reminded him of his old home. Once on the top ridge we stopped by Cabin Lake to gather a few photos, for a July it was empty – only a few groups were there. After some pictures we continued the short walk to the north summit.
It was still dry and at the summit I actually had a view of Howe Sound to the north. It was partially obscured with cloud but that added to the scenic quality of the photo. Done with taking pictures, I selected a spot where I could hang the yagi in a tree and there I dropped my pack and started to assemble the yagi. Once done I tried to hang it on the tree branches, but it kept sliding off. Everywhere I tried the branches just seemed to say go away and they tossed the antenna off. Getting frustrated with the recalcitrant tree I decided to just use it to lean the yagi against. Now to start making some calls.
It was a slow start but soon I had the first contact in the log at just past noon. I soon had 4 logged and then my first of four summit-to-summit contacts. There was a summit party taking place in Washington and I was able to work a few of them. I eventually made contact with NN7M who was on a summit next to Mt Rainier, 303km distant. Later that evening I got an e-mail from him confirming the contact because he couldn’t believe we had such a long distance on 2m. I let him know that my longest one was 312km also from Black to an activator just east of Rainier a few years ago.
I took time to grab a few morsels of lunch and helped Ralph with the radio while he made a few CW contacts. Eventually I managed a Summit-to-summit with a chap in the Sooke area on Vancouver Island. Then it happened, I noticed a few wet spots on the radio and felt some drops on my arm. Ralph also noticed the rain and we decided to forego any more activating and we quickly packed away the gear. I donned my rain gear and we started for the car. As we took each step the rain seemed to sense its chance of soaking us as getting poorer and so it just tried harder. By the time we reached the car it was coming down quite fast and thick with a bit of wind to help drive the point home that we were guests up here and frankly unwanted at the moment. It did seem strange to me that a number of others were still making their way up as the rain increased. By the time we settled into the car we were actually fairly wet and chilled.
Well, sitting cold and damp in a car with an hour drive ahead of us meant we needed to rethink our initial destination. Ralph asked where the closest Starbucks was, and I directed him to the one I often visit when visiting the West Vancouver area. When we arrived, there were only a few in line waiting, but all the tables were full. Fortunately, once we had our drinks one of the 3 tables opened up and we were able to enjoy our coffee at store. Warmed with a hot beverage we had a pleasant trip home despite the rain.
Of course, the next day was sunny and warm but we had already completed a summit for the weekend. Now to see how the week goes for my hike on the next of the mountains of Cypress, so far it is looking good.