Activation Reports: Pass Mountain (W4V/SH-013) and Knob Mountain (W4V/SH-017)

This past Sunday the XYL and I decided to bag a couple peaks in Shenandoah National Park.  We selected Pass Mountain (W4V/SH-013) and Knob Mountain (W4V/SH-017), as they can both be accessed along Skyline Drive, making navigation to the two trailheads simple.

We departed the home QTH at around 0700 local, reaching the Behms Gap parking area (just north of the Thornton Gap park entrance) a bit after 0900.  Pass Mountain is a tree-covered bump between Thornton Gap and Behms Gap, with the Appalachian Trail snaking up and over the summit.  Trail navigation is very easy, as the AT is a wide, well-used, and groomed trail.  From Behms Gap the summit is under two miles away.  Weather conditions were pleasant:  Generally cloudy skies, temps in the 50s, and the occasional raindrop.

Pass Mountain as seen from the jeep.  View from just north of the Behms Gap parking area, looking south.

The summit was rounded, with lots of trees, fall colors, and a few large rock outcroppings sticking out of the soil.

As always, I started on 146.52, followed by 223.5 and 446.0 MHz FM.  No takers.  I then set up my portable HF station and slung my wire antenna.  The HF bands were reasonably cooperative, but with the CQ World Wide Phone contest going on, the SSB segments of the non-WARC bands were very crowded.  I heard Croatian, Polish, English, and German stations booming in on 20 meters. I moved to 17 meters phone to see who I could get, and then moved to 30 meters CW.

Fuzzy picture of my Pass Mountain operating position.  I set up on a log.  The leaf-covered AT crosses between the log and the rock outcroppings in the distance.

Close-up view of my operating position on Pass Mountain.  FT-817ND.  Autotuner.  Key.  Mic.  Logbook.  Notebook.

While I activated the XYL continued hiking over the peak toward Thornton gap, allowing me about an hour to activate.

I worked the following stations:

Not great, but also not bad.  9 stations worked over 27 minutes.

The new batteries continued to hold up well.  On previous batteries I would typically have the radio set for 2.5 watts of output power, but today I operated entirely at 5 watts.  Again, I'll note that, like my last activation, the battery voltage barely dropped even when transmitting the 5 dahs of the "0" in my callsign.  Solid.

AT&T cell service was good for both SMS and 3G data services.  APRS connectivity was also good.

After I worked the small crowd of stations and the XYL returned, we returned to Behms Gap via the same route as the ascent.

We next moved north along Skyline Drive to Elkwallow Gap, where the trailhead for Knob Mountain (W4V/SH-017) is.  Knob Mountain is a bump along a northeast-to-southwest running ridge which is an offshoot of the Shenandoah range.  The specific route we took basically went from Elkwallow Gap northwest and downhill to reach the Appalachian Trail, and then Jeremy's Run.  Crossing Jeremy's Run you climb a steep ridge to reach the Knob Mountain Trail, which heads southwest along the ridgeline that Knob Mountain is on.  The trail is well-groomed and marked.  Printable map here.

Overall, the hike is under 6 miles round-trip for the hike described.  Of course you could easily lengthen the hike to about 13-14 miles if you do the entire Jeremy's Run Loop hike.

Oh--and we saw three black bears near the trail.  Sorry, I don't have good pictures, but they were there.  It was a bear day.

Knob Mountain is the highest bump on the right.  The Shenandoah Valley can be seen to the left.  The peak is a high point on a ridge protruding southwest into the Shenandoah.

Elkwallow Gap has services available--bathrooms and a small overcrowded gift shop.

There were humans at Elkwallow.  Most of these people don't venture too far into the woods, which is just fine by me.

Weather conditions stayed pleasant.  Cloudy skies, slight breeze, temperature in the upper 50s.  There was the occasional rain drop.

Nice fall colors, particularly the red leaves.  This is not an altered photo.

XYL crossing Jeremy's Run.  There were fish hopping in the run, and the run was a good bit wider than it looks, but the surface was covered with leaves.

N0PCL crossing Jeremy's Run.  Yes.  That's a Lodenhut.  A Lodenhut is to Germany as a cowboy hat is to Texas.  It's the hat of my ancestors.  Considering its Alpine origin, it's ideal for SOTA expeditions.  It's made of Loden (a type of wool), so it's actually quite warm, and is just fine in the rain.  Word.

N0PCL making the final steps up to the ridgeline from Jeremy's Run.  It's about 500' of gain over about 1/2 mile.  Decently steep.  I was working up a sweat so I'm climbing hat-in-hand.  XYL photo.

More nice fall colors.

Almost there!  Knob mountain summit only 250 feet away.  The trail system in Shenandoah NP is very simple to follow.  These posts are at most of the trail junctions.

XYL hiking up the final couple hundred feet to Knob Mountain summit.

The QSOs on Knob Mountain came quick once I set up on HF.  But before that happened I had a pleasant chat with Brian, KE8AZF, in the panhandle of West Virginia, about 40 miles away on 146.52.  I made unsuccessful calls on 223.5 MHz FM and 446.0 MHz FM with no joy.  I then slung my wire antenna, laid out radials, and set up my shack on a nearby log.  I sent a quick spot out on my iPhone--and the calls came fast.  The pileup continued for a solid 20 minutes on 30 meters before picking up a couple QSOs on 10 meters to stations out west.  A few of the stations went into straight "contest mode", sending my "5NN" reports to expedite the process.

Overexposed iPhone pic of my homebrewed EARCHI matchbox.  Used with a tuner and some decent radials, it can put out a good signal on 40-6 meters with a tuner.  With a superb radial system and a perfectly vertical radiator, I've occasionally gotten it to load up (albeit inefficiently) on 75 and 80 meters, too.

Close-up view of the matchbox.  It's contained in a Hammond enclosure, and I use simple alligator clips to make the electrical connections.  The radiating element is the black wire.  The radials are just some #22 speaker wire.  Works great.

My Knob Mountain operating position.  Logs make good places to sit and have some QSOs.

Here's my logbook as it appears on the SOTAData website:

After working KE8AZF I worked 18 CW stations in 30 minutes.  While not stellar at all by contesting standards, this is pretty good work.  Lots of fun!

AT&T cell service was good for both SMS and 3G data services.  APRS connectivity was also good. 

No after-action items for this hike.  It was a very pleasant activation, a great way to spend a fall weekend, and a fun 12 SOTA activation points to earn!

As always, thanks chasers!  No activation is successful without you.  73!

SOTA Activations of Robertson Mountain (W4V/SH-011), Stony Man (W4V/SH-002) and The Pinnacle (W4V/SH-005)

On 20 September 2015 I did a triple activation of Robertson Mountain (W4V/SH-011), Stony Man (W4V/SH-002), and The Pinnacle (W4V/SH-005).  Earlier in the week I posted a SOTA alert on SOTAWatch stating my intention to activate those three peaks, plus Pass Mountain (W4V/SH-013), but the XYL and I didn't finish with enough time.  We decided to end the day after activating The Pinnacle.

The overall plan was for my XYL and me to drive from our home in Northern Virginia to The Limberlost trail head, which is just a bit south of the Skyland Resort on Skyline Drive, the main thoroughfare that runs north-south through Shenandoah National Park.  From the Limberlost trail head we would hike to Robertson Mountain, activate it, and hike back to the jeep.  From there my XYL and I would split up, with me proceeding by jeep to the other trail heads, where I would do shorter hikes and activations, while the XYL would just hike the Appalachian Trail.  Given that the Appalachian Trail basically connected all of these peaks together, I was planning meeting up with her on the trail as she progressed and I activated.  It was a good, solid, executable plan.

We departed at about 0630 local time and made it to Limberlost trail head at about 0845.  Weather was nice--mostly cloudy at first and mid-50s Fahrenheit.  There were several apple trees at the trail head, which isn't surprising given that Shenandoah National Park, prior to the Park Service taking it over, was a cash-cropping area for apples.  Several varieties exist there.  The XYL particularly likes to find these, and she's been known to grab one or two for a taste (not sure about the legality of that, but whatever).  After a few minutes of fun by the trees, we suited up and started hiking.

XYL holding one of the apples.

We followed Old Rag Fire Road, a gravel road which connects Skyline Drive with Old Rag Mountain (W4V/SH-012), following that road for about 2 miles or so until reaching the Robertson Mountain Trail, a steeper path up to the summit

N0PCL hiking the Old Rag Fire Road.

Just prior to reaching the Robertson Mountain Trail I noticed a large shadowy object move across the--a bear!  My XYL was a bit behind me a this point so I called her forward and we continued to have a nice loud conversation so that we wouldn't startle the beast.  The foliage in was pretty thick along the edge of the Old Rag Fire Road.  We didn't see the bear until we were immediately passed by it--it was standing in the foliage maybe 10 feet into the forest.  It was probably an adolescent, but young enough that we were very concerned about any larger adult bears in the area.  It was maybe 3 or 4 feet tall, and it just looked at us.  We picked up the pace, continued the conversation, and then embarked up the trail to the summit.

N0PCL XYL hiking Old Rag Fire Road.

Hiking up the Robertson Mountain Trail.

Robertson Mountain Trail is moderately steep but not too bad.  Though the trail was heavily wooded, it became a bit more rocky near the top.  The top of the peak is crowned by some nice grassy ground, a few trees, and some large boulders--basically an ideal site to set up for SOTA.  I broke out my radios (Yaesu FT-817ND & Yaesu VX-8DR), accessories (auto-tuner, telescoping 2-meter antenna, Palm Mini paddles, hand mic), my antenna (home-made EARCHI matchbox, coax, 30 feet of wire, and a crappie fishing pole), and notepad and ARRL mini-log.  I bungee-corded the crappie pole to the tree, slung the wire from the tip of the pole through some trees to make a sloping vertical antenna, and then cabled up my portable station.

Sloping antenna off of telescoping crappie pole.  XYL photo.

Bungee cords are great for lashing antennas up!  XYL photo.

Robertson Mountain had a very pleasant summit area.  XYL photo.

Trying to work stations.  Cell phone provided spotting and was my clock.  XYL photo.

XYL snapped this photo from Robertson Mountain summit.

Cell signals were spotty (I use AT&T).  I generally prefer to self-spot using any of several methods available on the iPhone--for me it's more reliable than the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN).  Cell service was good enough to spot using the SMS-to-SOTA gateway, so I did that.  Where I normally expect to get a moderate pileup of 5-10 stations, I got only single chasers today.  My normal activation policy, particularly on days with several activations, is to work four stations, or, if in the midst of a pileup, to work the pileup until it's gone.  No pileups today, though.

No pileups today!  40 minutes to get four stations.

Conditions were crummy, but I didn't know that until later.  I captured the propagation conditions later in the day.  Pretty bad, particularly the K index.:

 My inkling that propagation was bad was from a report kindly provided by NG6R on SOTAWatch:

I worked the necessary stations and then we continued back to the jeep.  On the hike back we noticed three more black bears--all small ones.  One of them was probably the one we saw earlier in the day.  They were all smallish, about the size of the first bear we saw.  These were further off the trail, and kept to themselves.  Sorry--no pictures of those critters.



After reaching the jeep we split up.  I headed up to Stony Man trailhead for a quick few-hundred feet of elevation gain.  Stony Man is one of the busier peaks in the Shenandoah National Park.  From the trail head near Skyland Resort it's a mere .6 miles to the summit, and only several hundred feet of elevation gain.  It's probably one of the easiest 10-point summits in the SOTA universe.

View from Stony Man looking directly west.  My XYL took this photo.

Views from the summit are spectacular.  Lots of people though.  As a military guy I have a pretty good appreciation of terrain, and it's interesting for me to look below into the Shenandoah Valley to look at the military significance of the terrain.  The valley is a breadbasket, with very fertile soil and many farms, but more importantly, it is a valley that is basically southwest-to-northeast in orientation, and it terminates in the north to the northwest of the suburbs of Washington DC and Pennsylvania.  This valley provided food as well as a well-protected route for Confederate cavalry and other units to sortie into the Union states during the American Civil War.

Many humans on Stony Man summit.  Too many, actually.

View looking south from Stony Man.

View looking north from Stony Man.  The clouds cleared up, but the temps stayed cool.

A woman offered to take my photo on the summit.  So I obliged.

After taking a moment to savor the views, I went into the treeline to get away from the crowds.  I don't mind operating in public, but sometimes onlookers can detract from the SOTA experience with their questions.  (My XYL does a great job explaining my strange subset of my strange hobby when she's around, but I was alone at this point.)  I slung my wire in the tree and started doing what I could to get my QSOs.  Again, pileups were not to be found.  I presume band conditions were bad.  AT&T cell phone coverage was very strong, though, as was APRS access, so there were numerous methods to self-spot, as well as observe the SOTAWatch spots.  I saw several stations operating on summits, including Gary--K6YOA, Frank & Lynn--K0JQZ and KC0YQF, and also N0AIS and AD5A.  No joy with them.

Again, no pileups.  51 minutes to get four QSOs.

In the middle of my activation I noticed my XYL hiking along the trail to Stony Man.  She joined me briefly and went on my way.  After getting the four QSOs I packed up and hiked back to the jeep.


Next up was The Pinnacle.  While the XYL continued to hike the AT, I drove up to Jewell Hollow Overlook.  To get to The Pinnacle, you basically hike down the hill from the Overlook to pick up Appalachian Trail, and then follow the AT north a little less than a mile to reach the summit.  Simple.  Well, not much to see at the top here.  A peak name like The Pinnacle might imply to you that it's a fairly dramatic summit.  Well, that's just not the case.  It's a very rounded summit with lots of brush, trees, shrubs, and basically no view, although my XYL did say that it opens up a bit if you continue to follow the AT over the summit for some distance.

View from Jewell Hollow Overlook.  Follow this trail down to pick up the AT.

I hiked off the AT a short distance and set up my shack.  Here's my logbook.

Pileups?  Not so much.  But a little DX with the EA2 station.

Just after working N6KZ, I again saw my XYL hiking north along the AT.  She came over and snapped a few photos doing my SOTA thing.  We decided at this point to cancel activating Pass Mountain.  I was going to finish my activation, hike down to the jeep, and drive to Thornton Gap, where I would pick up the XYL.

My shack:  A rock.  Not much of a view.

XYL snapped this photo of me working CW.

One of the pleasant things about this activation was working EA2IF.  I love working European DX.  My favorite SOTA DX worked have been Germany and Finland from Palomar Mountain and Middle Peak in Southern California.  But I'll take any DX I can get, particularly with the craptacular conditions.

After completing the activation I packed up, hiked back to the jeep, and met the XYL.  We drove home, had some chili (which was cooking in the Crock Pot) and watched the Packers pummel the Seahawks into submission.

So:  25 SOTA activation points, 3-4 bears, some fresh wild apples, three peaks, and a Packers victory.  Not a bad way to spend a weekend.

73!