Headed for W4* land!

[ND7Y]

Going to be down in W4* land the rest of this week. Flying into ATL in the morning, overnight in Franklin, NC, and then in Asheville till Monday morning. XYL has granted me some excursion time on Friday morning to mid-day, and then is willing to do some hiking with me on Saturday. Open to folks joining with me, and even modifying my plans a bit if you’d have some better suggestions. In an ideal world, I’ll get summits in W4G, W4C, and W4T while I’m visiting.

Thursday, we’ll be visiting GSMNP, so Kuhowi (W4C/WM-001) will be my activation that day. I proposed Kephart, but XYL promptly ruled out a 6mi RT hike in unfamiliar territory after a full travel day

Friday, I have the morning available, so was thinking of going north to W4T/SU-024

Saturday, because Blue Ridge Parkway opened up more just today, W4C/CM-001 (Mt. Mitchell) and W4C/CM-007 (Craggy Dome) are my selections, but I could probably squeeze one more in.

Sunday is XYL time, Monday, on our way back to ATL, I’d love some suggestions of what to hit between Asheville and the airport. Our flight isn’t out till 6:20pm, so I’ve got some time to work with.

[KI4POT]

I did Kuwohi this summer. The HF bands were poor at the time, but I got enough contacts on HF to successfully activate the summit, then I jumped on VHF with my HT and made a few more contacts. Because the area had been getting heavy rain and storms daily leading up to my activation, it was quite wet all around. I ended up setting up at the little platform at the base of the tower and running a wire over a tree branch on the side of the paved path leading to that point. I had a few curious hikers ask what I was doing, but they were fine and one turned out to be a ham as well.

The views from the parking lot and from the tower are excellent.
Sunrise about a mile from the parking lot: