Yesterday I began the day by leaving my house at 0400 local time, driving north to activate 3 summits in the Roan Massif area along the TN/NC state line.
I arrived at Carver’s Gap around 0630 and the parking lot was already full, with cars filling in the shoulders along the road. I was lucky to snag an open spot, and began my hike to Roan High Knob, W4T/SU-005 which is in the midst of a spruce-fir forest. Despite the full parking lot, I didn’t pass a soul on the way up (or down), and enjoyed the sunrise amidst the wonder sounds and smells of the forest.
The high bands were uncooperative that morning, with many European stations on 20m so quiet I could hardly hear them even with the volume on the KX2 maxed. Low noise floor, but very quiet signals as well. 40m was gang busters though and I racked up plenty of domestic contacts.
The second summit was W4C/EM-001 Grassy Ridge Knob. The hike was nearly the opposite of Roan High Knob in every way. Grassy, windy, sunny, wide open. Also very busy trail. On the summit, I again raised the 41’ random wire I put together from a Tufteln kit, and was blown away by a contact from Japan, JG0AWE.
This was my first contact with Japan, and 5w from the east coast in the middle of the day with a portable station is quite the feat. At the conclusion, I packed up the station and returned to the truck.
I then drove 20 mins to Hughes Gap and hiked to the summit of Little Rock Knob W4T/SU-015. This is a very typical hike of the AT with minimal views, can be a “green tunnel” effect. At the top I was so tired from the other activations, I just set up my AX2 whip and made about the same number of contacts as I did with the 41’ wire. Some odd QRM issues during the activation but it was fun regardless.
On the way down, I encountered a large Mountain Laurel tree that fell across the trail and that took some maneuvering but it was a mostly uneventful hike down.
Thanks to all the chasers and S2S’s, it was a very busy day with loads of fun!