I had a great double activation on Appalachian Trail yesterday. My first summit was on North Moose Mountain. W1/HA-027 The hike in was about 2 miles south of where I parked and I logged 12 QSO’s including an S2S with Scott N4AAJ. He was on nearby Smarts Mountain. W1/HA-008 I was really excited to catch Scott on his activation because I had been on Smarts Mountain a couple of days before him and his QSO makes my activation complete.
After completing the activation on Moose Mountain I headed north to Holt’s Ledge. W1/HA-083 Holt’s ledge is a moderately difficult hike but it was well worth the effort. While there I met up with Scott N4AAJ and both of us were able to successfully activate the summit.
For those of you who don’t know Scott, he is an AT SOBO hiker who is also activating summits along the way. I first met Scott on June 30th on the summit of Wildcat Mountain. At first glance he appears to have a relaxed attitude about his hike. However if you look at his stats you’ll quickly understand that is not the case. Scott is an extremely accomplished hiker. In approximately 14 days he’s hiked through the the entire state of New Hampshire over some of the most difficult terrain on the Appalachian Trail. Additionally he did it in some of the worst weather conditions we’ve had in decades. There are towns in the state of New Hampshire that have logged over 16 inches of rain in the past month. Conditions like that will put a damper on any hike but somehow Scott presses on.
Finally, there’s one other thing worth mentioning about this hike. After we left the summit Scott and I hiked back to my truck where I was able to provide some snacks for him and a few others in his group. There we met a local legend who was also set up to provide some trail magic. Chuck Hutchins is without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable local hikers I’ve ever met. Several of us sat around for over an hour listening to him describe some of his most memorable hikes. He has an intricate knowledge of the trail system in the state of New Hampshire and could name every trail I’ve ever been on. He included landmarks too.
Unfortunately all good things do come to an end and it was sad to see my new friends leave. I don’t know if I’ll ever run into Chuck again but I’ll always have fond memories of our trail side chat. If you get a chance, read the post on the AMC website. I’ll leave the link below.
Thank you chasers for always being there. You really make my activation’s worth the effort. A big shout out to Betsy, it’s great that you keep us well informed. @N4AJJ
73, Fred WX1S
Post at the AMC website
Map from GaiaGPS
Chuck Hutchins
Shoes (left) with River Rat
