Week 28 – Clingmans Dome (#58) and Nettle Creek Bald (#59)

It was April 22, 2019, the day after Easter Sunday.  My hiking companion was Dave KE4EA.  The second visit to Clingman’s Dome has long been anticipated since the last time in late fall had really cold sub-freezing conditions.  Monday promised to be a nice sunny spring day after a weekend of severe weather into Easter weekend.   Nettle Creek Bald was the double-header which was conveniently located on US 441 on the way back home.

We left Travelers Rest at 7:00 AM and arrived at Clingman’s Dome at about 9:30 AM and the temperature was around 43 degrees F.  There was snow in the grassy areas.  It was a bright, clear, spring day.    The views did not disappoint.  Tourists abounded on this beautiful day.

Dave and I set up in a wooded area next to the observation tower.  I made some DX contacts on 20m – Finland OH9XX and Sweden SA4BLM on top of the usual chasers.  I also made a summit to summit contact with K9OZ who was on Winding Stair Mountain W5O/OU-002.

The Appalachian Trail goes through Clingman’s Dome and we found a couple of young hikers thru-hiking the entire 2200 mile trail – Dani and Justin.  I explained to them what I was doing and they were intrigued by the idea.  I also told them that I was writing a book and taking pictures of thru-hikers of the AT that I meet.   Since I was next to the paved ramp to the observation tower, I had plenty of people ask me what I was doing.   With earbuds on, no one could here the dits and dahs of the Morse Code I was sending.

Before leaving, we had to trek up the ice covered paved path to the observation tower.  We had to grab the hand rails and looked for patches to step on with enough footing not to fall.  At the top the views were fantastic.

Soon we made our way to the truck to head on to the Thomas Divide Trail just off NC441 and only a few miles away.  The next summit to climb was Nettle Creek Bald which was about halfway to Newton Bald – on the same trail.

Nettle Creek Bald hike to the summit was a 3.83 km hike (approximately 2.5 miles), and we could see the summit from the trail.  Another interesting view is that we could also see where we came from.   From behind the trees we saw the summit of Clingman’s Dome.  The hike was up and down, not very steep.  The trail itself was well maintained.

Reaching the summit itself was sort of anti-climactic – no summit marker, just the end of the track on my GPS device and visually everything sort of fell away - from the ridge side and from the trail side.  The ridge was very steep on either side.   I was able to make another summit to summit contact – this time with NU7A who was 3500 Camas Mountain W7W/CH-228 in Washington State.  I got chased by EA2LU Jorge from Spain along with the usual chasers who always seem to appear in my logs Paula K9IR, Larry K0RS, Bruce W2SE, Dean K2JB and George KX0R.

Dave and I swept through the bands.  Dave usually has the responsibility of 40m while I swept 20m, 30m and 60m.  Soon it was time to go home.  It had been a good day.  

Dave continued up the ladder in W4C, after having completed 16 summits, he was now at 151 summit points.   I was now at 633 summit points towards the 1000 point goal.   I was still #4 in the standings for 2019 with W1PTS still #1 on the leaderboard with 696 points, followed by KN4LRI at 623 points, KS4FX at 558, and me at 500 points with an 11.11 points per activation average.    W1PTS had just become a Mountain Goat when his previous year’s total was added to his 2019 total.  At the time of this writing, during Week 28, W1PTS was at 1079 points.  I was still at #11 in the all-time W4C standings.

Week 27 – No Activations Because of Severe Weather

I spent the early part of the week vacationing with my wife and parents in Kentucky.  I had planned on doing Big Butt W4C/CM-009 with Dean K2JB.   The weather forecast indicated intense storms through Friday with a 50% chance of rain in the Carolina Mountains.  I thought about postponing the activation – but as of April 18, the front has been shifting enough to predict improving weather conditions for the 20th.  I was hopeful that weather improves enough as a Trans-Atlantic Summit-to-Summit event has been planned for that day by the boys across the pond and more alerts have been posted. 

Dean K2JB sent me an email stating that he could not accompany me on the hike to Big Butt as his wife sustained an injury to her knee and would have an MRI on Saturday.   As of April 19, I deleted my alert.    Doing an alternate summit that is a drive up – such as Sassafras Mtn would have given away summit points that I otherwise could have had.  So as it stands, there would be no activations during week 27.

Week 26 – Doubletop Mountain (#56) and Snaggy Bald (#57)

It was April 10, 2019.   Both mountains shared the same starting point which was on gated Forest Service Road 4652 (seasonally accessible between March 15th and December 31).  It started out as a 1 kilometer hike to the summit of Snaggy Bald which is a bush whack of the ridgeline.  There was no trail per se, although there was a logging road which hugged the ridgeline for a little while.  The hardwoods were still leafless at this high elevation which was desirable – as a bush whack with heavy foliage is that much more difficult.  Scott set up on the summit and I setup just below him on the AZ.   The hike was steep – climbing 140 meters in a kilometer. 

Patrick KI4SVM was going to Mt. Hardy W4C/WM-006 and he kept tabs on our progress – wanting to make an S2S contact with us.  I did make contact with Pat from both summits – once with CW and the other on the 2m HT, and so did Scott.  We then descended Snaggy Bald and made a right turn as we picked up the ridge  towards Doubletop.   It was a steep decent on the ridgeline to the gap between the two mountains.    We ascended to several false peaks before reaching Doubletop Mountain.  About 200m from the summit of Doubletop stood a 7 foot high boulder which covered the entire width of the ridge.    We had two options – go around the boulder by descending the ridge or go over it “free solo”.   The ridge was very steep and going around it did not seem like a good idea.   I was the one that found the boulder and I thought going over the top was the better choice. 

Scott and I both safely made it over.   We then ascended to the penultimate false peak – we called Doubletop Junior.    After Doubletop Junior,  the summit of Doubletop was still a distant 200m away.  We were still faced with a steep 60m vertical rise over the remaining 200m.   After we were sure we were within the AZ, Scott proceeded to the summit.   I setup my station just below Scott in the AZ

Scott set up using the observation tower as a support for his vertical.    I tried to call Scott but apparently his HT had died.   Scott tried to text me to tell me about the wonderful views to be had on the summit observation tower.   I was disappointed that I missed the opportunity – only a few meters away.

I set up my station by lashing my mast to a convenient tree.    The difficulty came in getting the antenna trap stuck in a tree limb.   Scott’s pole came to the rescue as he pulled down the tree limb with it to untangle the wire.   With station set up wrapped up and contacts made, now the chore of hiking down was before us.

Scott and I discussed that we still had a long hike back to the car.   It had already taken 3 hours to hike the 4 km from Snaggy Bald and it was about 3:30 PM when we reached the summit of Doubletop.  I stopped and started packing up at about 4:30 PM.  Scott shared  that the view was fantastic from the fire tower and we took a quick glance at the panorama video he had taken.

One of the mistakes we made in going up to Doubletop is not maintaining the ridge line and we paid for it by the steep bush whack to regain the ridge.  We resolved to maintain the ridge line coming down.

The descent went according to plan. We maintained the ridge track and made it back to the logging road.  We followed that logging road all the way back to the truck.   It was almost 7:30 as were underway back to Asheville.

We counted all the ups and downs and by my reckoning, we had ascended a total 750 meters (2453 feet) all in about 8 kilometers (5 miles).

That was an epic hike, Scott and I both were hurting at the end of the day – with Scott clearly the fitter one.

Week 25 Part 2 – Craggy Dome (#55)

It was April 3, 2019.  It had been in the 60’s and foliage was exploding in the lower valleys. One more week and the same would happen in the high mountains.   This was the last week to climb up the scraggly summit of Craggy Dome W4C/CM-007.  I was at the house of son in Greer overseeing some electrical contractors re-wiring a bathroom.   I had a planned meeting with Scott in Asheville at 12:30.   I was waiting for the electrician to complete his work and it was almost time to go meet Scott.   It was still an hour fifteen drive to meet Scott.   Electrician said to me, “Why don’t you go?  Instruct me on how to lock up and leave the key in the lock box”.   I thought to myself “My wife will have a conniption if I leave the keys but I can’t leave Scott hanging, nor can I postpone this hike, last chance to hike Craggy”.  I relented and left the electrician to call me after he locks up.

Soon  I was at the Veterans Restoration Quarters where Scott and his wife volunteer to serve meals to veterans rehabilitating from PTSD, depression and other ailments.   I had a meal with the church volunteers of stuffed potato and cole slaw.

Soon, Scott and I were up on the Parkway headed for Craggy Dome.   Arriving at the overlook where the hike starts, I saw Craggy Dome, a gnarly mess of a mountain full of thick undergrowth and rhododendrons in between the hardwoods.  Within it is a faint manway of a trail probably created by rain water all the way up to the summit.

Scott leading the way, we started hiking on the Mountains to Sea Trail and quickly made a beeline to the left toward the spine of the ridge.   It was shallow at first.   We were only about 600 meters or so to the summit as the crow flies.   It was about a 1 km hike.    The second half was fairly steep

There were no tall trees on the summit.  There was an abundance of heavy brush.  I had my 20 foot mast and fastening it to the trekking pole which was guyed to the shrubs was fairly easy to do.   I was on a rock outcrop where I sat with my radio.  Scott and I split the bands with him starting on 60m and me on 20m.  I had three S2S’s today - with George KX0R on Genesee Mountain W0C/FR194 in Colorado, K9IR Paula on W0M/ES-001 on Webster HP in Amish country near Springfield Missouri and Tom WX4TW on Mt. Mitchell W4C/CM-001.  Scott made contacts with the same summits as I.   

On a summit, it is an amazingly quiet place with signals sounding loud even without tickling the strength s-meter on the radio.

Scott and I headed down the small manway of a trail – and soon we were on the Parkway bidding each other farewell.

Week 25 – Part 1 – Bunches Bald (#54)

It was April 2nd.  Several have just activated Bunches Bald W4C/WM-013, and among them K2JB on March 30, and Tom W1PTS on March 31, to get the last winter bonus points.   I followed Dean’s directions to the letter.   I entered from the Blue Ridge Parkway at the entrance near Big Witch Gap and drove the 3 miles to the campsites near the summit.   Dean pointed out that behind campsite T4, there is a faint trail that leads to the summit.   I got to campsite T4 and found that the site itself, although very nice for setting up a station, is below the AZ by a couple of meters.   As soon as I jumped onto the trail, I was in the AZ.   A walked another 30m and with that steep trail, I was well into the AZ.

Setting up a radio station was tight but very doable. Soon I was on the air.   Propagation was not good as I was getting a lot of weak signal reports.   I could not hear any other summit activators – although folks were calling on K9PM.   I made about 20 contacts with chasers on 4 bands.  Soon I was packing up to go home.   On the way down, I found an alternate approach without bringing the vehicle into the campground.   It would involve a 1 km hike with 200m of elevation gain which is very doable.   There was a large grassy clearing on the shoulder of the Blue Ridge Parkway past the Lickstone Overlook if one is coming from Soco at coordinates  N35 degrees 31.114 minutes and W83 degrees 11.698 minutes which will bring you to within 40m of the dirt road.   One would just walk over the 40m from the grassy area to the dirt road and hike the rest of the way.

While planning the logistics for activating Bunches Bald and setting up my alert on the SOTA reflector, I found several alerts for Tom W1PTS.  It appeared he was planning activations on April 3 and April 4 which will get him to within 2 points of becoming a Mountain Goat.   Stay tuned to see how this played out. The projection was that Tom would just miss setting the North American record for the shortest time to become a Mountain Goat – in the neighborhood of 10.9 months.   The NA record is still held by WA7JTM of 10.75 months established in February 2014.  There I was at week 25 with 585 points – 27 weeks to go, and 415 points to 1000.

Week 24 Part 2 – Cove Mountain (#52), Greentop (#53)

It was March 29, 2019.  Today was intended to be a tripleheader with Cove Mountain W4T/SU-042 as the lead-off followed by Greentop W4C/SU-076 and then by Hall Top W4C/SU-055.  Scott and I met at Home Depot parking lot near Asheville and this time we rode his Subaru to the Cove Mountain trail head near Gatlinburg TN.   It was “Spring Break” and the trail head was full of cars.  We had to park by the roadside about 100 meters away from the trail head.  Families and kids abound on the trail.  There were steep drop offs on the Laurel Falls trail.  The trail was paved all the way to the falls.    With all the spring rains, there was a lot of water rushing down the falls.   This initial section of the trail was relatively flat.

After the falls, the trail started out very rocky then turned into a more even dirt trail.   Only two hikers joined us at the summit while we were up there.   At the summit there was a fire tower.  There were views of Mt. LeConte as we headed up the ridge.

The summit area had a large opening convenient for setting up.   Scott used the tower to drop a line for his vertical.   I set up on the trail using one of the trees as a mast holder.   
The first order was to get Dean K2JB who was on W4C/WM-058 Wesser Bald for a summit to summit contact and both Scott and I quickly got him on 60m (5.332MHz) with CW.  Following that was my first trans-Atlantic summit-to-summit contacts with activators Jorge EA2LU and Ignacio EA2BD who were both on EA2/NV-092 in Spain.   Scott took care of both 60m and 40m while I took on 20m and 30m to sweep the bands.   Soon we were on the long 6 km hike down.   We encountered a few more intrepid hikers trying to summit Cove Mountain on the way down.  Dean K2JB sent us text messages telling us about short cuts for the drive to Greentop.

Greentop is a “drive-up” except that this drive-up was on perfectly paved roads as opposed to gravel forest roads.   With the short cuts that Dean provided, it was a short drive, perhaps a half hour to the summit of Greentop.  We were warned about severe RF interference by Ron KI4TN but I encountered no such problems. Scott and I split the coverage of the bands, him on the low bands of 60m and 40m and me on the high bands of 20m and 30m.   We both made summit to summit contacts with Dean K2JB who is now on W4C/WM-018 Wine Spring Bald.  We did not generate a lot of QSOs but enough with our usual chasers.  Soon we were on our way to Hall Top.

The excitement of the day came in the process of trying to summit Hall Top.  We were both “on the fence” about whether to do Hall Top or not.  We had only one hour of daylight left with Hall Top only 11.5 km away (as the crow flies”.  We decided to do it.  With good cell service Google Maps got us to the gravel Tower Road to the summit.   About a fifth of the way up this long and twisty forest road – we encountered a sign that said “road closed ahead”.  We took a chance that the sign is wrong and the road is really open. 

About 2/3 of the way up, we encountered a washout of the road way.  The washout narrowed the road to about the width of the Subaru track and with trepidation we made our way across.   We certainly could not turn around at that point.  We were hoping that there would be sufficient space past the washout to turn around.   About another 800m and we encountered a barricade.    This was truly our “stop point” and I got out of the car to guide the car around.  We both looked at each other and I asked “Do we hike it?”.  Scott asked in reply “How much more elevation gain?”.   I said – “Another 200m to the summit per the altimeter on my GPS and another 2 km”.  With 30 minutes of daylight left and having to negotiate that washout again we both said “Nah, let’s go home”.

Week 24 Part 1 - Huckleberry Knob (#50), Barnett Knob (#51)

Huckleberry Knob is one of those iconic hikes in the western Carolinas.   It was picked along with its intended pair – Stratton Bald because of the relative proximity of the trailheads to each other.   Also because the Georgia SOTA Association stopped giving winter bonuses after the 15^th of March, I had to pick another pair of summits from the Carolinas or Tennessee Mountains.   The Tennessee and Carolina Associations awards bonus points until the 31^st of March and this is the last week to cram in those bonus points.   I worked out the logistics.  We were to do Huckleberry Knob first.

On March 27^th, Dave KE4EA met at 7:00 AM as usual.  It was a long car ride from Travelers Rest to the Cherhola Skyway in the Nantahala National Forest – about 3 hours.   The banter during the drive seemed to make the drive a bit shorter.  We arrived at the trailhead around 10:30 AM and about ½ hour behind schedule.  Dave was having a little bit of a problem getting a reading from his heart rate monitor.  Dave was conscientious about not pushing his heart rate too high on the climbs and so this would make it difficult to keep tabs on where his high limit would have been.    He eventually decided to do it more or less by feel and not rely on the heart rate monitor.   The trail was a grassy trail and about 1.5 km long.  It was not too steep – we only had about 80 meters of vertical to ascend.   We arrived at the bald summit – just a wide expanse of grass with a 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding mountains.   The temperature was in the high 40s and very calm.  The sky was mostly clear.   It was just about perfect hiking weather.

Near the summit we encountered a metal cross with a grave stone.   Inscribed on the stone was the short story of Andy Sherman and Paul O’Neill, a couple of lumberjacks who set out on a hike one cold morning on December 11, 1899.  Their bodies were found almost a year later on September 6, 1900.  A jury determined that after having been inebriated they got lost and froze to death.   Andy Sherman’s body was buried there near the summit of Huckleberry Knob.   That was a sobering start to an otherwise beautiful day.

Dave and I set up our radio stations at the summit except that Dave had left his mast at the trailhead by the truck in his rush after fussing with his heart rate monitor.   Dave found a small sapling and the apex of his antenna was only 6 feet off the ground.  There was no cell service at the summit so I could not post a spot to tell our chasers we are ready to make contacts.   I yelled to Dave to get on 7.065 MHz and hope that reverse beacon will pick us up and post us.  I started calling CQ on 14.065 MHz at 1500 which is my usual calling frequency.  At 1530 UTC, my first caller was W1BV Mike Fishman, a young ham from Peabody MA.   He was a random caller, and not a SOTA chaser.   The second caller was Lars Markus SA4BLM from Sweden, a familiar call, finally a SOTA chaser.  I asked him to post me on the SOTA spotting cluster.   He called me at 1533 UTC in response to the reverse beacon network picking up my CQ from just a few minutes before.

One by one they started to call.   Soon it was Jorge EA2LU from Spain and then Jan Lavicka OK2PDT, the most prolific activator in SOTA history, from the Czech Republic, and then another Swede SM4CJM Hans.   Then a whole bunch of familiar SOTA chasers piled in W5BOS, K0RS, VE2JCW, etc.
Dave walked over from his spot.   I asked how he was doing.   He replied – “I had one random call on 40m”.   I said to him to get on 10.113 on 30m and call CQ from there.

In the meantime, I kept getting calls.   I got a call from Alan Shapiro NM5S, a prolific activator from New Mexico.   He was on a summit at W5N/SE-037 and so it was a summit to summit call on 20m.   I changed frequency to 40m knowing that Dave is on 30m.   I started calling on 40m.  The reverse beacons must have picked me up at 1630 UTC and the 40m chasers started to call.   Dave walked over again and said “I have been calling CQ on 30m for a half hour – nothing.  I still have only one”.   I told him to get on 7.065 and my callers will work him.   So I worked a couple of chasers on 40m and told them in Morse twice “QRX, QRX PSE WORK KE4EA”.    I let Dave take over my frequency and he worked the rest of my chasers.    Dave’s activation is now safe.  He will safely get his minimum to score the summit.   After going to 30m for a bit, we packed up and hiked down to proceed to Stratton Bald.

Still not having cell service, we proceeded to the Stratton Bald trailhead using my printed directions.   We were to proceed SW on NC143 for 6.8 miles and find a forest road FS81 on the right.    We found the paved road leading up to the forest service road but found road entrance gated and locked.    We plugged in the GPS coordinates of the summit and it was 5 km away “as the crow flies”.   It was supposed to be an 11 km (6.7 mile) drive on this forest road to the trail head plus a 2 km hike.    We did not plan on walking 13 km one way to the summit.  A 26 km hike – out and back will take a long time.

I told Dave, “It is not the end of world, we just lose out on winter bonus points”.   Dave replied “But we invested so much time driving here, it would be great if we can activate another summit in the area”.   I recalled that Barnett Knob is on the way home not too far from US74 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I also recalled that they had just re-opened that section of the BRP past mile marker 451.   I told Dave, “We can activate Barnett Knob W4C/WM-055.  It is on the way home and it is an almost drive-up”.  Barnett Knob just a short hike from the BRP to summit – about a half mile or 1 km.  We departed from FS road 81 and proceeded back to the main highway US74 heading home and had cell service again.   I had Google Maps find our way to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Barnett Knob.   I plugged in the coordinates left by Patrick KI4SVM into the GPS for the trail head.   I read over Dean’s (K2JB) notes that the trail head is between mile marker 462 and 463 on the Parkway.   We were only 30 minutes away.   

Soon we were at the entrance of the forest road that leads up to the summit of Barnett Knob.   Ironically, the forest road gate was open.   We could drive all the way up to the top.  We decided to hike it, not letting us be robbed of the opportunity for some more exercise. It was 10% average grade – about 112 meters to ascend the 1 km.

As I was hiking up, I got a call from my aunt “Are you going to pick me at the airport?  I am here in Atlanta ready to board the plane to Greenville Spartanburg.  We were delayed.”  I replied, “Is that today?  I thought it was tomorrow.”  She replied, “No - did you not get my text?”  I looked at the text message she sent me, and sure enough, it was to be today at 5:30.   I thought to myself “Rats, I am at least 2 hours away by car”.   I told her “I will be there as soon as I can – just wait for me”. 

Dave turned to me and asked “Do we turn around and head back to the truck?”  I replied “No, let’s keep going.  I will be late getting there regardless”. 

I told Dave – “we will split the bands – you take 40m and I will take 20m and 30m”.   We finished setting up around 5:30 PM and within about 10 minutes I made contacts with 9 chasers.   Dave was done as well, having made the minimum plus a few more on 40m.  We packed up, and reminisced about our day as we walked down the mountain.   It was a good day.   Dave said “I did get a lot of practice calling CQ” – at Huckleberry Knob.  I just smiled.   It was not per the original plan but things worked out just as well.

Week 23 Part 3 – Another Attempt at Reaching the Summit of Mt. Hardy (#49)

My woes at Mt. Hardy garnered some sympathizers willing to help to find the trail that leads up to the summit – among them Joel Shannon KC4WZB, Scott KW4JM and Dean K2JB.   Dean was amenable to the date that had the best weather Wednesday March 20, 2019.   Dean and I met at Rough Butt Bald Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway at noon.   Dean and I got out of our vehicles, exchanged pleasantries, and admired the view from the overlook.   He pointed out “There is Rabun Bald.  Over there on the right is Wine Spring Bald and to the left of it is Siler Bald and the gap in between is Wayah Gap”.   I considered myself so fortunate to have the “Obi-Wan-Kenobi” of SOTA show me the way to summit Mt. Hardy.   We were soon on the trail and Dean shared stories of the times he got lost and most notable was the time he got lost on Mt. Hardy.   

The time evaporated as I listened to Dean’s stories.   I marked waypoints along the way.   Dean let me lead for a while.   It was so easy to get lost and wander off from the main trail.   It was a good thing Dean was there to rope me back in to the correct trail.   I saw finally where I had erred in the previous attempt.   The hike got steeper during the last kilometer.   When we arrived at the summit, Dean showed me the USGS marker which read “Black Mountain”.  Just a few meters past the summit Dean showed me a clearing which had a view of the Devil’s Courthouse and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  With the clear blue skies, the view was fantastic.   It was so warm under the sunlight.  It felt like 60F.  I asked Dean if I could have the clearing and he said by all means yes. 

 

It was such a delight setting up in the warm sunshine in that clearing.   I had no cell service.   I would have to rely on RBNHole to pick up my CQ and spot me on the SOTA network.   Sure enough, it did.   Cell service came back and I saw the the RBNHole spot.   I tried to call Dean on 2m simplex to see if he wanted to be spotted but he must have his HT off.  I then saw RBNHole pick up Dean’s CQ on 40m.   I made 4 S2S’s that day and had enough points to make Shack Sloth with the S2S chases.   Dean had been operating in the shade the whole time.   It was 20F cooler in the shade.   Dean came over to where I was and basked in the sunshine to get warm.  He said “I am happy.  I made a lot of contacts on 40m”.   I told him I was able to sweep the other bands and I said “Hey Dean, I made 2 S2S’s with Patrick”.  Dean answered, “Yeah, I got Patrick too on London Bald and got Brad WA6MM on Mt. Herman.  We both decided to pack up and head down the mountain.   The time evaporated once again as I listened to Dean’s stories. We arrived at the trail head and met a couple of gentlemen staring at the view.   Dean shouted “Do you guys know what you are looking at?”  

Dean proceeded to explain all the different peaks in view.  Soon it was time to go home.  Part of me wanted to linger there and enjoy the view.   I said good bye to Dean and I said “see you at the Spring Camp-out if not before!”  Soon I was home relishing the spoils from the day.  For those interested in hiking Mt. Hardy, it is recommended that it be hiked with a partner.  Here are the waypoints leading up to the summit.   To backtrack simply follow the same way points in reverse.

Trail Head N35^o 18.24’, W82^o 56.552’ (1) N35^o 18.608’, W82^o 56.178’ (2) N35^o 18.621’, W82^o 56.162’                                              (3) N35^o 18.628’, W82^o 55.915’  (4) N35^o 18.638’, W82^o 55.903’ (5) N35^o 18.624’, W82^o 55.832’ (6) N35^o 18.597’, W82^o 55.708’ (7) N35^o 18.560’, W82^o 55.619’ (8) N35^o 18.515’, W82^o 55.594’ (9) N35^o 18.535’, W82^o 55.554’ (10) N35^o 18.530’, W82^o 55.527’ (11) N35^o 18.531’, W82^o 55.520’ (12) N35^o 18.407’, W82^o 55.503’ (13) N35^o 18.313’, W82^o 55.620’

Summit: N35^o 18.186’, W82^o 55.656’

Week 23 – Part 2 – Mount Pisgah (#48)

Mount Pisgah is only an hour away from where I live.  I decided to activate it while the weather was good.   It was 1 PM on March 19 as I hustled it up Interstate 26 to the Blue Ridge Parkway.   I sent out an alert just before leaving to drive out.  I scampered up the trail - averaging 25min/km which is a pretty good pace.   I was at the summit after 50 minutes and 2 km.   The last kilometer was pretty steep as it climbed 300m.   I quickly set up on the observation deck and no one was there for the longest time while I operated.  I swept through 20m, 30m and 60m skipping 40m as people were making their way to the summit observation deck.  It became obvious that my antenna setup was cramping their ability to view the scenery.  So I quickly broke down my setup and I quickly made my way down the mountain.  I was home well before dusk, still with enough energy to mow the grass.  Point status – 516 points

Week 23 – Perfect Day – Glassy Mtn (#44), Wildcat Mtn (#46), Brasstown Bald (#47) Triple

It was March 18 and a perfect ending to a picture perfect day – Dave KE4EA and I operated from Brasstown Bald W4G/NG-001 culminating a tripleheader activation .... with the temperatures in the high 40s and calm winds - it was cool enough to be nippy but very comfortable.   On Brasstown I had an S2S with Joel Shannon KC4WZB who was on Rabun Bald W4G/NG-002, and with KE5AKL who was on W5N/SE-050.   Earlier in the day while on Wildcat W4G/NG-020 I had an S2S with KW4JM Scott while he was on High Rock W4T/SU-024 and KX0R George who was on W0C/FR-061.   Earlier yet still I had an S2S with George KX0R on FR-061 while I was on Glassy Mtn W4G/NG-031.   As icing on the cake I had DX calls from Sweden SA4BLM and Australia VK4TJ. With the S2S chaser points I just need 4 points to become Shack Sloth at 996 and I reached the halfway mark towards Mountain Goat at 503. Dave KE4EA completed his first triple activation - hiking all three summits including Brasstown. We had all the usual chasers including the YL's K9IR Paula, AG6V Donna, and W0ERI Martha.

The day started very early at 7 AM.   Dave was a little late having missed his turn into my development.  It was a 2 hour ride into the North Georgia mountains via SC11 and we saw the temperatures climb slowly from the low thirties while enroute.   The road to Glassy Mtn on Glassy Mountain Road was a very narrow forest road with steep almost 90 degree embankments.  My 4WD truck negotiated the twisty turns slowly and carefully.  When we arrived at the trailhead, the map confused us as it indicated a second road on the right.   I thought it had to be the road with the gate as it was headed up and on the correct side of the ridgeline per the track left by KI4SVM and we confirmed we were correct as we hiked up the forest road to Glassy Mountain summit.

Soon we had to make our way to Wildcat Mountain.   This hike was to be on the Appalachian Trail starting at Hogpen Gap.   At Hogpen gap we encountered a group of sectional hikers completing a 22 mile sectional hike from Unicol Gap and a couple of thru hikers trying to make their way to Maine (the full 2188 mile trek).  The trail was steep in the early section rising close to 100m in the first half a kilometer and then flattening out and reaching a false summit with 400m to go.  It seemed visually far but soon we were on the summit proper.  Dave found his clearing and I staked out mine.  Dave and I split the bands – he was focused on 40m while I swept 20m 30m and 60m.  At the end of the day I had 503 activator points.  I was halfway to become a mountain goat with more than half of the year remaining – 29 weeks – or a 6 week time margin.