I stopped by Michaux State Forest on my way to Elizabethtown, PA to activate this SOTA peak. My last trip to Michaux SF had been a winter hike on the Appalachian Trail to activate W3/PD-007 Snowy Mountain at 2090 feet. This companion peak at 2110 feet is just a bit taller, part of the north half of the forest. These two are the most-activated peaks in the Pennsylvania Dutch region, and I had chased this one one three occasions! Activating it would add another complete to my “collection”.
This is a drive-on and the Appalachian Trail goes through the activation zone. I drove along Ridge Road, turned onto Middle Ridge Road and parked where AC3B recommends, on a small grass patch large enough for one car. Here, a trail called Dug Hill Trail starts. As far as I can tell, it’s a short connector/mountain bike trail that gets little use. Critically, it passes right through the AT. I walked down this trail, admiring the little mountain laurel buds starting to bloom, until I got within 100 feet of the AT so I could activate it for POTA as well.
I set up my wire along the trail and got calling. Conditions were more settled after yesterday’s minor geomagnetic storm. I managed to get a couple S2S, WW7D on W7W/SNM-163 and AC7MA on W7W/CW-061. The Pittsburgh area SOTA afficionados tried to connect on 40m, but had trouble hearing me. I tuned my KX2 to 60m and managed to work Dan NM3A with a very strong signal, both of us using ~9W. He was using a 160m Carolina Windom antenna while my KX2 tuner got my end-fed 40m inverted vee to 2:1 SWR. I also was able to hear N2GBR, but he could not hear me. This has got me thinking about how to better weave 60m into my standard operating procedure now that the best days of Cycle 25 are behind us and it’s a long decline ahead.
This makes 39 completes! I have my eyes on Cornell Lookout near Lancaster for my 40th complete tomorrow, but it’s looking like a wet morning. I think I’ll stick it out — it’s not often that I find myself in eastern PA!
- Trailhead: 39.97456, -77.46599 : Dug Hill Trail
- Maps: [AA3TZ SOTA] [Michaux State Forest Map]
- Route: Drive-on. I hiked along Dug Hill Trail for just over 100m to get within 100 feet of the Appalachian Trail.
- POTA: US-4556 Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail; US-5471 Michaux State Forest
Tom Zajdel 