Tag: ice age trail

W9/WI-037 Gibraltar Rock

This was the last summit I hit on my WI trip, and it was the most interesting one by far. The dramatic cliffs of Gibraltar Rock are truly spectacular! I walked along the Ice Age Trail from the north parking lot and followed it until I got to the cliffs, about 0.8 miles over the pine-needle covered trail.

The haze from the Canadian wildfires added some dramatic color to the morning light hitting the rocks. After taking in the sights, I set up my wire back from the trail near the paved “Old Road Path.” Here I was out of the way from the heavy Monday-morning foot traffic on the main trail. The end-fed inverted vee is absolutely crushing it!

I got 27 contacts, with two S2S: AC1Z on W1/AM-217 (20m) and N4TU on W8M/LP-032 (40m). My single contact on 15m was with F4WBN. This was my first 15m contact on the MTR3Bv4.

  • Trailhead: 43.34858, -89.60023 : Gibraltar Rock County Park
  • Map:  [AA3TZ SOTA] [Gibraltar Rock State Natural Area Map]
  • Route: 1.4 mile loop on Ice Age Trail/Old Road Path
  • POTA: US-4238 Ice Age National Scenic Trail; US-8363 Gibraltar Rock State Natural Area

W9/WI-013 Sauk Point

I drove here early in the morning on my way to Milwaukee to get a SOTA complete. Rather than drive to Sauk Point itself for a roadside activation, I hiked into the activation zone in Devil’s Lake State Park. I parked at the end of Solum Lane and followed a 0.25-mi spur of the Ice Age Trail until I reached the Sauk Point Trail. This intersection is within the activation zone, though CalTopo’s maps (both OpenStreetMap and MapBuilderTopo) incorrectly chart the trail as going northeast when the actual path is nearly due north from the parking area. The trail may have been rerouted at some point.

I strung my 40m EFHW up along the Sauk Point Trail, called CQ on 40m, and got 34 contacts in just a half hour on 40m alone, and had to pack up to move on to the next activation. I am really liking this inverted vee configuration for the end fed wire antenna, and I believe that it is excelling! The MTR3Bv4 is such a delight, too!

  • Trailhead: 43.42023, -89.66053 : Sauk Point Trail Parking Lot at end of Solum Lane.
  • Map:  [AA3TZ SOTA] [Devil’s Lake State Park Map]
  • Route: 0.5 mile RT hike on spur from Solum Lane parking lot to Sauk Point Trail
  • POTA: US-1449 Devil’s Lake State Park; US-4238 Ice Age National Scenic Trail