By Teri KO4WFP
In my final article, I activated Hanging Rock Battleground State Historic Web site after which Glenn and I spent the night at an Airbnb in Camden, South Carolina. Monday, October 14th was the final day of our journey. There was no approach this POTA Babe was lacking out on an activation on the journey residence.
Sunday night, after the Hanging Rock activation, I looked for a close-by park on the POTA web site and settled on Wateree River Heritage Protect Wildlife Administration Space (WMA) (US-10414) because it seemed attention-grabbing and was on the drive residence. Nonetheless, I didn’t take note of the actual fact a lottery deer hunt could be held on Monday and the park closed to anybody not concerned within the hunt. I found this incontrovertible fact that morning upon arriving on the website. It was time for a Plan B ASAP.
Trying on the POTA web site, each Congaree Nationwide Park (US-0017) and Congaree Bluffs Heritage Protect WMA (US-3916) have been close by. I recall studying that a few of the boardwalks/trails within the nationwide park have been impacted from Hurricane Helene. So I opted to go to Congaree Bluffs as a substitute.
Congaree Bluffs Heritage Protect is owned by the State of South Carolina. The property was bought in 2001 with the specific function of defending the bluffs and flood plain on the south aspect of the Congaree River. The excessive bluffs on this space usually are not frequent as a result of central South Carolina is generally flat. The 201 acres of the park include important stands of American beech, oak-hickory, and bottomland hardwood forest. There have been additionally stands of loblolly pines on the time of buy that administration deliberate to transform to longleaf pine stands over time.
The highway into Congaree Bluffs is grime however seems properly maintained. There’s a kiosk and signage simply as you enter the park.
We drove to the car parking zone simply down the highway from the training middle. I didn’t have a lot familiarity with this park because it was a final minute alternative. A hasty look at mountain climbing websites confirmed the Bluff-River Stroll that left from this car parking zone right down to the Congaree River. How troublesome may that be?
Glenn and I walked across the path gate and commenced our descent. The very first thing we observed was what number of bushes have been down throughout the path in addition to vines and different foliage making passage troublesome. As we continued our descent, we started to note the mosquitos. I used to be sporting lengthy sleeves and pants and had introduced bug spray however these mosquitos weren’t simply deterred. By the point we reached the river, it was apparent we’d be nothing however blood donors there and an activation wanted to occur elsewhere.
Arriving again on the automobile, I opted to activate within the car parking zone. A stand of pines close by supplied shade (although I augmented that with my Mountain Laurel Designs tarp) and a reasonably regular breeze saved the bugs at bay.
As each Glenn and I had CW Improvements lessons to teach later that night, I didn’t have a lot time for an activation. I opted for the Chelegance MC-750 and, as soon as it was arrange, hopped onto 20 meters figuring that band would give me the perfect probability at a profitable activation in a brief time frame. It did! I had 23 QSOs with two park-to-park QSOs in half-hour. (Observe: One park-to-park didn’t rely after the actual fact as I entered it incorrectly in my log.)
The one fly within the ointment for my time on 20 meters was the QSB and noise which elevated later within the activation. Normally I encounter noise on 40 meters, not 20, however the KX2 filters have been an enormous assist in countering that difficulty. (I like that little rig!) As for the QSB, properly, the perfect counter for that’s loads of time on the air to achieve expertise in coping with it.
Should you’d prefer to see footage of the park in addition to get Glenn’s and my take as as to if or not we’d return to Congaree Bluffs Heritage Protect, try the video on my Youtube channel.
This activation locations me at 44 activations towards my aim of 60 new, legitimate park activations for 2024. I’m unsure I’ll be capable of full this aim; nevertheless, I’ll see how far I can get. The place will I present up for park #45? Keep tuned…
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