Rolling Rock Hike - Dec 2, 2000

Lost Creek Wilderness, Colorado
Near Bailey, Colorado
Dec 2, 2000

Today I took a short hike with my lovely wife Terry, and a friend Gail.    I took up the sw20 (2 watts out on 20 meters) and my 'mountain topper' antenna (my own creation consisting of a hustler vertical with a pvc mast and 3 radials, all set up to be carried as a walking stick when hiking).  Before I left I sent out an email on the QRPL list announcing that I would be operating from the Lost Creek Wilderness at about noon MST.

We hit the trail at about 11:00 AM.  The weather was perfect, sunny skies and temps near 50 degrees.  We hiked about an hour and a half to a site that  I had previously camped at.  At that point I stopped and set up the radio gear while Terry and Gail continued on, planning on returning via the same route and picking me up on the way back.  I made three contacts today: WA9YDJ ( Vance in Illinois), VE3ELA (Ken in Ontario) and NF0R (Dave in Missouri).  I was amazed that all three had seen my email on the QRPL list and had taken a little time to listen for me.  That was much appreciated.  

Towards the end of my qso with Dave another pair of hikers appeared.  Since I was operating CW at the time the best I could do was a quick HI between words.  They would of thought me an extremely rude fellow except Terry and Gail returned at the moment and explained that I was handicapped by not being able to do two things at once.  After a short hike back to the van, we enjoyed a quick 'relaxer' and headed out.