A Mountain, a Grandson and a Radio

Last year I promised Ben my son Geoff’s second boy, Ben, that I would take him on a mountain hike. Well, the day finally had arrived. Ben was dropped off the night before for a stay over and come Saturday morning we were all up earlier than normal for our day on the mountain. We left my house at 8am, the navcom was saying it would be one hour and one minute to the Cypress Mountain Parking lot. Traffic was light and we would have no delays. We prepared our meals, loaded up our backpacks and piled into the car. With time being good we took a short break to get a coffee along the way.

Traffic was indeed light and even with the stop we were parked by 9:10 am. After donning our gear, we set off up the powerline road to the start of the actual trail. Ben seemed to be enjoying the walk so far, finding the outdoors quite interesting and the ever-improving views quite pleasant. We stopped by one of the ponds alongside the road and grabbed a few photos before continuing to the trailhead. Once on the trail we made fast time along it to the Baden-Powel branch. While walking I had Ben stop and just listen to the sounds for a few minutes and see what he could hear. It was so different from back at home. He picked out a few that stood out.

We continued along the trail and at the hour mark we stopped for some snacks.  Shortly after restarting our walk the first of other hikers made it past us. There had been a couple of groups coming down but this was the first to pass us going up. The trail was much quieter than normal. There was one group with a small dog that I thought was a bit hard for the dog but it seemed to be pulling the owners along so I guess it was doing fine. When we reached the group of ponds near the summit we saw a few groups of hikers but generally it was a quiet climb.

We made good time the rest of the hike, the one steep section where one hugs the cliff face has had a sturdy chain added for holding while one makes their way across, the ground was also disturbed so it looks like they may be building a formed path there. As the two-hour mark approached, we emerged on the summit. A decent time for me and we were both quite relieved to get there. Ben wandered over to the rocky true summit area where I took his photo. It was only around 11:20 am and much earlier than I had expected to be on the summit. So rather than set up my radio and immediately start calling, we took a few minutes to eat some lunch.

Done with part of my meal, I began to set up my 2m yagi. I used the double pole approach again to gain a bit more height. The stiff ties work quite well in binding the two poles together. I then dialled in the calling frequency and found a chap in his vehicle on a summit west of Seattle. He was there servicing the area but takes time to make contacts. He was making quite a few. Though I could hear him reasonably well, his signal was not moving the meter on my radio and when I tried calling him, he didn’t respond.

After waiting a few minutes for him to be done, I put out my own calls. I was quickly responded to by another activator and we had a summit-to-summit in the log. The frequency was actually quite crowded with a few other activators and this chap on a hill in his truck. I moved to a second frequency for a while but it didn’t bring any new contacts. Back to the main call-in frequency and I worked a few more, turning my beam seemed to reduce interference from the Seattle station. I had responses from a few locals and regulars. Then I heard Gabor over on the island also on a summit. It had been a long hike for him. I only needed a couple more to have enough for parks on the air so I let him make a few calls which I then also worked when possible. I had eleven in my log by now which was enough for both programs so rather than tie up the frequency I shut down and packed up my station. I had originally wanted to get a good number of contacts up there but the frequency was just too busy.

After packing up we went for a short stroll across the summit area where I pointed out a few things of interest to Ben. We were now fed and well rested so we set out for the car. With a couple of short breaks along the way we made good time back to the car. Arriving after around an hour forty of hiking. It felt good sitting in the cool car and getting a breath. The navcom said I would be an hour ten getting home, the traffic remained good going our direction though the other was quite backed up in places. We beat the expected time home and then we were finally able to relax. My son and family arrived just after us and then they all including Ben went for a swim in the pool. It was a very pleasant hike; the day was ideal – warm and partly cloudy. Ben seemed to enjoy his hike and to be on top of a mountain.