W5N/SS-024: The Kindness of Others

Recently, my youngest son gave us an opportunity for an unexpected short vacation. We elected to head for Taos, New Mexico, our favorite 'local' destination.

Elizabeth and I decided that Saturday would be shopping for her and SOTA for me. Most of the peaks in the Taos area appeared to be 10-pointers. As I am accustomed to an altitude of about a thousand feet, I needed some advice.

I asked on the NASOTA reflector and got helpful responses from WA9STI, NU6T, KT5X and KD5KC. Fred and Scott recommended Sierra de Don Fernando, a 10-pointer that had an approach suitable for raw beginners and was a relatively short drive from Taos.

I began researching and packing up my K1-based QRP station. Here's most of what I took:

Yes, that's a big battery. This was a hurry-up vacation opportunity – and the quickly purchased Walmart back pack confirms me as a complete novice.

Friday, on the way to Taos, we had a chance to identify the turn-off from NM64 and took the opportunity to scout out forest road FR-437. Here is the key turn to FR-437 from 'County Road':

and this is the start:

Saturday, I made several mistakes while looking for the start of the summit trail off FR-437. I lost a lot of time until I spotted two mountain bikers and asked them about summit access. They were encouraging but did not know a path to the top. I then realized two things: the abandoned road I wanted (FR-445) was unmarked (as near as I can tell) and I had driven past the cattleguard marking the start. I turned around and found the unmarked road just as Fred describes in his notes on W5N/SS-024. Oh well.

Backpack on and hydrated, off I went.

I did well for the first mile or so. Then I could not pick out the landmarks Fred noted and was not finding a route to the summit. I was headed back to where I thought I had turned wrong when a hiker (and his dog, Ruth) caught up with me. I asked, and he kindly said “Follow me” and led me back to an area where he pointed to a vague set of ruts that led downhill to the north. He said, “You'll hit an abandoned road in just a few minutes. I remember the path to the summit to be marked and about a quarter-mile to the west.” Then he and Ruth continued on. Sadly, I never got his name.

I followed his instructions (and realized that the 'abandoned road' he mentioned was most likely the unmarked FR-445). After a quarter-mile of so, I found this:

The sticker on the fencepost says something like 'Road Closed – Do Not Enter', so of course I had to give it a try. In just a few yards, it was apparent that I was on the right path. After stops to catch my breath, I was on the edge of the mountain meadow mentioned by Fred. Here is the path leading out of the trees to the clearing (looking back the way I came):

And, in the opposite direction, here is the summit area. The high-point is near the center of the photo:

Here's a link to the best on-line map I could come up with that shows my approximate route. The turn off the abandoned FR-445 is marked “003”:

Sierra de Don Fernando Peak

I picked a couple of likely aspens that were near some shade and with a lucky rock I had one end of the 20M dipole up. The lucky rock then lost all its power and it took 6 tries to get the south end of the dipole to a nice height.

After just two “CQ SOTA”s, I got a call from K6EL at 1926 (2014-07-19) and I was off and running. Signals were strong and the noise I experience at home was completely absent. Wow.

I got past the fourth QSO and a minor pile-up appeared. I was really having fun when I heard a rumble.

I looked up from the rig and thunderstorms were surprisingly close. Thunder boomed again – and I decided that the top of a mountain with just a few trees is not exactly a safe place to be in an electrical storm. My last QSO was with ND0C at 1943. I packed up quickly and was off the summit in about 15 minutes. Here is were I set up the station:

Back in the auto and on the way down FR-437, I ran into the mountain biking couple and they asked how it went. I suppose it was pretty obvious from the grin on my face...

I had a great first experience at being an activator. I realize that some have done this many hundreds of times, but this was my first – and it will be one of my treasured Amateur Radio memories.

My thanks to the amateurs mentioned above, to the two mountain bikers, and to Ruth and the unnamed gentleman who saved the day.

cln – Nick

WB5BKL