Ed, WA3WSJ & Ron, WB3AAL
May 17 & 18, 2002 AT Trip. (2nd Leg)
Pictures Below
Ron's story
Ed and I started hiking our
second leg of the Appalachian Trail in PA around 15:00 UTC on Friday. It was a
bright sunny day with wind gust around 15 mph. Before we knew it, we were on top
of the mountain. This was about a 450 foot climb up a switch back trail. We
really surprised our selves on the time it took us going up the mountain. We did
take a few short breaks due to this being our first real hike of the year. Ed
was carrying a 45 lb pack and I was carrying a 60 lb pack. I was carrying a lot
of water on this trip because we were not too sure on the condition of the
springs due to the drought in the Eastern part of the country.
By 18:15 UTC we arrived at the Leroy Smith Shelter, this was a 5 mile hike
from Wind Gap, PA. Just to refresh everyone the Appalachian Trail is very rocky,
better know as Rocksylvania. So we covered the 5 miles in 3 hours and 15
minutes, with several breaks to take in the sights at the different look outs.
(Pictures below)
Leroy A. Smith Shelter, PA
Coordinates
40° 50' 22" N
75° 21' 34" W
After a short rest and having
something for lunch, we started to make camp. The skies were becoming dark so we
decided to hang our antennas. The weather reports were predicting rain during
the evening and into Saturday morning. The temperatures were to be in the mid
40's. Well they had half of that report correct. It started to drizzle around
20:30 UTC and I made my first QSO around 21:00 UTC. Friday night I worked
several stations on 40 and 20 meters with my K1 at 3 watts and a 66 foot doublet
strung out as a dipole. I was using a 5 aHour battery that was charged by solar
power. I was charging my battery as we were hike to our first stop. I was using
the Paddlette miniature paddle key, model PK-1. I worked GM3SKN from Shetland Island which is in the
North Atlantic on 20 meters. I made a total of 5 QSO's from the trail before the
rain and being exhausted took over that night. Ed made a few contacts on 40
meters before it started to rain, then he had antenna problems. He was using his
K1 at 3 watts and a 66 foot doublet in an inverted vee configuration. We had our
antennas pointed in the NW to SE direction. The center of our antennas were
about 20 to 25 feet off the ground.
It rained very hard through out the night. I had my tent inside the
shelter and I still got wet from the heavy down pours. Then the temperature
started to drop into 38's ( 3 C ) area. I like sleeping in the cooler
temperatures, so I did not bring my sleeping bag. I was going to be in a tent
under a shelter and I had my fleece blanket, pull over and hat. Well my toes
were cold but I was generally warm. Ed was using a 20' F ( -7 C ) sleeping bag
inside his tent hammock. Ed also was cold and said he could not understand it. I
figured it was the combination of rain, wind and cool temperatures.
Well I made a total of 6 more
QSO's on 40 meters before we made our decision to pack up and hike out the
distance of 10 miles to Little Gap, PA. With the weather turning colder we
decided not to stay over night and hike the last 5 miles into Lehigh Gap,
PA. We
learned along the way from other hikers that the last 5 miles into the Lehigh
Gap was very brutal due to the hard cold winds. We also learned that the weather
is going to be much colder on Saturday night. Several hikers suggested that we
do not try that section that day. So we did decide to abandon the last
five miles into Lehigh Gap, PA and stop at the Little Gap pass. We hiked into
the town of Danielsville, PA. This was about another 1.7 miles down the road to
a little restaurant. I waited outside while Ed went in to see if we can get a
ride over to Lehigh Gap. After about 10 minutes, Ed came out with our ride to
the car.
We plan on hiking the five miles from Little Gap to Lehigh Gap in the next few weeks. But
we do not intend to take any thing except water on the trip. I lie, I will
probably bring along the K1 also to make a few QSO's. If you saw what we
had to climb down into the Little Gap, boulders and rocks were larger than a person and some of
the rocks shifted when you stand on them. We know that the Lehigh Gap decent is
going to be 100% harder, especially with heavy back packs. Check out the drop on
the Lehigh Gap on the map.
Thanks to all the stations that made a QSO with us while we were out on the trail. Sorry we were not on the air longer but we still have about 190 miles to go in PA. I did hear on the news that there was some snow fall on Saturday night in the area that we were hiking.
Lookout Rock views north over Saylorsburg, PA with Poconos in the distance.
Hahn's Lookout sign. Looking south into Wind Gap, PA village.
Underground pipeline looking north.
Ed enjoying the view at the pipeline.
Transmission Lines looking north. #1
Transmission Lines looking north. #2
Transmission Lines looking north. #3
This is the best part of the trail in this area. Just south of the power lines.
Leroy A. Smith shelter. Check out Ed's hammock tent.
Since it was very wet on Saturday, I did not take too many pictures.
Little Gap at the top looking north. #1
Little Gap looking west towards Lehigh Gap. #3
Hope to work you on our third leg of hiking.
Happy Trails 72 Ron de WB3AAL
Ed's story
Pennsylvania AT Hike and QRP Radio: Report #2
Last year Ron, WB3AAL, and myself cooked up an idea of hiking across the State of Pennsylvania with our radios. After some discussion about the hike, Len, N2BSC, Ron,WB3AAL and myself decided to give it a try. So last May the three of us started our hike across PA at the NJ border. We started at the Delaware Water Gap and hiked to Wind Gap, PA. This fifteen-mile section took us a weekend to hike. Don’t forget we’re not kids anymore! As we approached the summit of Mini Mountain, the views of the Delaware River were just breathtaking. After hiking six miles, we spent Saturday night at the Kirkridge Shelter and had fun playing radio that evening. Did I mention that all of us operate QRP on our hikes? Ron slept in a two-man tent. Len slept in a one-man bevy and I slept in my Jungle Hammock. As we set up our camp at the shelter, a Boy Scout troop came in and took control of the shelter with about twenty kids. We didn’t care because all of us were already setup for the evening outside the shelter.
About 6am Sunday morning Ron was up and by 7am Len and myself were ready for breakfast. Each of us made our own breakfast and where packed by 10am and off for a long Sunday hike of about ten miles. The hike on Sunday was long with few lookouts. This hike started at the shelter and would end at Wind Gap, PA. By about 3pm on Sunday we arrived at Wind Gap tired and ready for a shower.
It’s the Dayton Weekend of May 2002 and we are again ready to hike the next section of the Appalachian Trail in PA. This hike will start at Wind Gap, PA. and end at Lehigh Gap, PA which means it will be a twenty-mile hike. Len has decided to stay home for this section. After looking at the maps, we both realize that this section will be a very tough hike because of the limited water supply in the area. My pack weights forty-five pounds and Ron’s pack weights in at sixty pounds! Sixty pounds is to heavy for me, but Ron, the mule, doesn’t seem to mine the weight. We plan to start the hike on Friday and hike five miles to the Leroy Smith Shelter. Remember the first day you usually have to climb up to the ridge. This takes a bunch of energy out of you.
After leaving one car at the Lehigh Gap, we start the hiking out of Wind Gap at 11:30am. After a rather quick climb up a switch back, we reach the top of the ridge and take a break. Once on the ridge, we hike the Appalachian Trail at about a two-mile per hour rate. The views are great and the weather is sunny and warm. What a great day for a hike! After five miles of hiking, we reach the Leroy Smith Shelter at about 2:15pm. It’s a great looking shelter and there’s a water spring about 200 feet down a blue blaze trail from the shelter. We decide to eat lunch before setting up camp. Lunch is beef jerky, stick cheese and water. After lunch I decide to gather all the empty water bottles and hike down to the water spring. As I approach the spring, I hear a large noise in the bush. I stop to look and it turns out that I’m sharing the spring with a black bear! He heard me coming down and started to walk out of the spring when I saw him.
With water and food in hand, we set up camp at the shelter. The weather forecast is calling for rain Friday evening into Saturday morning. Ron decides to put his tent under the shelter roof and I place my hammock under the roof too. That afternoon both Ron and myself set up our antennas. Ron jumps on 20M and I operate on 40M. We both use our Elecraft K1s. Ron works some DX and western stations and I work VE3MFJ using my K1 at three watts into a 40M dipole with a 2.9ah battery. When you operate from the AT, you don’t need to hang your antenna high in the trees. We usually only elevate our antennas at about the twenty foot level. We also use fifty-pound fishing line to hang the antennas. This saves on the weight big time! It’s now dinnertime so we both break out the MREs and enjoy dinner together. I decide to start a fire, but just as the fire starts it begins to rain. The rain started out light, but after a half hour or so the sky opened up on us. We had torrential rain until 10am Saturday. We had so much rain that the shelter roof leaked and Ron’s tent was somewhat wet! Ron discovered this Saturday morning. He couldn’t figure out why he was cold Friday night. Turns out that Ron didn’t bother to put on the tent’s rain fly because he was under a roof-hi! The rain wouldn’t have been that bad, but the temperature plummeted into the mid thirties Friday evening and it was very cold up there.
We awoke damp and cold Saturday morning at about 6am. The temperature was in the thirties with rain and a stiff wind blowing on us. We both made breakfast and prepared a hot drink. My hot tea helped warm me somewhat, but it was still cold and damp on top of that mountain. We both decided that we didn’t want to spend another night in the freezing cold. So we decided to hike straight through to the Lehigh Gap. This would be a fifteen-mile hike through rough country. I knew it would be a very tough hike so we started out when the rain broke at 10am.
The first two miles or so went fast. Our pace was about 2.5 miles per hour and it was very cold, windy and damp. The next five miles went slower because our pace dropped down to about two-miles per hour. By now both Ron and myself were tried and had wind burn on our faces. As we hiked, we meet other hikers that came up the Lehigh Gap. All said not to go down at Lehigh Gap. They said it was cold, wet and windy there so Ron and myself agreed to go down at Little Gap. We didn’t want to risk injury going down at Lehigh Gap. We feared the slippery rocks and the wind! This would cut our hike down to ten miles, but our car would be five miles away at Lehigh Gap.
As we approached Little Gap the views were fantastic, but I was too tired to appreciate them. We now where set to descend down the mountain at Little Gap. Looking at the trail map, we decided to hike into the town of Danielsville and find a ride to our car at Lehigh Gap. This meant that we would hike an additional 1.5 miles, but the alternative was to hike back to the car. The hike down at Little Gap was grueling to say the least. It was very steep and had huge rocks all the way down the mountain. The rocks wouldn’t have been a problem, but I was tried and the rocks moved as you walked on them! The one positive thing here was that we had trees to break the wind.
We reached Danielsville about 4pm on Saturday physically beat. I went into an ice cream store to find a ride back to our car as Ron rested on a bench. After talking to two women about our experience, one agreed to give us a ride to the car. I think they felt sorry for us. The ride back to our car was short, but the soft warm seats felt great! After the ride back to our car, we loaded up our gear and headed back to my truck at Wind Gap. A quick stop at McDonalds and we were on our way home.
Even with the bad weather, we enjoyed the beautiful views on this section of the Pennsylvania AT. Here are a few items to think about while hiking. We didn’t think that the temperature would drop so low, but we had an escape route to get out. Always have an alternate route to get out should the weather turn on you. We always made sure we had a good water supply before starting out on the hike. We also had a good trail map with us and knew how to read it. Both of us always knew where the other person was located and we both carried whistles if we needed them on the trail. Don’t mistake the white PA Gameland markers for AT markers. I really don’t understand why Pennsylvania marks it’s land with white markers similar to AT markers? Just remember that an AT marker is always 6”x2”. The PA markers are larger and not as defined as an AT marker. This was the second hike for Ron and myself. We started at the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border and plan to hike with our QRP radios across the State of Pennsylvania. So keep an ear out for us on the AT in PA. Your QSOs mean a lot to us when we’re up in the mountains and we hope to have many more as we hike across Pennsylvania. Hope to hear you from the Appalachian Trail.
72 Ed de WA3WSJ
