Links!
For more information on the Pack Mule Award
For more information on 46Climbs
If you'd like to help me with my 46Climbs fundraising goal
The week starting Labor Day weekend is when the 46 Climbs National Event takes place. During this time people take to hiking trails and summits to raise funds for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I've been supporting this cause before I got into ham radio. Since then, I add it to my hikes for 46 Climbs.
This year I did things a little differently. Now that I've gotten into the PN&R Pack Mule challenge, I decided to see how many pack mule style POTA activations I could get during those seven days.
My goal was to get in 7 POTA activations that would qualify for a Pack Mule. One a day didn't sound that challenging at first. Until I factored end I didn't think of this until late in the evening of the first day of the event, and that I had a camping trip planned for the second weekend with non-ham, non-hiking friends at a private campground. That meant I had to take advantage of the long Labor Day weekend.
I started this challenge off on a fast pace with 5 activations over the 3 day weekend. It was a fun time. I hiked in some of my local POTA haunts. For a few of them, it was the first time I did a hike in style POTA in them. And that is part of the reason I'm really enjoying participating in this Pack Mule challenge. It gets me out enjoying and exploring some of the large parks in my area.
I have always tends to find different places to activate POTA from in these parks, which is easy to do due to their size. Some of the parks in my area all large state wildlife management areas that are tens of thousands of acres in size. All with many parking areas, off road trails, and logging roads to explore. But in some of these parks, I've never hike down the hunter's footpaths and cross country ski trails with a radio.
For three of the five POTA parks I did a Pack Mule activation in over the Labor Day weekend, it was the first time I carried a portable radio kit more than maybe 50 yards. This was really an enjoyable experience that I will definitely be doing more of.
With 5 activations in the bag after the first weekend, I was pretty confident that I could hit my goal, even knowing the last weekend would pretty much be a bust. But I didn't take it easy. I got in another Pack Mule after work the next 2 evenings to meet my goal of 7.
There is a trailhead for the Ice Age Trail US-4238 on my way home from work. This is becoming my "go to" spot for a Pack Mule. Nice hike that's just under a mile to a Leopold bench with a nice view of the St. Croix River Valley.
On Sunday September 13th, the last day for the event, I made it home earlier than I planned from my camping trip. So... you guessed it. I couldn't resist going out for one more POTA activation to finish off the weekend. I hiked one of my favorite loops to get the 8th Pack Mule.
Far as POTA is concerned, I made 10 activations during the week, but 2'fers don't count for the Pack Mule. Another aspect that makes the Pack Mule challenge, well, challenging. One POTA entity per activation.