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| Rain, Sprain & Telegraphic Rescue |
June
2-4, 2006 |
Along New Jersey's Appalachian
Trail
Lluvia.......regen....... .......pluie
They all say "Rain". By the time
the rain ended, I had more adjectives to describe my feelings
for it than Noah had animals - none of those adjectives being
printable here. By the time we'd pitched our tents Friday night,
I half expected to see Noah sailing down the trail in his Ark
with two of everything, including (hopefully) dry socks for
Ed WA3WSJ. This hike had originally been scheduled for last
month but was cancelled due to a rainy forecast. That weekend
turned out to be clear & sunny. So much for weathermen.
Guy N7UN, Ed WA3WSJ and myself left the trailhead
at 11:30 Friday morning under partly cloudy skies, feeling great
and heading north to High Point in northwestern New Jersey.
Guy & Ed were armed with a pair of K1's and I had my KX1
in a 30-lb backpack containing tent, sleeping bag, stove, water
and 3 days' worth of food. The trail in NJ is rocky - if I had
a penny for every rock I almost tripped over I could buy every
QRPer reading this (ie, both of you!) their rig of choice.
Four hours into the hike, the first drops were
felt on my increasingly-exposed-as-the-years-go-by scalp. The
sky to the west was dark & heading our way, so out came
the ponchos. Within 45 minutes the drizzle had become a steady
rain that didn't stop until early Sunday morning - but some
of us hikers didn't last that long.......
Breneiserium Theorem
A known fact among experienced hikers states
that flat rocks become slippery when wet and, further, that
their slippage factor increases exponentially as their angle
from level ground increases. Ed and I repeatedly proved this
theorem correct. In fact, Ed now has a PhD in Rock Slippage
Analysis. Somewhere near the 10-mile point of our eleven mile
hike for the day, I inadvertently challenged this analysis with
my right knee, the result being that while I could hike pain-free
on level ground and uphill - going downhill was a study in Pain
101. By the time we reached our first campsite at Brinks Shelter
I was considering asking Guy and Ed if they could amputate my
leg just above the knee to relieve me of the pain.
Instead, we put up tents & antennas and
cooked dinner. It was still raining, so we cooked and ate in
the shelter but chose not to sleep there in order to have protection
from the mosquitos. After dinner, we said goodnight and each
of us went to our tents for a rainy night of well-earned sleep.
I hooked up my rig, batteries, etc and heard John K3WWP calling
CQ on 30 meters. I called him and we chatted for a while as
the rain pounded the roof of my tent. After working a few other
stations on 30m I decided to get some sleep, but my knee kept
telling me that my chances of being able to hike tomorrow were
somewhere between none and zero. After admitting this to myself,
I turned on the KX1 one more time.
K0RU - CW Operator and Good Samaritan Extraordinaire
Three miles from our campsite, the Appalachian
Trail crosses Route 206 near Branchville, NJ. This is a wide
spot in the road with a bakery, a tavern and a gas station.
Not much else - no taxis, buses or any other means of escape
for those with injured knee and no car. But this had to be my
exit point from the hike somehow. Ed had a cell phone but we
were well beyond coverage (in fact we wouldn't have cellular
service until we were actually on the pavement of the road).
I knew my wife had to work the next day and that she doesn't
keep her cell phone with her at work & I don't have her
work number memorized, so calling her from the road the next
morning wasn't currently possible.
So I tuned 30 meters, looking for a strong
station whose CW seemed to be conversational at a good clip
in order to accurately copy what I was about to ask him to do.
I was lucky in finding Rob K0RU who was working one DX station
after another. After he finished with a Cyprus station, I called,
knowing he wanted to keep chasing DX. I explained the situation
to him about the hike and my knee and asked if he could call
my wife and let her know that I would need her to pick me up
the next day and to keep her cell phone handy so that I could
call her with directions. Rob instantly went from the DX mode
to the Ham Samaritan mode and became everything that makes all
of us proud to be involved in this hobby. I am now at home,
safe and sound thanks to Rob, my wife and the Morse Code.
Rob copied my wife's name and number and gave
her a call, explaining what was happening and telling her that
I'd call her tomorrow when I reached the highway. He made the
call in real-time, relaying questions from my wife to me and
then my answers and requests back to my wife. She later told
me that she could hear the dots and dashes in the background
over the phone as Rob communicated with me in my tent. It was
a dual-mode phone patch, half voice and half Morse! As Rob tapped
out to me "she is very concerned, are u able to walk?"
I would answer and ask him to tell her not to worry and, as
Mayra later told me, Rob said that I was okay, just not able
to continue the hike.
Guy, Ed and I made it to the highway around
12:30 the next afternoon. I called Mayra and she knew immediately
why I was calling and dropped everything to come get us once
I told her exactly where we were. She arrived with Advil and
ice - I picked a winner with her! By now, Ed had developed a
limp and was also unable to finish the hike so we drove him
to his truck at the destination trailhead, then Mayra drove
me to Guy's house where I'd left my truck. We followed each
other home while Guy continued on the trail to High Point.
When Mayra and I got home, she told me that
Rob had been extremely courteous, helpful and professional on
the phone and that she was glad it was someone like him who
made the call. Thanks again Rob, from both of us.
Back to High Point - The Easy Way
Since there was no longer a vehicle waiting
at High Point to shuttle back with, I had told Guy I'd be there
at his expected arrival time on Sunday. I got there a couple
hours early to set up the KX1 and do a little operating while
I waited, now that the rain had finally stopped. I had the pleasure
of working Jim W1PID on 40m and then Pierre VE2PID on 30m! I
wonder if these two have ever worked each other? I also worked
Ed AE6TY way out in Californy. Then I turned on my HTX100 to
see if I could hear my own 10m beacon from 70 miles away. I
heard it and a lot of other beacons on 10 meters - the band
was wide open and I was at the highest point in the state. So
I worked a number of stations on 10m with a rig whose receiver
has been silent for months.
Guy arrived right on time, along with Glen
NK1N who had hiked south from High Point to Guy's final campsite
and then back out with Guy Sunday morning. We met and exchanged
"war stories" about the trail, weather, etc. Then
I drove Guy back to his house, talking about DX and future hiking
plans along the way. While the weekend didn't go as planned
& the weather was consistently rainy, ham radio shined with
a good Samaritan on the air and good company on the Trail.
Let's all do it again sometime. But differently
Guy
N7UN's Website | Ed
WA3WSJ's Website
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