Janelle and I headed up to Deaths Head for a 2 point SOTA summit with Angus the dog. Our original plan was to drive around and access the direct summer route that is shown on SOTA maps. But when we went to turned off to get to the south side access it was gated and locked. We re tracked our steps and parked on the north east side, following an old game trail to the summit. Or at least that was the plan, until I made navigation error which lead us west by about 2km and needing to back track through thick brush and nearly vertical terrain.

After some curse words, we made it up to the top and we where reward with some nice views of the rockies. I setup my HF station and started calling CQ,CQ,CQ. I noticed a ton of noise and bad signal reports from most of my contacts. Being late in the day on 20meters, and the current solar cycle might have played a role.

We found the proper path down which hooked back in with the up track, which I found out where I went the wrong way. For future reference I have added this track onto the SOTA maps website.

73. Until next time.