Sunday Erin, Oscar and I headed up the Poudre River Canyon to hike Greyrock Mountain, which might be the most popular trail in the area, or at least second to Horsetooth Mountain.  We hit the trail head at 8am to beat the hordes of hikers, and had the trail to ourselves all the way to the summit.

I’ve been working with Ron WT5RZ and CW Academy since the beginning of January, and this was my first SOTA activation using CW.  I had alerted the night before, and after my 3rd CQ, I was immediately inundated with a huge pileup, that sounded like an arcade game!  I had no idea what was being sent, and had to wait until the end of the pileup and grasp for a couple of letters.  Fortunately, I know many of the callsigns from SSB activations, and was usually able to pick a callsign out.

After 11 CW stations worked, my mind was getting frazzled and I wasn’t able to take any more of it.  Sorry to all the chasers who I didn’t work.  I could still hear some waiting for me, but I just couldn’t do any more.  Erin and Oscar were patiently waiting for me so we could start our decent.  Hopefully after a little more practice I will not need to leave anyone hanging like that.

This is a great hike, app. 5 miles RT, and offers some great views of the Front Range.  I highly recommend it if you haven’t done it yet!

Additional photos from the hike can be found here.