[PPRAANet] Trail Day Results

[W0rw at aol.com]

Great to work  N0LNW,  Ben, in Monument and N0ISV, Wayne, in COS from
Barr Camp line of sight on 20 meters. i was suprised to hear locals
on 20 meters.
i worked  W0LD/m on 146.52 with my handitalkie too...
 
This Trail Day adventure started by boarding the Manitou & Pike's Peak Cog 
Railway at Manitou Springs, Colorado. The 'Cog' is a train that can go up a very 
steep incline because it drives itself up on a third rail which has big teeth 
on it. 
You can see the Cog train route pictures at
http://www.cograilway.com/alongroute.htm.
(They were plowing 11 foot snow drifts off the track here on April 12th. You 
can see the snow plowing at 
http://www.cograilway.com/plowing%20snow%20page.htm.
They have to plow the tracks everyday during the spring to keep the snow out 
of the switches,etc.
There are exciting times on the rails too, one uphill train threw an old rag 
out on the tracks to warn the down hill train of a broken rail. Not too bad 
going up but you better take it slow going down hill. Of course they have 2 big 
springs at the bottom to stop runaway cars, 
Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs).
You can see a picture of me operating on top of Pike's Peak at 14,110 feet at 
http://www.qrz.com, & input 'w0rw'.

i rode the train up to the 'Mountain View' siding.
It only costs $10 for a one way ticket.
When you jump off the train in the middle of an extremely remote place like 
this, with your backpack on, you will see a lot of envious people on the train 
who wish they could be going along with you. i hiked across the face of Pike's 
Peak over to Barr Camp, i made several contacts on the trail before Field Day 
started. 
Barr Camp is a wilderness cabin midway on the Barr Trail which goes to the 
top of Pike's Peak. Barr Camp cooks up Breakfast and Dinners, sells candy and 
supplies, and has a bunk house for hikers.
It is like a mountain oasis, There are picnic tables and 
a bench swing that is set by the stream to comfort the tired hikers.
You can see Barr Camp on-line by going to http://www.barrcamp.com/.
When i arrived at Barr Camp every one came out to inspect
my Pedestrian Radio operation. i let them talk on the radio to several other 
hams.
i made several contacts from there using my Elecraft KX1.
The weather held and i was able to hike down the mountain without my rain 
gear. The 7 mile descent was pretty hard on my
feet. The 40 pound back pack got really heavy.
My PRC radio was 25 pounds, the KX1 was 1 pound.
It was a great field trip.

Paul w0rw/pm
Colorado Springs