WA3WSJ: Polar Bear # 2 Story Part 1

[WA3WSJ]

I arrived at Camp-Run-A-MOC in the Delaware Water Gap, NJ around 11am on
Friday morning. The weather was fog, fog and more fog. Little did I know
what was to come! After unpacking the truck, I setup an AT Dipole on the
west side of the cabin. It was up around 10 feet. This was due to tree
branches and etc in the way of a clear path. On the east side I setup my
DK9SQ Pole Vertical. After running the 300 ohm twin-lead into the den
for the dipole and the coax for the vertical, it was time to setup the
stations. The dipole was attached to the K2 and the vertical attached to
a Kenwood TS-570D. The K2 was in the Kitchen and the 570D in a bunk
room. Both seemed to work well. Ed, K3YTR, arrived next and setup a 2m
and 6m station on the kitchen table. We used 2m for mountain to den
coms. Later the other bears arrived at camp.

Friday night I cooked up some cheese burgers and we had chips etc. The
bears played around with the radios and later we hit the sack.  Saturday
morning I cooked up egg omelets and beacon with toast. We had coffee,
milk and OJ to drink. After filling our bear bellies, we packed for the
hike up the mountain to Catfish Fire Tower. I must have given Glen, NK1N
a funny look, as he said your face says it all! I must admit that the
sight of his attire made me think that, " a gentleman's stroll in the
park" was about to happen! Little did we know what lied in store for us.
The hike up to the fire tower was quick and short about 1.8 miles or so,
but did have a steep grade as you reached the ridge on the AT. Glen,
NK1N, YOU DID GOOD! John, NU3E was hiking with me and Guy later joined
Glen on the hike up. The pack of bears all reached the summit together
in one piece in the rain and fog!

Guy, N7UN, and Glen, NK1N quickly setup their tents on top of the ridge
next to the fire tower. John, NU3E, was helping them out as he didn't
pack a tent. I carefully looked around the site, checked my compass and
decided to pitch my tent in a campsite that Guy had shown me. This site
was about 20'- 30' below the top of the ridge on the SOUTH SIDE. I was
thinking about the front coming in from the north and wanted some
protection from the storm. BOY, am I glad I did as the front just
slammed into us at 2:30pm. I looked at my watch as soon as the wind
changed from the south to the north and said to John, NU3E, " here it
comes!"  

About 30 seconds later all hell broke loose! We had steady 40 -50 mph
winds with wind gusts of around 60 mph. The rain hit us with a
vengeance. Steady, cold, driven rain was hitting the ridge top. John,
NU3E, was in my tent and it sounded like a freight train blowing over
us! The wind was blowing over my tent and not hitting us very hard
because we where below the ridge top - thank god! We had to turn up the
radio volume just to hear it. In the middle of the storm, Guy, N7UN
pokes his head in our tent and says, "Boy it's toasty in here!"

At 3:30pm the rain stopped and the wind wasn't bad. I said to John,
let's get out of here! John ran up to Glen, NK1N, to tell him we were
leaving - now! I packed up my new tent which held up great, and headed
for the ridge. There I found Glen trying to pack his tent, but the wind
was blowing at about 30mph at this point. I put my foot on a piece of
this tent as it started to blow away! Both John and myself helped Glen
pack his tent and then we said our goodbyes and condolences to Guy, N7UN
as he was staying the night.

The hike back was nasty on the ridge as cold driven rain was now
changing to cold ice pellets hitting us. As we descended from the ridge,
the weather once again morphed into rain, but the wind was gone! I said,
" it feels like Spring!" We all drove back to the den for a good hot
beef stew dinner.

*****************************************************************

Stay-tuned for the second part of this story! You don't want to miss it.

72,
Ed, WA3WSJ


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