Today my son and I hiked to the top of the third highest peak in Vermont and conducted a Summits On The Air activation for the first time. Summits On The Air (SOTA) in an international organization for Amateur Radio operators that awards points for making at least 4 contacts from a sanctioned peak. Today I made 9 contacts on the 2m and 70cm bands from the top of Camel’s Hump which will gain me 10 points, which is the highest point value you can get. Points are based on heighth of the peak. Unfortunately I was so excited to be making contacts that I neglected to take a picture of my radio setup! Here is an image from my test run a couple days ago at Lake Champlain:
My son is 5 years old and it was a pretty difficult 4.2 miles round trip going up 4090 ft but he took it all in stride. I put him in charge of deciding on when to stop for water breaks and breather breaks and we took our time so we summitted in 3.5 hours, but it only took us 2.5 going down. I am so proud of how well he did and he was by far the youngest person on the trail today. Never a complaint the entire time, in fact he was encouraging me towards the end! He was such a trooper today and showed determination and drive well beyond his years. I can’t wait for our next adventure!
This about half way up.
Getting closer...
The final stretch!
We made it!
The USGS medallion marking the peak.
This was an absolutely fantastic day! I am so proud of my son and overjoyed that I got to share this experience with him today. The weather was perfect, we didn’t forget anything and even though it was an arduous climb, we had fun and enjoyed each others’ company. I am already planning our next hike and SOTA activation!
(P.S. I am sorry for the orientation of some of the images, I have tryed several things to fix them with no luck. Any suggestions would be appreciated!)
Do you like to hike? Leave your experiences and/or pictures in the comments!
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