Each year, I head to the Hocking Hills region in Southern Ohio for their annual Winter Hike. Most years, I home-base a few miles east, at Lake Hope SP. But this year, wanting to try someplace, I rented a Sherman cabin at Tar Hollow State Park (K-1996). Tar Hollow SP is SW of the Hocking county region in the Tar Hollow State Forest (K-5452), making it a Two-fer. The North Country National Scenic trail also runs through the park, making it a Three-fer, but I did not pursue that one.
To add to the fun, the 3rd weekend of January is also the POTA Support Your Parks (SYP) weekend. There’s always a lot of activity on the air during the SYP weekends which are run 4 times per year. This time was no different.
It was a great weekend. I made 270 contacts, drove about 500 miles, and enjoyed the solitude! I had the entire campground to myself for the entire weekend.
In addition to K-1996/5452, I made it to Hocking Hills SP (K-1958), Hocking State Forest (K-5442), Conkle’s Hollow State Nature Preserve (K-9400), and Ross Lake Wilderness area (K-9497). Three of those locations were new to me parks, bringing my needed parks in Ohio down to 98.
My plan was to hit several more spots in Central Ohio on the way home Sunday, but the weather had other ideas. Looking at the radar, I decided to head east, out of the path of the snow. When you are planning a January Rove in Ohio, you roll the dice, and you take your chances.
The setup at camp was a FT-891, and a 40-10 EFHW. On Friday, I did run my Xiegu G106. It is a very capable 5W QRP rig. I planned to do more with it, but it appears that my mic (w/headphone adaptor) for the G106 is laying in the woods out at K-9440, where I last activated 3-4 weeks ago. So, I guess I’ll need to get building on a replacement.
So that’s it for this trip. Till next time. 73 DE WG8X