Eastbound - Day 3 & 4...

 

I did not get an activation done at Gull Lake last night as the campsite had a S9+20 noise floor and I couldn't hear a thing. This means that I have not managed to do a POTA activation in Alberta, west bound or east bound.

Today will be a short day, only 630 km, ending up in Deleau, Manitoba.  This is a fantastic little campground that the regional municipality looks after.  Well worth a stay, and they ask just a small donation to stay there!

Just before noon I arrived at the small village of Pontiex, this is the home of CA-1138, Notukeu Regional Park, and it had never been activated before.  Well, it's activated now!  I managed to put 21 contacts in my log in a little over 20 minutes.  Propagation was still not the best, but with 10 screaming watts out of the KX3...it was on the air.

Instead of going straight to the campground at Deleau, I went north about 15 km and activated CA-1061, Oak Lake Provincial Park,  in fact I had so much fun here activating, I ate my supper there and did the late shift from the park as well.  

After my two activations I drove back to Deleau and set up camp for the night.

Tomorrow I'm off to Arron Provincial Park, just 20 km west of Dryden, Ontario.

The next morning was pretty chilly, with the temperature being only 5C at 0630 in the morning when I climbed out of my sleeping bag, and began another 600 km drive east.

Just past Winnipeg the highway enters the Boreal Forest, where kilometres of pine and spruce trees are mixed with the granite outcroppings of the Canadian Shield.  

After a quick lunch in Nipigon, Ontario, I arrived at the trailhead for CA-0245, Kama Hills Provincial Park.  This was another park that had never been activated before, and it wasn't long before you realize why that was.  The trail goes almost straight up, almost a scramble than a hike.  It takes about an hour to reach the park boundary, and that was as far as I went.  

Once I was set up I realized my battery was nearly out of power and I had to restrict my output to 5w SSB.  To be honest I didn't think I would get a completed activation here, but was I wrong.  Among my contacts that day were Larry F5PYI in France, and Jose EA1BUL in Spain....they made my day!

That evening I ended the day at Neys Provincial Park, and had a successful activation of CA-0316.

Tomorrow night I should make it to Chutes Provincial Park in Massey, Ontario.