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Judy and I hiked to Bald Ledge in New Hampton today. We had a view to die for, and I worked some nice DX too… Spain, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

We started hiking at Sky Pond. It’s a crystal clear remote pond in the wilderness. It’s a favorite of local fishermen, but not known by many. From the pond we hiked a half mile up an old range road and then north on a woods trail for about a mile.

Bald Ledge is about 600 feet above the west shore of Lake Winona.

I tossed a 28 foot wire over a pine tree and sat down on the ledge facing northeast with the KX3. 20 meters had a few light signals. 15 meters was completely dead, so I started out on 17 meters where there were some strong signals.

EA5GX Sergio in Spain was calling CQ and we made a quick contact. There was some QSB, but he gave me a 579. It was nearly 15 minutes before I made a second contact. There were a couple of pileups, but I stayed away from them. Finally I heard LZ1GU in Bulgaria calling CQ. Harry was strong and he gave me a 569. “Are you happy?” Judy asked. “No….” I answered. “I need another QSO.”

Two nice QSOs and a perfect spot to spend an hour or so? Who wouldn’t be happy?

I like to get at least three contacts, so I scanned 20 meters again. There was Jiri… OK2RRR, the same station I had worked yesterday from Old Hill Village. He was booming in and I called him. Again he gave me 589. NOW I was happy! He told me he had received my email with the photos I sent him from yesterday, and he was pleased I was out hiking on a beautiful hill top. “Enjoy the hike,” he sent as he said 73 and wished me well.

Judy and I shared some fruit and I packed up for the walk back. When we reached Sky Pond, we both took our shoes off and waded in the water. Fantastic!