QRP in the Driftless
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Camel Bluff again, on a snowy day
Really, just a few pictures taken this morning. I love hiking when it is snowing; it lays a great silence on the world which makes for a tranquil and invigorating experience. That’s about all for today; it’s still snowing now, hours later. It looks like 3 or 4 inches so far. Radio? Soon! Thanks for…
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Mill Bluff Trifecta! and a few random notes
Saturday morning I was up early and managed to get out for a hike before the sun was up; Mill Bluff State Park was my choice. I avoided the three deer crossing the highway and made it to the park just a bit after dawn. Since I had so much time I thought I would…
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A hike around Camel Bluff, and an amplified speaker for the tr(u)SDX
On Saturday I was en route to the nearest Aldi store and realized I would soon be passing by Mill Bluff State Park, which quickly led to trying to remember the last time I had hiked the Camel Bluff trail, or any of the other hikes at this small-but-fun park … I still have no…
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Mid-March omnibus
A summary of what’s been happening lately Tomorrow (the 19th) is the first day of Spring! Astronomical Spring, that is. Meteorological Spring already happened on the 1st; I suppose they do that for consistency in their statistical calculating, makes it easier to just move along and ignore all of that messy real-world stuff. Quick vignettes…
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Dare we hope that Punxsutawney Phil was right?
Barring a couple days of polar weather about 2 weeks ago, the weather in the Driftless has been unusually mild in the month that has passed since the annual proclamation, which, unusually, was for an early spring. This has only occurred 21 times in the138 year history of the noted weather prophet. I greeted the…
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Staying in that rut
After the last post I resolved to go to a different park next time; alas, that resolution evaporated last Saturday morning just after I got my coffee (big cup and full vacuum bottle) at the local Kwik Trip! Onward to Wildcat Mountain! The moon was setting, near the horizon, as I drove westward, and soon…
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In a rut
A few days ago I noticed (looking at my POTA stats) that since last June the only park I have activated has been good old K-1480, Wildcat Mountain! Not sure just how that came about; I started 2023 with a string of new (to me) parks. I think I need to get back into that…
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Winter Field Day 2024 at Wildcat Mountain
WFD is, first & foremost, an emergency communications exercise conducted under less-than-optimal conditions (at least for those of us in the Northern states, lol). This year I made a virtue of necessity and used my lack of planning (see the previous post) as part of the exercise; after all, emergencies do not give us advance…
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Winter Field Day is next weekend
and I have done nothing to prepare for it, nothing at all. Radios are packed at least; with fully charged batteries. Probably I will go to a park, but which one? https://winterfieldday.org/ for details about this annual event, or visit here a day or two later to read all about what I did. Thanks for…
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Word cloud
in lieu of any other content: I have always thought word clouds were cool, so when I visited wmtips.com recently I saw this and made a screenshot of it. It seems to only encompass the main page’s content. Maybe I will look for a WordPress plug-in or widget to do this for the whole site.…
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Last hike of 2023, and first hike of 2024
On the 30th, and again on the 1st, I hiked the Ice Cave trail at Wildcat Mountain S. P. to commemorate the passing of the calendar year and to start off the new one in a spirit of happy outdoor fun, also to carry on the struggle to stay in shape for the milder months!…
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A hiking-centric Christmas in the Driftless
The weather has been anomalously warm the past few days (mostly in the 40s day and night), overcast, with generous amounts of dense fog, and no serious social obligations anywhere, so we have been getting in a hike every day ! I try to always have a radio packed, in case I suddenly feel the…
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