KFF-2746 Morrow Mountain State Park

 I was in North Carolina for work, and had the weekend off. Since I didn't really want to sit around the hotel all day, I found some reasonably close parks that I could go to to get out and play some radio in. I decided to do my long run and get some peakbagging in too.

One of the many small streams in the park.

I parked at the equestrian parking lot, the first one you drive by in the park. From here I headed down the trail towards Morrow Mountain. It was about three miles to the summit, and I was soon there. I picked one of the picnic tables and put up my antenna. I was hoping to get a bunch of European stations.

Setup on the summit. Picnic tables are so nice to operate from.

Despite being on the east coast, 20 meters didn't seem to be open at all. In fact, it took a long time of calling CQ before RBN heard me. After a few contacts, including two to Italy, I gave up on 20 and moved to 30 and 40. I could have operated longer, but I didn't have a warm enough jacket to sit in the cool overcast much more. On those bands I got lots of contacts. At the time I assumed that 20 meters was just closed, but later I began to suspect my radio.

Near the top of another summit.

My route through the park took me over all of the named summits and a few others. This part of North Carolina is so flat the "mountains" are just small hills, and doing a half dozen in a day is no big deal. About half of the peaks I went over didn't have any trails, but the forest in the park is mostly open, so the bushwhacking was easy. Some sections are steeper, but nothing that can't be done on foot. I did slip on one steep section when there was some wet mud hidden under the leaves. I was more careful after that. 

Small seasonal stream in one of the valleys. 

Check out my Strava for the route I took over the peaks. It may not be the best one, but I liked it. A bit more than halfway through the route I ran alongside the major river that is the eastern border of the park. This section was flat and near a parking lot, so it was much more busy than the more remote sections of trail. 

The big river. 

The loop I did was only about 14 miles, but had a fair amount of elevation thanks to all the small hills I was going over. By the end I was getting tired, and I was happy to get back to the car. 

Abandoned gate in the middle of the woods.

Morrow Mountain State Park is pretty nice, and if I'm in the area again I'll likely come back. There are plenty of trails if you like that, and lots of area to go off trail for more excitement.