You are in Vancouver for a short time, and want to activate a summit. Where to go? Burnaby Mountain!!
Burnaby Mountain Park is located just 30 minutes east of downtown Vancouver BC. The park offers scenic views, hiking trails, sculptures, and gardens. It also happens to be an easy one-point SOTA summit! It might be the easiest summit in Canada, eh? Most importantly it offers great views and interesting sculpture to keep your significant other / non-ham friends busy while you play radio.
My wife accompanied me for this short morning activation. We were staying in a hotel in downtown Vancouver, and it took us a little under 30 minutes to drive to the park. There is a large parking lot near the AZ - we were there early enough that parking was free, but during normal business hours it is a pay lot. There are many trails that lead to the summit, so if you are looking for a hike then park somewhere lower down the mountain and hike up.
It was a clear, cold morning with excellent visibility. It only took us a few minutes to walk the path up to the large AZ, and find a good place to set up. I started out on 20m and my first two contacts were EA2 stations, followed by an EA7 station. Woohoo! I worked a bunch of the regulars (one S2S with CA) then switched to 30m. Picked up a few more then went to 40m and picked up a couple more. By this time my wife reminded me that it was time to leave or we were going to be late. I never got the chance to try 2m, but I suspect I could have doubled my QSO count easily. I would have loved to hang out on this summit for a couple of hours!
It was a very pleasent hour spent, and we both enjoyed the park. The queue at the border to get back into the USA...now THAT is another story!
73, Josh WU7H
