In June 2023 a team will land on Rockall Island, more than 200 nautical miles from the West Coast of Scotland and the nearest civilization. Their intention is to break the current world record for time spent on Rockall, and to raise as much for The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity as possible.

57°35’28.79″ N 13°41’11.39″ W

Rockall is an uninhabitable granite islet situated in the North Atlantic Ocean. The nearest permanently inhabited place is North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, 200NM to the east.

The UK claimed Rockall on 18 September 1955 when “Two Royal Marines and a civilian naturalist, led by Royal Navy officer Lieutenant Commander Desmond Scott, raised a Union flag on the islet and cemented a plaque into the rock”.

Rockall stands at 233 feet above sea level at it’s tallest point, covering an area of just 8438 square feet.

WEBSITE: https://www.rockallexped.com/#theexpedition
WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall

Created by Paul Signorelli, W0RW on 2023-03-30

This Trail Day adventure started by boarding the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Cog Railway at Manitou Springs, Colorado. The ‘Cog’ is a train that can go up a very steep incline because it drives itself up on a third rail which has big cog teeth on it.

You can see the Cog train route pictures at http://www.cograilway.com/alongroute.htm

There are exciting times on the rails too, one uphill train engineer threw an old oil rag out on the tracks to warn the downhill train engineer of a broken rail. Not too bad going up but you better take it slow going downhill, He said. Of course, they have 2 big springs at the bottom of the tracks to stop runaway cars, Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs.

Hiking down Pikes Peak from the top or from Barr Camp sounds easy but it can find the weakest part of your body and blow it out. Knees, ankles and Hiking shoes can become instruments of torture and blistering is guaranteed. More hiking information is at: https://www.pikes-peak.com/hiking-pikes-peak-mountain/

To start this downhill hike (Which I called Trail Day because it coincided with Field Day) I rode the COG train up to the ‘Mountain View’ siding. It was only $10 for a one-way ticket (expect to pay more now). When you jump off the train in the middle of an extremely remote place like this, with your backpack on, you will see a lot of envious tourists on the train who wish they could be going along with you. I hiked across the face of Pike’s Peak over to Barr Camp, I made several contacts on the trail before Field Day started.

Barr Camp is a wilderness cabin midway on the Barr Trail which goes from Manitou Springs to the top of Pike’s Peak. Barr Camp cooks up Breakfast and Dinners, sells candy and supplies, and has a bunk house for hikers.

It is like a mountain oasis, there are picnic tables and a bench swing that is set by the stream to comfort the tired hikers.

READ THE FULL ARTICAL ON EHAMs: More Photos too
https://www.eham.net/article/48830

Woody Hoburg is a Pittsburgh native and ham radio operator KB3HTZ is heading to space very early Monday morning. { 1:45 AM }  He is the pilot aboard SpaceX Crew-6 Dragon Spaceship. He will be spending the next 6 month on board the International Space Station keeping busy doing science work.   I got to know Woody from the Tripoli Rocket Assc. and its Pittsburgh chapter, his father had to get certified just so Woody could fly the big rockets since at the time he was under age. The group now has a Junior program due to the success Woody had.  I had the privilege of being the Prefect {safety officer} of the group when he went for his level 3 certification flight at our tiny field, it was something to see that huge flag rocket in our small field. God Speed Woody and have some fun flying into space.

73…N3LRG