Falling Leaves at Knox Mountain
October 2012
It's a perfect fall day... sunny and nearly 60F. I head
to Knox Mountain to enjoy the fall air and make a few
QSOs. I work France and Georgia.
![](trail.jpg)
The trail is a carpet of color. The air is glorious. Most of the
leaves are
on the ground. Afternoon sunlight still dances between the bright
yellow
beech leaves.
![](rock.jpg)
The brook tells the story without a word. Gold leaves mingle with
golden sun and green moss.
The season is changing as rapidly as the running water. There is a
certain nostalgia that comes
with the season.
![](brook.jpg)
The trail follows the brook, and as I approach the cabin, I must
jump across the rocks to
the other side. The old bridge has rotted, and the caretaker has
removed the ancient timbers.
![](pond.jpg)
The pond is full, not only with water... but of stories and images
that lay mysteriously
upon the fragile surface.
I sit in my favorite place in the sun on the east side of the
cabin... beneath a cherry tree.
Everything is still except the tapping of a woodpecker. Even the
crickets are quiet
now. But I see them hopping in the grass around me. The clouds are
but wisps... the
day a poignant reminder of the changing season.
I heave a line about 40 feet over a cherry branch and pull up a half
wave wire for
20 meters. The band is muted... I think many of the stalwarts are on
15 and 10 meters
today. I should have brought the ATS-4 so I could operate on 15.
Today I am using the
HB-1B with 4 watts. Signals are down here and I get poor reports
from the stations I work.
First I call F8BPF in the northwest of France. It takes Sylvain a
few tries to get my call correctly.
He gives me a 419, but copies my name and QTH the first time.
He is running 100 watts to
a 3 element yagi. I can hear him easily.
Next I work a county hunter operating mobile in Georgia. Greg,
NM2L/M only gives me
a 339, but again he copies the exchange first time.
I pull down the wire and prepare to leave. Today radios take second
place. The air, the sky,
the water, the leaves and the quiet rule the atmosphere.