State Forests are my favorite type of activation. Hardly anyone around and they’re massive (the two things are probably related). This one is accessed via a bridge east of Naples, FL that goes over I-75 (it’s not publicly accessible from I-75).
Another half mile or so from the entrance is the fee station and info booth. ($2 fee per person)
Then its on a road that looks to go on forever.
Six miles down this road, I made a left. An overhead view of this state forest shows a grid of roads like it was planned as a residential area. My plan was to active K-3618 Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park right after this one. The two parks butt up against each other and from the google earth view there was a connecting gate. I was a little concerned about this left turn road. Turns out it was a valid concern as the road was flooded so I turned back to activate on a bridge I saw a mile or so back. I’ll get K-3618 another time.
I had passed a mountain biker on the way in. On my way out I stopped to talk to him and told him I was going to activate on the bridge. He told me that the gate to the other park has been locked for the past 3 years so I wouldn’t have been able to get through that way anyway.
The bridge turned out to be a good place to activate. The biker came back through and mentioned that he used to be a ham. He was very interested in the antenna and took a lot of pictures. Maybe he’ll get back into it.
I made 23 contacts with the typical 20m pattern, plus a guy in Naples who activated this same park the day before. I wonder how far in he went. I think this was my first POTA contact with a Mexican station.
The biker (I wish I got his name or wrote down his call sign) told of me a paved road with an alternate exit to the park so I took that.
This was kinda eerie, a road to nowhere, in the middle of nowhere. This activation was a fun adventure.