It’s about 30 degrees outside and I’m currently in my sleeping bag in a cabin at Field Springs State Park in SE Washington. Earlier today we celebrated the end of 2025 with a hike, some snacks at altitude, and a summit activation (for me, at least).
When the year officially rolls over (00:00UTC) all of the SOTA summit yearly points are reset, so a ton of operators go out and bang-bang a summit in both 2025 and 2026.
Field Springs State Park isn’t too far from me, about a 90-minute drive south. In the winter it has groomed XC and snowshoe trails, complete with a warming chalet right up on the summit. I booked a cabin in the park hoping we could backcountry ski or snowshoe up to the hut but the unusually mild winter didn’t quite accommodate. A simple snow hike would have to do.
Up at the hut, Corrie made a fire in the stove while I set up my antenna and snapped a few photos of the surrounding canyon. The views are pretty amazing, esp at sunset.
I cracked open an Aperol spritz and after spotting myself on 7.063 was fortunate to have several chasers come back to be nice and S-L-O-W. This was only my second CW attempt on the air, but it went relatively well. Better than the first time. I banged out a few more QSOs on SBB and then waited for the hour to flip. A few more to re-activate the summit in the new year and that was that.
Time for dinner. We packed small meal of nuts, olives, smoked salmon, and a baguette. Oh and that bottle of Cava that was chilling outside in the snow. We played a few rounds of card games and called it an early night. Now I’m just scribbling out some reflections and hopes for the year ahead.
Along with the year tick-over, I’ve also recently turned 46. Holy shit. Time is a fast-mover and I can’t help but to feel like I need to keep making the most of it.
In past years I’ve set a few large goals that required months and months of preparation to achieve. Ironman races, multi-hundred mile bike rides, complete shifts in careers… that kind of goal-setting is not only exhausting but is also risky. If you miss, it can feel like a total failure.
I’m going to lean more towards a consistent series of “hard things” sprinkled somewhat evenly throughout the calendar. Surely, not all will end in success, but they should all make be a slightly better person by the time I hit 47.
Goals I’ve Concocted for 2026:
- read 26 books
- amateur extra radio license
- Log 260 CW QSOs
- W7W/WE summits: reach 26 total activations (currently at 12)
- W7I summits: reach 26 total activations (currently at 19)
- run a pb at the seattle marathon (26.2 miles)
- shoot *more* film (buy *less* cameras)
- personal summit list (bag more of ’em)
Some of these are quantifiable, others are feelings, and a couple are intentionally vague. I don’t want to be more busy, rather I want to be more intentional with my time. Let’s see how that goes—I might just spend my weekends drinking beers and eating sandwiches.
I originally took on K2VFZ shortly after earning my Technician license. The 7 call area covers much of the Mountain West, which fits my time in Arizona and Washington. My grandfather (K2VFZ sk) also held a 7-area callsign after moving from New Jersey to Arizona in the early 1980s, so K7VFZ ends up as a natural mash-up of the callsigns we’ve both held.
