ON7DQ Friedrichshafen 2019 - Day 8

The Northern Vosges region

I had done many summit in the Central part of the Vosges region, FL/VO, but not the few lonely summits in the North-Eastern corner of France.

So I set of for the first one,

FL/VO-048, Grand Wintersberg - 581m, 4 points

If you're a daredevil like me, you can drive right up to the summit.
First you have to find the Col de la Liese, set your GPS to 48.981856, 7.614153
There is a chalet, and in front is a nice statue carved from a tree.

From the chalet, you can take the narrow forest road to the summit at position 48.978479, 7.614486

That road is a bit degraded, but nothing to be afraid of, just drive carefully, and hope you don't meet a car from the other side ... if in doubt you can just walk from the chalet to the summit, hi.
There was a traffic sign that was covered up at the beginning of that last part, so I suppose they close the road in weekends or in winter, or just when it's too busy on the summit.

There is a nice tower you can climb, but no thanks, it was again becoming a very hot day.

The sun is already burning ... the radio tower gives a little shade ...

Luckily, there was a bench under a tree, a nice place to set up my radio.

Only under the bench, and in the tree nearby, it was full of large ants ... some even started crawling up my legs while I sat down ... not dangerous, but annoying, and anything better than catching another tick, right ?

The activation went well, with 22 QSO's and 4 S2S.

after that I had prepared something special ... a first activation !

FL/VO-160, Armsberg - 383m, 2 points - FIRST ACTIVATION

When I planned my trip, I was a bit surprised that three summits in the FL/VO region had not been activated. This region must be one of the most visited places, toghether with the DM/BW region, considering all hams coming to Friedrichshafen, and others taking a holiday here.

Now of the 162 summits in this region, these three were never activated :
FL/VO-160     Armsberg
FL/VO-164 Ouvrage St. Blaise
FL/VO-174 Les Trois Bornes

As reported by ON6ZQ in the database, FL/VO-164 is not possible, it is completely in a military zone.
So that leaves the other two.
I had looked into FL/VO-174, but that seems a tough one, I couldn't see any path on OSM or OT.
So maybe someone else has the courage to go bushwhacking there ... ?
But FL/VO-160 seemed an easy summit, so I went to find out if it was as easy as it looked. And it was !

First I drove along the D662 to this position 49.006556, 7.501071
Besides the woodworking factory (S.k.e) is a forest road, there is a sign that reads "Route Forestière GAUCHSBERG". Gauchsberg is the next summit FL/VO-165, which has already been activated by HB9CBR (yes, HIM again ! hi).

I drove into this road and parked my car here 49.007512, 7.502477, and walked the rest.
My track is on the SMP here.

The walk is nothing difficult, the road is even signposted with a BIG sign.
The only difficulty is that the track is getting overgrown here and there, so make sure to wear long trousers. Clearly, not too many people come walking here.

Also a surprise, where the track was not overgrown, it was really sandy ...

I didn't fnd a path to the very summit, and didn't intend to do a lot of bushwhacking in this heat, so I just set up at the end of the forest road, which was near enough, and certainly in the AZ.
There are no benches, so I just sat on the ground on a towel.

I had used some tick spray, but still I have seen two ticks, one on my trousers, and one on the yellow plastic bag on which I had put the rest of my stuff. I was lucky to spot them before they could get under my clothes !

Again, it was a good activation with 21 QSO's and 3 S2S.

So I set off to the last summit I had planned, FL/VO-166, Stromberg - 314m, 1 point

But the traffic was intense, I was getting a lot of delay, and temperatures were again nearing 30°C ... and I decided that for one meager point ... it wasn't worth it.
So, I went to a nice airconditioned shopping center (CORA in Messancy), and had my dinner there too.

After that I went to my last BnB in Hondelange, had a good shower and tried to get some sleep during a hot night ... and be ready for the last part of my trip : going home !

Continue reading ... go to DAY 9

or

Go back to overview HERE