We've arrived at cooler temps and have been at our AirBnB for several days now, located between Courtenay BC and Strathcona Provincial Park. We see snow on the mountaintops from our balcony - what a concept!

Mount Rainier was our last stop before taking the ferry over from Port Angeles WA to Victoria BC.

We did a 4 mile hike there and came face to face with a black bear heading  our way on the trail.We walked away from it slowly, it did the same. I walked backwards and opened my phone's camera app and made a brief video as the bear paralleled us on the other side of a small creek.

Yesterday consisted of a beautiful 7 mile hike in Strathcona PP followed by a frustrating activation. Were band conditions poor or does being surrounded by mountains adversely affect propagation?! 10 tough, well-earned contacts went into the log, all of them weak.

Later today we are headed to a beach where I'll see if saltwater offers an improvement in radio'ing. We'll be at Miracle Beach Provincial Park CA-3807 sometime between 1900-2200Z and may go to another nearby beach (and POTA site after that).

The FT891 and 20AH LiFePO4 battery are performing well and are quick to set up and take down, along with the magnet-mounted 17' (5m) whip that goes on top of the car. Sometime I deploy three 1/4-wave radials, sometimes not.

Last night we booked flights, AirBnB, and a rental car for our upcoming (October) trip to Albania.

For that trip, I'll be taking the antenna described above and the KX2. The first half of that trip will be in the northern mountains of ZA in Theth National Park, so not really conducive to radio. After that, we'll be in coastal areas along the Adriatic so that's probably when the radio will come out.

Other than POTA ops, there are a few other radio-related aspects to that trip that I'm looking forward to learning and posting about. 

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