One of the things I like most about POTA is that it gets me outside and moving. I already enjoy hiking and trail running, so the Pack Mule award felt perfect.
I live in Rhode Island, and while SOTA isn’t really an option here (though I do want to head out to MA and hit some of their summits), we do have some great parks that reward a real hike in and a fully portable setup. After hearing about the Pack Mule Award from @W4EMB in some of his recent videos, I knew I wanted to go for it.
Yesterday (2026-04-04) I headed out and did two Rhode Island parks for activations 001 and 002.
Pack Mule Activation 001 was US-6987, Cocumcussoc State Park. It’s an undeveloped state park, and I hiked in about 0.66 mile with all of my gear. For that activation I used a Packtenna 20-10 EFHW on a 6m Lil Dude carbon fiber mast with a ground spike and ended up with 69 contacts.
Pack Mule Activation 002 was US-7723, John H. Chaffee Rome Point State Nature Preserve. For that one I hiked about 0.75 mile from the parking area down to the beach, then set up and operated right from the shoreline. I used a 25’ whip in a Rybakov-style configuration (REZ Scout + X-Form 4:1 + tuner), with the radials stretched right at the edge of the bay, and made about 30 contacts. It was threatening rain (and was pretty chilly with the wind blowing in off the bay) so I had to pack it in and head back to the Jeep.
Both activations were exactly the kind of operating I was hoping this award would push me toward: hiking in, carrying everything, setting up in beautiful spots, and playing radio from places that feel a little earned.
So nice to have another Mule nearby! I love hiking in RI, but you are right, not a lot of SOTA happening. If you are looking for a trip, Race Brook has some really lovely waterfalls this time of year out at US-8415 Mt. Everett (W1/MB-002), the second-tallest peak in MA. I like to go up Everett and do an activation and then traverse across the shoulder to Mt. Race for the views. I’m hoping to get out there end of April or so.
Sounds awesome! I’ll have to give it a go. I’ve not yet gotten started with SOTA (since we don’t have much here in RI) so I’ll have to look up how it all works, this looks like a great hike!
I’m an opportunistic SOTA activator, which is to say that if I happen to be in a POTA reference that also has a SOTA summit I’ll set up in the SOTA activation zone and do both. And you are right, RI and eastern MA in generaljust don’t have a lot of SOTA peaks. It’s discouraging to pull up the SOTAGoat app and see the nearest SOTA is about 50 miles away.
My other beef is the point system. I spent the entire day humping a station up and down Mt. Monadnock, it’s a 2,000 foot ascent. Three (3) points. Same with Mt. Everett, the second-tallest peak in Massachusetts. All day. One (1) point.
Then in Arizona I drove to about 8500 feet on Mt. Lemmon and then walked 3/4 of a mile up a road to the summit. Ten (10) points. Almost zero effort. I was doing a Pack Mule and needed the hiking distance or I would have parked closer to the summit, which is littered with picnic tables.
