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Southern Illinois BBQ and POTA Saturday

The view of the Mississippi River and horizon from the main shelter

The best BBQ in the midwest is arguably at the 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro, Illinois, about a two hour drive south of St. Louis. An early fall road trip was a great opportunity to visit some parks along the way to see the changing colors and activate a few parks.

Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site (US-7259)

The first park of the day was the Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site. The park is on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and centers around the remains of a fort constructed by the French in the 1700s. The town of Kaskaskia has an interesting history, it was the first capital of Illinois but was mostly destroyed when the Mississippi changed course during a flood in the 1800s. The park has a number of amenities, including bathrooms, an archery range, a few shelters and areas for tent and RV camping. The views of the Mississippi are great, especially near the remains of the fort where a larger shelter has recently been rebuilt. I set up near the shelter with the Chelegance MC-750 close to the edge of the bluff. I had hoped the elevation and unobsctructed view of the western horizon would help with propagation and it seems that my hopes were well founded. I made 12 QSOs in under 20 minutes, all on 20 meters SSB, quite of few of which were towards the west.

Lake Murphysboro State Park (US-1006)

After a great lunch at 17th Street we headed to Lake Murphysboro State Park, a 1000+ acre park centered around a star-shaped lake just west of Murphysboro. There are are a number of areas to the park, but the lower area is the most open area and includes a shelter, bathrooms and a number of picnic tables. The area also provides great views of the lake and surrounding hills. Chairs were being setup for a wedding near the shelter so I set up on a picnic table near the bathrooms and playground area. I easily made 12 QSOs in less than 20 minutes on 20 meters SSB and could have kept going but we decided to try to visit additional parks rather than stay and make more contacts.

Kinkaid Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area (US-4136)

The third, and what ended up being the final park of the day, was the Kinkaid Lake fish and wildlife area. The park is just a few miles west of Lake Murphysboro and is centered around a large, 2750 acre lake. The surrounding land occupies over 9000 acres, managed by a number of agencies. Parts of the park are also part of Shawnee National Forest, qualifying those areas for multi-park activation. However, finding a place that is part of both parks and has a place to park or easily hike into is a bit of a challenge. After referencing a few maps I thought the Buttermilk hill recreation area would be the best choice but I didn’t quite check if there was a road to the area. After realizing there would be a long hike involved to get to the picnic tables we spent a few minutes trying to find an alternative on our phones. Cross referencing multiple PDFs and Google Maps on a phone screen is not my idea of fun so we just picked a spot that wouldn’t qualify for two parks.

A short drive later we arrived at the Kinkaid Lake Spillway which had some nice views, pit toilets and concrete picnic tables, all a few feet from a large parking lot. I set up the MC-750 and the IC-705 on 15 meters and was amazed how busy the band was. I spent a few minutes trying to find an open frequency on the SSB portion of the band but had no luck. I switched to 20 which seemed equally busy and after a lot of searching I found a spot and started calling CQ. I believe there was a contest going on because I was wedged in between stations that must have been dumping out a lot more power than I was. After 10 minutes and no replies we decided to pack up and try another location. As we were packing up a local couple suggested we check out the restaurant near Kincaid Marina.

After another short drive we ended up at the marina, but quickly realized it probably wasn’t part of the park itself. As we were leaving we spotted a large Kinkaid Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area sign. The road led to a large parking area with a boat ramp, picnic table, bathrooms and a water fountain. I set everything up again and searched around for an open frequency on 20 meters. After a few minutes I found an “open” frequency but it was once again wedged in between other stations. The replies came slowly at first but some POTA hunters were willing to work through the QRM and contesting stations to make QSOs. The picnic table had a nice view of the boat ramp so while not the most scenic view it was kinda fun to watch people load their boats up towards the end of the day. After half an hour I had 16 QSOs in the logbook, including a park to park that was in five parks at once.

If you’re planning to visit the park and looking to activate both the Shawnee National Forest and Lake Kinkaid State park, here are a few resources: