From the Lake Hope State Park website:

Though the roar of the iron furnaces no longer echoes through the hills of Vinton County, there are many reminders of days gone by at Lake Hope State Park. Situated at the northern edge of Ohio's Hanging Rock iron region, the park reflects the rich history of southeastern Ohio's industrial past. Built in 1853-54, the Hope Furnace processed the iron ore extracted from the region’s sandstone bedrock. The iron resulting from the ore smelting process was used to produce many different items including ammunition and cannons for the Union Army during the Civil War. Hundreds of men labored, cutting timber, working the furnace, and driving teams of oxen hauling iron ore to the furnace. Charcoal fires, needed to fuel the furnace, were tended 24 hours a day. So much wood was required for this process that the surrounding hillsides were almost completely stripped of their timber.

At the height of the Hope Furnace’s production, Ohio was one of the nation’s leading producers of iron. As time passed, iron ore was discovered farther west, and Ohio’s reputation as a major iron producer waned. The Hope Furnace shut down in 1874, after only 20 years of operation. By 1900, nearly all the major furnaces in southern Ohio were shut down. Today, the Hope Furnace chimney and some of the foundation are all that remain of the structure. Near the chimney, one may find pieces of slag, the cast-off residue from the smelting process. These pock-marked, glass-like pieces have now become a part of the forest floor.

The forest we now see is one that has grown back in place of the primeval forest that once stood hundreds of years ago. For a time, coal was an important Vinton County export. Many mines tunneled into the hills and large quantities of coal were transported out utilizing ox-drawn coal cars, and later the railroad. Most of the mines were abandoned early in the 20th century. Lake Hope Forest Park was created in 1937 by the Division of Forestry. The lands became Lake Hope State Park in 1949 when the Ohio Department of Natural Resources was created.

From the Zaleski State Forest website:

The 27,822-acre Zaleski State Forest is the second largest forest in Ohio's system of state forests.

Zaleski State Forest operates the only state-owned sawmill in Ohio. The mill produces rough sawn lumber for use by Ohio’s state forests and state parks as well as other government agencies.

Historic Moonville Tunnel is located within Zaleski State Forest on the Moonville Rail Trail right-of-way.

Pictures

• Eric's 2m station, with Theo-dog
• Eric's HF station: 1 | 2

Description

On Sunday, September 7, 2025, one member of the Southeast Ohio Radio Adventure Team performed successful simultaneous activations of Lake Hope State Park (US-1968) and Zaleski State Forest (US-5455) in Ohio as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA; link) program while participating in Athens County Amateur Radio Association (ACARA) communications-support to an Ohio Mountain Bicycle Championship event taking place on the mountain-bike trails within Lake Hope State Park.

For the mountain bike race, Eric McFadden, WD8RIF, had been assigned to the Grouse Point Trailhead location. His duties were to report the passing of the lead riders in each class and to be present in case of medical or mechanical issues. Eric was accompanied to Grouse Point Trailhead by his small dog, Theo, who had quite insisted on coming along.

With the mountain bike race to start at noon local, Eric planned his arrival to be about 11:30am local. He already knew how to get to Grouse Point, but it took him a few minutes to determine where, exactly, the cyclists would be crossing the road on the single-track Wildcat Trail. Once he found the crossing, he set up his 2m go-box station and checked into the net. (The net was to be run on the Vinton County repeater, but repeater issues caused net-control to move operations to a 2m simplex frequency; all operators were close enough to each other that this wasn't a problem.)

Eric's 2m public-service station, with Theo-dog.

Eric was to see about forty-six riders, male and female, in two classes ride past his location once, and then a small subset of those riders were to pass him a second time. The first rider reached Eric's location on the first lap at 12:37 local.

After the first rider passed Eric on the second lap, things slowed down enough that Eric was able to put together his POTA station while still watching for riders and participating in the net. Eric deployed his Tufteln (link) EFRW antenna with a custom 29' radiator supported as a vertical on a 31' Jackite telescoping fiberglass mast bungied to his folding camp-chair, with two 17' counterpoise wires placed directly on the ground. Placing his Elecraft KX2 on the camp-chair's flip-up table, Eric was on the air for POTA at 1726 UTC.

Eric's HF POTA station station.

As he had expected, Eric had cell-signal at this location and he would be able to spot himself on the POTA Spots website (link), and he would be able to use POTA Spots to identify possible Park-to-Park (P2P) QSOs.

Eric began his operation by hunting for P2P QSOs. At 1728 UTC he made a P2P QSO on 40m with KE3MX who was activating PA 186 State Game Land (US-8883) in Pennsylvania. This was followed at 1730 UTC by a P2P QSO on 17m with K5ZM who was activating Willapa National Wildlife Refuge (US-0597) in Washington.

Finding himself a clear frequency on 20m to run, Eric began calling "CQ POTA" and self-spotted himself on POTA Spots. His first QSO in this run came at 1749 UTC with NY4FD in Florida. QSOs came quickly, with Eric's ninth QSO in this run coming at 1809 UTC with N5ILQ in Oklahoma. This run included a QSO with F4ILH in France and QSOs with operators located in Colorado, Florida (3), Idaho, Kansas, Maine, and Oklahoma.

With eleven QSOs in the log and a valid activation, Eric finished his operation by hunting for P2P QSOs. At 1812 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 40m with AA5JF who was activating Cherokee National Forest (US-4525) in Tennessee. At 1819 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 20m with WB0RLJ who was performing his 1,007th (!) activation of Chalco Hills State Recreation Area (US-4011) in Nebraska. At 1822 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 30m with K8XCO who was performing a two-fer activation of Mackinaw State Forest (US-4778) and North Country Trail National Scenic Trail (US-4239) in Michigan. Finally, at 1827 UTC, he made a P2P QSO on 40m with W3GTR who was performing a two-fer activation of Calvert Cliffs State Park (US-1562) and Calvert Cliffs Natural Area (US-10781) in Maryland.

In all, Eric completed fifteen QSOs, with eight P2P QSOs, in about sixty minutes of on-air time. All of Eric's QSOs were CW and were made with a power output of five watts.

Eric also submitted his log to the World Wide Flora and Fauna in Amateur Radio (WWFF; link) program for an operation at Lake Hope State Park, KFF-1968.

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