Summit Information:

                               Points: 1

                               County: Knox County

                               Grid: FN54kf

                               Wx: 60 °F; 12 mph; Partly Sunny

Hiking:

Parking: Park at Rockland Street at the Georges River Trailhead. Limited parking. Arrive early.

Ragged Mountain Map

Part of the Georges River Land Trust

Ragged mountain is located outside of the towns of Camden and Rockport in mid coast Maine .

As part of my seven days of SOTA activations, I planned three activations in this area (due to their short length). After a quick drive from Mt Desert Island, we arrived at the trailhead parking lot which was packed with cars.

The trail is a little over 2.5 miles one way and winds up the mountain in almost a switchback manner which is unusual for Maine hiking trails. They usually go straight up or down. Who said trail desingers have no sense of humor?

After hiking for awhile we made it to the summit which consists of a large radio tower setup. Interestingly there was no service road to the tower that I could find.

I found a nice spot overlooking the town of Camden and set up my antenna. Band conditions again were terrible. You know they are bad when the only signals you hear are FT8 and nothing else.

Still, I managed to eek out 4 QSO’s on 20 meters. Tried 30 and 40 meters with no success.

Going on three days of no 2 meters contacts I was pleasantly surprised when I got few stations on 2 meters. For those who like the challenge of long distance 2m VHF, Ragged mountain is an excellent place to operate from as you can see the mountains of MDI and south along the coast, a midpoint along the coast of Maine.

After some time at the summit, we descended back to the trailhead. We drove over to the other two summits (Hachet and Bald North) but at that point had run out of energy and decided to head home.

Another activation trip for another day.