Chesapeake & Ohio National Historic Park (US-0015)

The "snowcrete" from the recent winter storm had finally thawed sufficiently that I decided to attempt my first POTA activation. It wasn't the original plan for the day, but since I knew I would be in the park anyway as I was volunteering, at the last moment in the morning I decided to bring my gear with the thought that there might be some time at lunch or I would still have the energy to do it afterwards. As it turned out, it was a short volunteering day, so I had no excuse not to give my first activation a go before heading home.

The Chesapeake & Ohio National Historic Park (CHOH) stretches 185 miles along the canal and towpath through Maryland and DC, offering easy access by foot, bike, or car. The park is free except for the Potomac, MD visitor center area ($10–$20 depending on entry mode). I opted to go to the Carderock Recreation Area of the park, which is approximately 10 minutes south of the main entrance. No entrance fee, plenty of parking, and if you go to parking Lot 1 there is a convenient large grassy area with picnic tables close by. Approximate transmit location: 
38.971409, -77.199611

It was still a bit cold and I was underdressed for just sitting around, so while I brought a bunch of gear, I ended up keeping it simple and just doing FT8 with my Xiegu G90 + DE-19 + 20M quarter wave whip antenna with the FT8CN android app. 

I've been playing with this setup at home and found it quick and easy to deploy. I had my 10 QSOs in under 30 minutes but I stayed for about an hour and made 16 QSOs before I decided to pack it up.