I just got home from an epic SOTA trip - the W7O SOTA Campout organized by Amy AG7GP with the help off K7ATN, W7MTB, N7OLE, N7KOM and a few others. I’ve gotta say this is probably the biggest and most awesome SOTA campout in the US.
This year, I think we had around 75 hams in attendance. Attendees traveled from all over the country to attend. I know for sure we had attendees from Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Colorado, and Connecticut. Some of the campers included ham families with kids who are also hams, some on the hunt for Mountain Goat.
The young hams in attendance this year, as young as 9 were at times more gung-ho than their parents, willing to take on any summit and practice their morse skills from a mountain top. Gabriel (AJ6X) hiked with two young ones, both on the hunt for the Title of Mountain Goat and are looking forward to the W6 SOTAFest in the next month.
The big attraction to me are the people. It’s a chance to renew old friendships and make new ones. It’s fun chatting with people you only hear on the radio throughout the year either as a chaser or summit-to-summit.
Gabriel AJ6X with his two young hams
The 2026 W7O base camp was located at Crane Prairie Campground, just southwest of Bend Oregon. Similar to last year’s campout near Crater Lake, it offered a variety of SOTA opportunities from driveups, to partial driveups to full on hikes. The roads, trails, and vistas are stunning. It was super helpful to get a spreadsheet of 66 summits in the area from ATN, indicating which were drive-up, partial drive-up, and hikes. I charted quite a few of them in Gaia (pictured in purple on the map below. Red are trailheads or uncharted summits). The locations for the W7O campout always offer an awesome variety of summits for all levels of activators.
This trip also gave me a chance to test my new 2026 Outback Wilderness edition. I retired the Highlander and was looking forward to seeing how the new SOTA vehicle would best the Highlander on more difficult terrain. I’ve also added some customizations to it, including dedicated power to supply the DC-DC charger for the portable “house battery” that supplies power to the radio, fridge, starlink and more. The DC-to-DC charger allows me to charge the 100Ah battery on the road and the solar panel gets the job done at the trail head. I prefer not to sleep on the ground so I sleep in the back. I have a configuration for quick overnight campouts with screens over the windows and back. For multi-day adventures, I use a tent off the back. Both setups worked perfectly.
Like many travelers, I hit some summits on the way to camp. Ray, KD8EQA, from Colorado reached out and suggested we meet at a trailhead to a summit in Kings Canyon - Sequoia National Park on our way over. It worked out well for me since if I left San Diego at 5 to get through the traffic in LA, I could be at the turnoff by 1PM. After linking up with Ray, we hiked the last quarter mile to Buck Mountain (W6/SS-314), an epic little rock pile hosting a small lookout tower on top. The summit had some great views and the lookout tower operator allowed us to operate 2m to get our contacts from the deck outside the tower. If you want to run HF, you might have to go with something really small or venture out on the rocks below to set something up.
We hit a local watering hole south of the park and watched the US Nat. Team get creamed. I camped near Grant Grove Village in the park using my “run and gun” setup in the back of my car which worked out perfect for times when I just want to overnight and depart the next day.
Ray and I decided to do different summits in the park the next day to get some S2S and completes, with Ray doing Big Baldy (W6/SS-334) and me on Park Ridge (W6/SS-354). I had hiked Big Baldy the previous month on a trip to Oregon with my wife so this was a perfect opportunity to get a complete and put another S2S in the bag. The hike from the parking lot wasn’t long and it presented some fantastic views into Kings Canyon. When I got back to the parking lot, I found that I was missing my camera (mounted on my pack strap using a faulty mount). I hiked back to the summit looking for it. Before I got back to the car, I wondered if it had possibly detached at the car while I was arranging my gear. Sure enough, I spotted it under the car when I got back. Just as I was leaving Park Ridge TH, I saw Ray roll in. He was looking forward to a nice hike and adding another complete to his bag. We parted ways there and I headed up to Klamath Falls to spend the night there before heading to camp.
On the way to camp from Klamath Falls, I hit three driveups. The first, Modoc (W7O/CE-054) was a partial drive-up through beautiful Winema National Forest. I ended the drive at a fallen tree and hiked the last half mile or so. I’m always glad to get out of the car and hike a bit through beautiful forest. The cameras under the side mirrors were super handy, allowing me to navigate between fallen trees and large rocks without getting out of the car to scout my line.
The next stop was a drive-up to W7O/CE-069, Sugarpine Mountain, a 10 mile drive through pumice powder. Thankfully I wasn’t following anyone up the road. The drive was a simple one for the new Outback and the lookout person was super friendly. I was able to work some people that were on their way to camp on 2m and a few HF contacts just below the tower.
My final drive-up summit this day was W7O/CE-170, Crescent Butte. I had thought this was going to be a quick drive-up summit with my expert charting, but I had charted a power line road which even the best jeep setup would be hard pressed to make. I did find a good road up but as it narrowed I had to make a decision, press on and possibly scratch my brand new car or backup a half mile to find a turn around. I pressed on and pinstriped the crap out of the new Outback. I think it will all buff out, but it’s always hard putting those first scratches on. I reasoned adventure was why I bought the car in the first place. The summit was a RF sierra sierra and it was getting late. My mood was a bit dark, I was hungry, and I needed to get to camp in time to setup before dark (I had forgotten that it doesn’t get dark up here till 9 pm). I did find an excellent service road on the way back and getting over to camp was straight forward.
Kings Canyon
Once at camp and a good night’s rest, I attacked 10 more summits over the next 5 days by myself and with Ray, KD8EQA, Deb (KD6DEB), Ted (W6TED), and others. Although Ted drives a tricked out Land Cruiser capable of doing extreme overlanding, I wanted to expand the performance envelope of the new Outback on some more challenging roads. I kid Ted that he had me lead the way so I could scout the trail for the Land Cruiser, but in reality it was just in case I got stuck on the way up, he’d be there to pull me out. The Outback exceeded expectations for sure. The hybrid system for AWD, cameras all around, electronic damping in Xmode, and avionics all performed extremely well.
WD6DEB, W6TED with N1CLC
The biggest hike for me on this trip was an 8.5 mile round-trip to North Paulina Peak (W7O/CE-014) on the first day. Next, I drove up to the top of Paulina Peak (W7O/CE-009) where I met Ray, KD8EQA again. Ray spent an enjoyable day on the summit chasing operators like myself as we went from summit to summit like bees pollinating the local flowers. Hiking in the cooler temps of the morning and then doing the drive-up worked out perfectly. I grabbed a beer and found a nice perch where I could setup my FT817 and catch other SOTA operators as they called out on 144.200 SSB. It was fun and relaxing.
Evenings at camp were probably the best part of the campout. Evenings consisted of sharing a beverage with friends, telling stories, getting tips and talking to some very smart people. After completing the two summits at Paulina Lake I needed help choosing summits for the days ahead. It’s super helpful to find people familiar with the area when planning the next day’s adventures. It was always fun to hear tails of adventure from other attendees. One day, Ted and I planned our adventure over breakfast. So many summits, so little time.
Some of us World Cup fans took a break from SOTA to catch a World Cup Soccer quarter final on the trail or restaurant during the day since the matches started at noon. Pictured, Deb (KD6DEB), Ted (W6TED), and myself took a break for lunch and a game at a nearby campground while we were out doing SOTA. Given a good location, we could watch the game via Starlink or local cell service on my iPad
Lunch & World Cup
There was a girls only expedition on the final day, Sunday to Lookout Mountain. I hear they had a lot of fun and bagged loads of contacts.
While Deb was on the mountain, Ted and I had a relaxing morning drinking coffee and planning the day's summits.
YL Activation
We welcomed three new SOTA Goats to the herd during the campout, Brian AB6D, Jarod NE7T, and Clinton KJ7LLS. The W6SOTA site has an article on Brian HERE.
I, along with a few others, couldn’t get enough when it came time to leave on Monday, so I hit a summit on the way home. I drove up to Lookout Mountain (W7O/CM-038) and got a lot more contacts from attendees before I left. I think I setup HF one time after I got to the campout and used 2m everywhere else.
AB6D, NE7T, KJ7LLS
I traveled to Portland after the campout to see my brother where we watched the two World Cup Semi-finals. It also gave me a chance to clean not only myself but also the car that had been running around on dust roads (not dirt, but compacted dust) for the past week. And, as you can see, I got some help from a visitor from Taiwan. I also changed the air filter on the car. I’m glad I did after seeing what came out when lightly tapping the old one on the ground.
I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to Amy, Tim, and the rest of the gang for one of the best SOTA adventures I’ve ever had.
