We are planning another Central Oregon SOTA event the weekend of August 25-27 in the area of Pine Mountain. This year we will Do-Si-Do the Pine Mountain and Pine Benchmark summits. A Do-Si-So, as defined by Bill-WJ7WJ, is a double activation of two adjacent summits by two groups. Trading places, you get activation points, chaser points, S2S points, and SOTA Completes. We will plan to camp in the valley between the two summits, there are many dispersed camping options for free or the Pine Mountain Campground up near the observatory.

October 14th at 9am, an eclipse with transit across Oregon. There's been some. interest in a SOTA campout in southern Oregon to coincide with the event. Location and details TBD. 

If you are interested in joining please email timn7kom@gmail.com with 2023 Eclipse Campout in the subject line. 

73 de Tim N7KOM

We detoured to Schonchin after going birdwatching at Lower Klamath NWR and Tulelake NWR, disappointed with so few birds and little water (Tulelake dry). It took a commitment to get over the Cascades from the Rogue Valley as there is a lot of snow, but once we reached the east side, the snow was minimal.

I activated these two peaks, NC116 and 118, during summer 2021. At the time, Weyerhaeuser had recently taken ownership of the parcel, and marked the area as open to public walk-in access. Unfortunately, Weyerhaeuser has now moved this land under a lease. Unless you can identify the lease owner and join their club for legal access, these peaks are no longer accessible to activators.

The recent update of the W7O ARM  (Association Reference Manual) moved the activation zone of Frog Lake Buttes to the higher of the two butte summits, which gave me a reason to repeat one of my annual snowshoe hikes, notch another unique, and collect a winter bonus.  This was my fourth trip to the summit (three in the winter, one in the summer).

Lenhart Butte is a drive-up or near drive-up just east of Sandy, Oregon. The access is via paved roads. Your GPS will guide you to the parking area, 45.34611, -122.1697,  or at least mine did.

The parking area is also in the activation zone, but is also pretty much in someone’s front yard.

Blue Ridge has moved a bit since it was NC-037. The vehicle access is the same as it was as written up here: http://www.pnwsota.org/blog/k7atn/2018-february-04/blue-ridge-or-february-2018

I'm running the Badger Mountain Challenge trail race this Saturday 25 Mar, which crosses through the AZ of Badger Mountain W7W/WE-061 as part of the course. I'd like to attempt a quick SOTA activation when I cross through the AZ on 146.58-FM. If you live in the area or know other Hams who are local, please monitor that freq and I'll log as many chasers as I can. I should be at the summit sometime between 1030 and Noon. Thanks in advance.

http://www.badgermountainchallenge.com/

Matt - W7MDN

The Larch Mtn access road will be closed for paving "most of 2023".  See https://www.multco.us/roads/webform/larch-mountain-road-paving-and-repair for the details.