After arriving Thursday afternoon at the W7O Campout, Ryan NN7M invited me to join him and his dog Tori for a hike to Tipsoo Peak. This summit was recently added as a new SOTA summit in Feb 2023, and was excited to hear this would be a first activation (Mark K7MAS also activated the summit the next day...and was part of the first UTC day activation)
Directions:
The summit is located NE of Diamond Lake. We headed north and then got onto Hwy 138 (heading north). From Hwy 138, we took a right (heading east) onto 4793 which is the road to Cinnamon Butte. This road was in good shape and after driving for 1.6 miles, there is a left turn for Cinnamon Butte. We kept going straight as it turned into road 100, and then drove for 3.3 miles until reaching the trailhead. Road 100 was pretty rough and narrower in parts, and a high clearance vehicle is required. There was limited parking, and only wider spots along the road to park.
Trail:
I tracked the hike at 6.5 miles total and 1,467 feet of gain. Trail was in great shape, and much of it was smooth trail (limited rocks and roots). There were a few trees that had blown over the trail, but they were easy to get around. Most of the trail had tree cover, and would be a nice option for hotter days.
Summit & Radio:
The summit had amazing views of the area! The main summit is rocky, but there were trees just below the summit (within the activation zone) that could be used for attaching a mast, etc. Ryan set up his mast and made some CW contacts, while I focused on 2m QSO's with those in the campground for the SOTA campout. Under normal conditions, you may make some 2m contacts...but would need to rely on HF.
POTA Note - this summit is also located within Umpqua National Forest K-4386.
Cinnamon Butte W7O/CS-055 is located nearby, and would be a great second summit. The gate was open to Cinnamon Butte during our campout, so activators were all able to drive to the summit.
Nothing like a sunset hike to Tipsoo as an amazing way to start the 2023 W7O Campout. I really enjoyed hiking with Ryan NN7M and having Tori lead the way!
