Happy Summer SOTA Goats! Now that we have the W7O Sota campout behind us, it is time to start thinking about the next High Desert SOTA event, the 2nd Annual PNWSota Central Oregon S2S Party, scheduled for Saturday, August 26th. I plan to camp up on Pine Mtn just below the Observatory starting on Friday Aug 25th. There are a lot of dry camping options of the dirt road that splits off NF-2017 @ 43.79365546734924, -120.94649652397455. I have driven a front wheel drive Honda Element on that dirt road no problem in the past but plan to do some more recon leading up to the weekend to provide the best information I can. There is also a walk-in camping area at the Pine Mountain Observatory Campground. Pine Mountain is about a 40 min drive from Bend if you prefer a hotel or VRBO and want to participate in the Do Si Do of Pine Mountain, W7O/CE-058 and Pine Benchmark, W7O/CE-068. Optionally, you could camp anywhere in Central Oregon near a summit and work S2S with those on the Pines and/or anyone else in the area. Take a look at Sotl.as for other nearby summits. From Highway 20, take the Pine Mountain Rd South for approximately 7.5 miles. The road is good gravel but can have a lot of stutter bumps depending on when it was last graded.
* Do-Si-Do - 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.
Stayed tuned here or more details or email op@w7mtb.blog if you want to be kept up to date.