Annual Sacramento Family Ham Campout
July 2008

Our annual Ham Campout was held July 24-28 2008 at Mineral, CA, near the entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We had 10 families including 8 RVs, 1 tent, and 1 motel room. Three more families had shown an interest but had to back out due to family or other conflicts. Attending were (by campsite):

There was some HF operating in camp, with lots of room for antennas. We kept in touch while sightseeing with 2 meter FM, mobile and HTs.

Happy hour.	Kings Creek Falls hike. Photos by Marc, W6MAR

We were at 4900' elevation and had pleasant temperatures. Most of our day trips and hikes were in the Park, but exceptions worth mentioning were the Forest Service road from Mineral to near the North Entrance of the Park that made a perfect loop trip through the Park, and trips through Chester and around Lake Almanor. Hikes: Kings Creek Falls, Devastated Area (Walk), Summit Lake, Bumpass Hell, Devils Kitchen, and Boiling Springs Lake. Other stops in the Park included the Loomis Museum, which is currently the only Visitor Center open, Manzanita Lake where two kayaks were put on the water, and Drakesbad Guest Ranch where four of our hikers had lunch. Happy hour and some shared dinner dishes rounded out the days. If this sounds like everyone had a good time, that was what they all said.

Campground during scouting trip. Photos by Les, W6TEE

Next year? Most people going prefer RV hookups, which are mostly found at private campgrounds. These are more flexible for group reservations, but RV clubs have favorite places, making reservations for the following year while they are there the current year. This makes it hard to reserve campground spaces for a group in the year you are going. For this campout, I scouted campgrounds in October. One I was interested in was already booked in the range of dates that would work for us and another was closed for the season. Many at the higher elevations comfortable in July are closed until April or May. By then, it is quite hard to make group reservations anywhere. We try to accommodate tents and motel rooms or cabins too.

The campground we were at this year is unique at 4900' and the office is open all year. To get the combination of temperature and things to do, we had to travel further than I would have liked, four hours from Sacramento, but no one had a problem. Frequently, private campgrounds are not found above 3000' and when we have camped at that elevation, people thought it was too warm in July. I suggest that we try out-of-season, like early September, and go to one of the fine locations at 2000' or higher, closer to Sacramento and the Bay Area. I was asked what we do to encourage younger Hams, which could include anyone not retired! A closer location makes it easy to drive after work Friday, which was common for all of us in the past! But if we stay with July, we should take some action very soon.

People want to know why we ignore the many Forest Service campgrounds in the Sierras. For years, we did camp there and enjoyed them, but all within a reasonable distance restrict RV lengths to 24' or less.

Les, W6TEE