In preparation for the 2026 W7O Campout to be hosted at Crane Prairie Campground next to Crane Prairie Reservoir in Central Oregon, N7KOM, N7OLE, N7KOM’s YL and myself decided to scout this unactivated summit. It being the closest summit to the campground it makes sense that many operators would be interested in getting some intelligence on the hike.

We decided to go early in the day due to predicted thunder storms and to be the heat. This turned out to be a good choice as later in the day there was quarter sized hail in the area along with lots of thunders. Though it was a cooler day for August, it still got warm in the sun.

The obvious place to park and start the hike is an old quarry located at 43.75346, -121.76438. From here we followed and old, overgrown logging 2 track along the lower edge of a clear cut for about 0.6 mile. When we got back into larger timber we started bush wacking through manzanita, downed trees and other forest detritus , picking our way from lava flow to lava flow, working our way towards the summit.

After achieving the rim of the old caldera, we continued finding our way up the west ridge to the summit. Thankfully, there is an nice flat area on the top to operate. We tried 2M on HT’s but nothing heard so we setup the KX2 to work SSB on HF bands.

After making the contacts necessary to qualify the summit, I pulled out the new to me LMR Mountain Topper 3b to attempt to learn it on the fly. I hadn’t had time to check if it would power up, fortunately, it worked. The first couple of qso’s were to slow due to my not knowing how to change my keyer speed, but once I figured out the basics of the radio.

We took an alternate and more direct route down in hopes that it would involve less bushwacking. It was certainly more direct, but involved quite a lot of manzanita surfing. Whether or not it would be better than the uphill route is to be determined by a future activator, but both options are available for download at https://sotl.as/summits/W7O/CM-088.

Shukash Butte is a moderately difficult, bushwack of a hike. The top has some views through the trees but enough shade to keep you out of the direct sun. Access to the quarry is a very high quality, pumice road than any passenger car should be able to navigate. If you are looking for a challenging but doable hike, this one will fit the bill.