Never Before Activated - Cloud Peak Wilderness Area
From September 26th to the 28th, 2025, my wife and I activated the previously unactivated park US-6146, Cloud Peak Wilderness (Also US-4534). For those unfamiliar with U.S. wilderness designations, U.S. wilderness areas are designated as roadless and do not permit the use of motorized equipment. In fact, even trail clearing must be done with hand saws as chainsaws are not allowed, even by national forest personnel. It is easy to understand why no one has successfully activated this wilderness area. There are even signs stating "no wagons" directed at those bringing horses. The elevation of the area is relatively high and is covered in snow much of the year. Our entry trailhead is located at 8,200 ft, and our camp was situated at 8,560 ft (2,609 m). The tallest peak (Cloud Peak) in the Big Horn Mountains is 13,171ft (4015m).
To reach the park boundary requires hiking in from various dirt roads. Our camp location was 44.273082N, 106.997102W in grid DN64mg, Johnson County.
Our camp was 1.1 miles from the car. We tried to get all the equipment in with just two trips back and forth, but it took 3 trips and 5.5 miles of hiking with the gear to turn up the station. Some technical difficulties getting all bands to tune caused the third trip for the external tuner and a later-than-planned start.
Above, the two seasoned backpackers are taking in the first load. The old adage "you take what you own, not what you'd like" applies. I don't have portable gear, and that 2560 watt lithium battery is the only battery I have. Our light backpacking tent was too small for us and the radio gear in case it rained, so I'm carrying our 4-man car camping tent, and Andra is hefting in the 300 watt folding solar panel and charge controller. When I suggested this crazy idea, Andra was heading to some meetings in Canada in a week and a half, and we couldn't push this trip out too far or the weather might turn against us, so we decided to go a week after she returned from her trip. I pointed out that September 26th was our 26th wedding anniversary, but she was undeterred!
We set up a fan dipole with elements for 160m, 80m, 40m, and 20m, using my bow and arrow and a lot of weaving through the trees.
After overcoming some technical difficulties with a third trip to the car for the external tuner and a lot of wire detangling in the surrounding trees, I'm finally on the air. Temperatures are already dropping at our mountain perch.
Here is a better look at the rat's nest of wires we strung through the forest.
My staff photographer got me operating from every angle.
Sitting in my backpacking chair, typing on my leg on that tiny keyboard while trying not to knock the tablet off the bear cannister was quite a challenge. Here you can see the big LiFePO battery powering everything. The solar charge controller is just inside the tent wall.
Here is a look at the tent with the antenna in the background. Notice the steep drop down from the tent. Behind the camera woman, the ground continues to drop, steeply at first, then gradually for another 15 miles to the town of Buffalo at 5000ft elevation. The slope gain to the east must have been significant!
Dawg rests in the shade near the 300 watt folding panel. We actually got very little charging, as keeping the panel in the sun when surrounded by tall pine trees in every direction was nearly impossible. Fortunately, the enormous battery didn't really need it. After operating from Friday evening to Sunday morning, the battery was still over 50%!
Here I am on Saturday checking the state of charge and other statistics on the power system.
Click the image above to see a short movie Andra shot of me working Alaska and Spain.
The temperatures dropped rapidly after sunset on our mountain perch. We layered up and climbed into our sleeping bags. Knowing we had a lot of heavy gear to carry in, we made the decision not to carry in anything but a bag of trail mix (nuts). This meant we had to hike out to the car for meals (about 1.1 miles). I figured this would get me up off my butt for a stretch at least 3 times per day. It did, however, this added a lot of additional mileage. By the end of the operation, we had hiked over 16.5 miles.
Sunday morning, before sunup, I decided to try to work some 40m while Andra and Dawg slept in a bit. I don't think Dawg appreciated the camera flash going off! Over night temps were a bit below freezing. Total contacts during the activation, 741, including Spain on 160m!
After a few morning QSO's we hiked out for breakfast with the first load of gear, including that big battery. Dawg rests as we eat some cereal at the car. After a grueling effort to load heavy base gear uphill and putting up with my morning QSO's, Andra had so much fun, she said, "if you want to turn up the other parks in Wyoming that have never been activated, I'd be interested." Yes, gentleman, when I picked a wife, I chose wisely!
After emptying our backpacks, Andra and Dawg are climbing back up the trail for the second load of gear.
The fan dipole is down and rolled up; my IC-746 is bubble-wrapped, and the old tuner is all ready to be put into our packs.
As we drove out, I took a picture of the fall colors. The low temperatures have the aspens changing colors, and it looks spectacular. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and I really hope you managed to break the pileups and get this rare park for PoTA. Maybe one day, we'll do it again. Thanks and 73s, Mike (AB6GS), Andra, and Dawg.