Parks on the Air and camping is a great combination and if you love both of those activities, I invite you to attend the 2nd annual Wisconsin POTA campout on October 4-6, 2024 at the Brunet Island State Park (POTA K-1442) in Cornell, WI.

What to Expect

Your hosts, Michael KB9VBR, Travis W9HDG, and Joe KD9CJX have been getting together for an autumn campout for a few years. Parks on the Air has been always been a highlight of these adventures. This year we are opening up our campout to the greater POTA community. This event will be part social activity and part Parks on the Air activation. You can activate as little or as much as you want, in whatever mode you choose. The sky is the limit. Learn new skills, see now other hams operate, and learn how to deal with interference when a bunch of hams get on the air at the same time. That’s always part of the fun. The weekend is guaranteed to be a blast.

A formalized list of events will be put together as we get closer to the date, but you can expect the following:

  • Friday evening social campfire
  • POTA 101 class for new activators
  • Saturday POTA activations, group and individual
  • Saturday evening pot luck dinner (bring a dish to pass)
  • and much much more

Camp the entire weekend or just come out for the day/evening. We’d love to have you either way.

Dates and Location

October 4-6, 2024

Brunet Island State Park
23125 255th St
Cornell, WI 54732

Parks on the Air K-1442

The campground is located right on the edge of Cornell and is within close proximity of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail and the Old Abe State Trail, both POTA entities. Cornell, WI is approximately 20 miles northeast of Chippewa Falls, WI and is not far from I-94 and State Hwy 29 in western Wisconsin.

Campground

Brunet Island State Park, on the Chippewa and Fisher rivers, offers more than 1,300 acres of scenic beauty and recreational opportunities. Quiet lagoons and channels are excellent for canoeing and wildlife watching. The rolling landscape in Chippewa County is a product of the most recent Ice Age. The park links to the Old Abe State Trail which runs from Cornell to Chippewa Falls.

Brunet Island State Park has two campground loops. The South Campground has 24 sites with electricity. It has a campsite accessible for people with disabilities and a shower building with flush toilets.

The North Campground has no electric service, but many of the 45 campsites are on the shoreline of the Chippewa River or its bays. Generators are NOT allowed in Brunet Island State Park.

Water will still be on this weekend and the shower house open. The park office is closed after Labor Day, so no other services will be available. Food, supplies, and firewood are available in nearby Cornell.

If you want to know what the campground and the campsite look like, Sconny Wandering has a great walkaround of this amazing campground

North Campground Loop

South Campground Loop

Important Details

Your hosts Michael, Travis, and Joe are in sites 61-63. If you are planning to camp, please reserve a site on that end of the campground loop (or anywhere else in the campground if you desire).

Campsite reservations may be made through the Wisconsin State Park System: https://wisconsin.goingtocamp.com/

As of June 1, 2024, Brunet Island State Park is full for the weekend. If you wish to participate, you have a couple of options. I’m sure there will be cancellations as some people that made a reservation may not be able to attend. On the campground reservation page, you can create a notification so you are alerted when a site opens up.

A second option is a stay at nearby Lake Wissota State Park. Also on the Chippewa River, Lake Wissota is about 20 miles southwest of Brunet Island and has availability for the weekend. You can drive up to Brunet Island for the activities on Saturday.

Finally, there may be campers willing to share a site. I’m working on a method to create that exchange of information.

There is no additional charge for the event. You will need a Wisconsin State Park sticker or other admission to enter the campground.

Please note that due to the overwhelming demand for the POTA campout, there are a limited number of campsites still available for this event. All of the site east of the bay on the north loop are all POTA campers. The remaining sites in the campground are on the west side of the bay and are a mix of POTA and non POTA campers. As we get closer to the date, I imagine people will drop out and sites will become available. If you are interested on being on a waitlist, please email me via the contact form and I can notify you if I hear of a participant dropping out or a site opening up.

If you are planning to attend, Please email Michael, KB9VBR, via the contact form or kb9vbr@jpole-antenna.com. Let me know your site number if you are camping, or give me a heads up if you are coming out for the day.

There is a modern shower house with flush toilets in the campground. It should be open yet on the first weekend of October. Vault toilets are available.

This is a family friendly event. Alcohol is permitted in accordance to state park rules. We only request that you conduct yourself in an appropriate manner.

This is not a Parks on the Air sanctioned event, you are responsible for your own actions. Event hosts assume no liability.