Holiday Letter 2007

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

You could tell if you’ve been following the stock market trend in the latter part of 2007 that the Sturtevants are once again planning to retire. Yup, the Dow has been on a bumpy decline just about from the time C.J. handed in her resignation to USHPA. The February Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine will be the last issue with C.J.’s editor column, and that means she will be finished editing in time to leave her computer at home when we take off for our South America adventure this January in Ecuador.

Last winter we squeezed in two trips south of the equator, one of the best ever to Chile, and the other to Brazil. We were not lucky with weather in Governador Valadares (several hours north of Rio) so the flying did not include the long cross-country flights we had hoped for. Still, the cultural experience was worth the trip, and we got to spend several days in Rio de Janeiro being tourists.

Around home George removed a couple of eyesore metal cabinets (remnants of the original house furnishings) and built new replacements – the tablesaw and router got a good workout especially on the raised panel doors. In addition, George replaced the old, rough-hewn coat tree with a wall-mounted coat rack, and built a bistro table and stools for use on the deck. Our roof, over 22 years old and suffering from the strong winds of last years big storms, had been on the list for repair for some time, so in October we finally decided to hire a contractor to replace the old asphalt shingles with an aluminum roof that is sure to outlast our tenure here.

In spite of working full time, C.J. found time to make two t-shirt quilts as gifts for special people. They came out really well and now she is looking forward to spending time with other sewing projects. George’s hobby project this year was building his first model airplane – a remote controlled sailplane – which he is still learning to fly.

It’s either the weather this past year, or we’ve gotten more discerning about flying conditions; whichever it is, we have spent less time chasing the wind with our paragliders. That does not mean that we haven’t had lots of good flights in Brazil, Idaho (for a maneuvers/safety clinic and later for the Riggins Resurrection Fly-in) Oregon, Utah, and locally, but probably fewer than last year. C.J. once again competed in the Rat Race and from there we went to the paragliding nationals in Lakeview as spectators. In other sports, we got out for several kayak trips, most notably to Orcas Island in the San Juans where we enjoyed staying in a cabin at Deer Harbor and paddling in glorious spring sunshine to nearby islands. We finally visited Tillicum Village on Blake Island, but by kayak rather than via the tour boat. The dinner and show were fun, and the walk back across the island to our campsite made it an adventure. During the winter we did several x-c ski tours here, in Chelan and near Mt. Bachelor. We are considering doing a ski trip to Yellowstone later this winter.

Now that you are here, you can continue to read in excruciating detail about our travels and recreation, just continue below. Please check out our photos at www.picasaweb.google.com/GSturtevant.

Best wishes for good health, good friends and good experiences in 2008.

C.J. and George

Utah Trip

November 6-20, 2007

Instead of another skiing trip to Redmond-Bend with Ginny and Wally, we chose the desert of southern Utah for our semi-annual family gathering.

We got a reasonably early start on Tuesday and drove pretty much straight through to Ontario, OR where we stayed in our favorite cheap Motel 6. The only thing worth a note was finding a Gandolfo's NY Deli. The owner of the one-month old franchise offered us a free cup of soup and lots of samples of the "Italian brain-freeze", gelatos. We shared a tasty reuben and then a dish of the Bavarian mint and Caramello gelatos. As we were about to leave the owner said, "See you in the morning." and gave us coupons for breakfast sandwiches. Needless to say, we went back for breakfast.

After a stop for gas at Costco in Nampa and great deals on outdoor gear at Sierra Trading Post in Meridian, we drove on along I-84 past Boise, Twin Falls, and Burley (snow on Mt. Harrison), turned south to I-15 and drove over Black Pine summit (ca 5500 ft) and down past our old hang gliding sites at Brigham City and Willard Pk. We used Lisa's directions and pulled into the Harlamert's driveway around 1600. Their rented house butts up against the high foothills east of downtown Salt Lake City and we were able to take a walk along the ridge to where we could see I-80 heading up Parley's Canyon.

C.J. had talked to Alicia Wednesday and found out that the Point had been good for flying but only between 0700 and 0900, so we were up at 0615 and heading down I-215 by 7 a.m. We bumbled our way to the south side and found only a few people in the air, but by the time we had gotten set up, the wind had picked up and I was able to get a couple of 10-min toplanding flights. C.J. found that her foot hurt too much to kite her glider and had to pack up without flying. We drove over to Alicia and Rob's house to get her CD for the magazine then went back to meet Lisa in time to pick Chuck up at the airport. Instead of heading home, Chuck took us up Emigration Canyon (past the "This is the place" monument and park) to Ruth's Diner, then around the downtown district before picking up Scott at Judge HS. We spent another night with the Harlamerts after a delicious soup and bread dinner.

Friday - We left Salt Lake City about 0930 and had an uneventful cruise down I-15 with a brief stop at a tourist info place in Fillmore (in Millard County!). Past Cedar City we spotted a Zion National Park visitor center for the Kolob Canyons section of the park. It took a few miles to decide to take the time to check it out but we pulled a U-turn and went back. It was definitely worthwhile to take the time to drive the five-mile road along the red rock canyons and points. Next we checked in at ORE in St George, but our condo was not yet ready so we drove back to Washington City and hit Costco for gas and a big ham, a couple loaves of bread and other goodies. By the time we got back to ORE we were cleared to check in and used a hotel cart to move our stuff into the condo which looks out over the golf course. Ginny and Wally showed up an hour or so later and we had the ham and roasted veggies for dinner. Later, C.J. gave Wally the t-shirt quilt she had made for him.

Saturday - We talked Ginny and Wally into going back to the Kolob Canyons with us for a hike up the middle fork of Taylor Creek . We left around 1000 and while we were getting gas at Maverik, a local pilot with a tow rig in his truck spotted us and gave us a bit of an introduction to flying in the area. The weather was perfect for a hike in the canyons - warm and sunny with a bright blue sky. We took the trail to its end at Double Arch Alcove, (photo, right) about 2.5 mi, then followed the stream course a bit farther to a big solution tube before turning back. On the way back we drove down through Toquerville, La Verkin and Hurricane to try to figure out where the launch and landing might be for the Hurricane
takeoff. We didn't find anything definitely but st least got the lay of the land. Back at the condo we had ham again (third time today including ham scramble for breakfast and ham sandwiches for lunch ).

Sunday - We took both cars to Las Vegas and south to Jean (2hr 53 min) to meet the Desert Skywalkers for a fly-in on the dry lake just north of Jean. Unfortunately the wind was strong and gusty so paraglider flying looked very unlikely. We stuck around for two or three hours, long enough to watch one hang glider pilot take two tows behind a trailer-mounted hydraulic payout winch (photo, right). Ginny had already bailed back to Jean where she could make cell phone calls so we fit Wally and his huge pack in the Outback and caught up with her there. We split up then and C.J. and I stopped in Las Vegas to restock our rum, gin and kirsch supply at a discount liquor store. Then we drove up the Strip in stop and go traffic (mostly stop) to rubberneck the megaresorts/casinos. We gave that up after 30 minutes or more of
creeping along and headed back to I-15 near Caesars Palace. The airshow was still in progress as we passed Nellis AFB but there was no more black smoke from the earlier bombing runs. Deciding that we were ready for a lunch break, we got off the freeway and drove down into Valley of Fire state park. It was full of bright red rock much of it pockmarked with solution cavities. We had lunch near a rock with petroglyphs then drove around a scenic loop and on out of the park as it began to get dark (In PST darkness here at this time of the year is at 1700!). We made it back to the condo by 1930 or so with only a stop to get out some water and buy a postcard in Mesquite, a casino town just on the Nevada border with Arizona.

Monday - We were hoping for an early start for hiking in Zion but Ginny had had a bad night and didn't get much sleep. Around 1145 or so we got on the road and headed to Zion Canyon via Hurricane, La Verkin and Springdale. We made a stop at the visitor center and decided on the Angels Landing hike which had a gain of 1500 ft in 2 miles. Ginny decided that she didn't want to do a strenuous hike and elected to stay along the Virgin River near the Grotto trailhead. Wally, C.J. and I started along the sandy trail following the river upstream. The trail climbed gradually at first and we could not see how we were going to gain all that elevation because the cliffs appeared to block our way. Only as we got closer could we see that the trail switchbacked up the face on retaining walls built of the same red sandstone as the cliff walls. As we reached the vertical headwall, a slot appeared and we entered a narrow hanging valley known as Refrigerator Canyon. At the end of the almost flat slope of the canyon we started up the cunningly contrived series of twenty-one short switchbacks known as Walter's Wiggles for a former park superintendent. At the top of the Wiggles is Scouts Lookout and the last level resting place before the steep climb to Angels Landing. We stopped for lunch and a visit to the composting toilets before tackling the first segment of the steep "trail" to thesummit of the Landing. I went only a little ways beyond the first bump; even with handrails made of thick chains, it was nervewracking to negotiate the narrow ledge made up of sloping slabs of red sandstone. We returned to the car down the many switchbacks of the mostly paved (!) trail meeting Ginny on the way who had been photographing what she thought were moose. Back at the car we drove up to the end of the canyon and back looking for moose along the river. As we got almost back
to Grotto, we saw some mule deer including a big buck with full antlers. These were what Ginny had been stalking and photographing and we thought that they might have been elk (but a ranger later told us that there were no moose or elk in the park). On the way out of the park we passed several groups of photographers who were taking advantage of the sunset light to shoot the colorful canyon walls. We stopped at the gate and tried our hand at doing the same. We used up enough time that when we were out of the canyon, the sun had set and did not shine in our eyes during the drive home to the condo.

Tuesday - C.J. and I got up before 0700 to say goodbye to Ginny who was taking a flight home from Las Vegas. Wally was running the shuttle and hoped to be back by noon so we could go do something with the rest of the day. Around 1100 or so I decided to try the new GPS-Street Atlas combination to find the launch near Warner Canyon that the locals call "The Usual". It worked fairly well for helping me keep track of where I was but I also needed the gazetteer and the description of how to find it from the local we had talked to on Saturday. The road to launch was pretty steep and rocky but the Outback made it up just fine. I left a streamer and drove down to the LZ (basically the road below) and tied one there also. Wally was already back when I got home after a stop at Smiths for dinner supplies so we had lunch and then, with phoned directions from Jeff O'Brien, we headed off to find and fly the launch on the Hurricane Cliffs just south of Molly's Nipple. The directions were pretty good and the road was okay except for one steep, rutted section that really needed 4WD or, at least, Wally's driving skill. The wind was blowing right in, a bit light but it seemed to be getting stronger so the plan was for C.J. and Wally to launch and, if they could, topland so I could fly. Alas, the wind velocity decreased and they only had 8-minute flights to a field below while I drove down, about a 35-min trip. After a dinner of ham (again!) in macaroni and cheese, we discussed the possibility of flying Cedar Mtn just outside of Cedar City tomorrow. Wally was concerned about the long reach out to a field and C.J. checked the forecast to find that the winds are supposed to be over the back. We'll check in the morning.

Wednesday - After breakfast, Wally called Thomas, a local instructor, and asked about flying today. He recommended Cedar City and gave Wally directions to launch - sort of. We took both cars so that we could all fly and still retrieve. At Cedar City we found the overgrown field behind a strip mall containing Albertsons and Staples and left Wally's car there. Because it was only 1030 or so and the launch side of the mountain was not yet in the sun, we decided to drive the 23 miles up to Cedar Breaks National Monument and then come back later when the sun's heating had set up some convective winds. On the way up I-15 to Cedar City we had encountered strong north winds but there was little or no wind in the town itself. Cedar Breaks was operating (to use the term loosely) on its winter schedule so no fees were being collected and all the rest rooms and the visitor center were closed. We stopped at a few overlooks and also hiked the one-mile Alpine Pond loop. The views were spectacular with the colorful rocks set off by the new snow. At an elevation of over 10,000 ft, winter had already arrived. It was after noon when we started down from Cedar Breaks and we spent the next couple of hours driving and walking around Cedar Mountain trying to figure out where the launch might be. The "C" was easy to find - right on the paved Right Hand Canyon Road, but there did not seem to be a clear area to launch below the guardrails of the overlook and it looked like a long glide out to the LZ. We drove farther up the mountain looking at other pullouts and spur roads until we reached the high point on the shoulder of the mountain and the end of the paved road. It might have been possible to drive up higher on the shoulder up a dirt road but there was a gate and we did not check to see if the chain was locked or just wrapped around the bars. Even so, we would have been even farther from the LZ even though we were higher. We tried one more spur road above the "C", walking up a rutted road to a building with several antennas, then climbing farther to another set of antennas. Neither place looked like a good launch. So we went back down and had lunch at the "C" then headed back south to St. George with the wind at our backs. By the time we had returned to exit 6, the wind was light and occasionally south so we drove out to the "The Usual" in Warner Canyon. The wind looked possible but by the time we had reached launch, it was blowing strongly over the back from the north. We returned to the condo for a last dinner of ham with Wally who is heading home early tomorrow.

Thursday - We woke up early to see Wally off but he must have just gone out the door and was on his way by 0630. Not to be outdone, we packed up our day gear after a quick breakfast and got on the road to Bryce Canyon National Park by 0740. The route took us through Zion Canyon and up the switchbacks and through the mile-long tunnel. After that, the route was not particularly interesting until we got onto SR 12 and headed up Red Canyon just a few miles from Bryce. It is worthwhile to note that many of the USFS and NP campgrounds were closed as were some of the private ones, as well, this late in the season. The weather during the day was comfortable in the sun but clearly it was going to be cold/below freezing at night. We stopped at the Bryce Visitors Center and talked to the ranger about hikes and he recommended "the best 3-mile hike in the world". After picking up a couple of enameled pins and a geology book, we headed for Sunrise Point and took the Queens Garden trail down into the "canyon" among the hoodoos. The trail intersected the Navajo Loop trail and we climbed back up to Sunset Point steeply through the switchbacks of Wall Street. A short half-mile walk along the rim took us back to the car. From there we drove to the end of the road at Rainbow (9110 ft) and Yovimba Point where the ravens acted like gray jays, walking up close to us as we snacked on a pear. They didn't exactly "beg" for food, but it was clear what they wanted. They
scrambled away only when a hawk appeared overhead. On the way back we made a few other overlook stops and then hit the road for home around 1530 so that we would not have to drive in the dark. We took SR 14 over the 9910 ft pass and down Cedar Canyon to Cedar City and home via I-15. We had almost the last of the ham and some "mustgoes" from the fridge and a measly dixie cup of ice cream from the office (for their "ice cream social"). Tomorrow we will try to make it to Twin Falls; our previous plan of traveling through Nevada fell through when the Street Atlas program claimed it would be 5 hours longer to go up US 93 and US 95 to Winnemucca and north. So we are going to retrace our route back up I-15 and I-84.

Friday – Up at 0600, we were on the road by 0740 having had a good breakfast, packed up and turned in our keys. We made a quick stop at the Kolob Canyons visitor center to drop off our recyclables since we found no recycling bins in St. George. We stopped again at Fillmore to use the rest room and see how the lady was doing with her jigsaw puzzle (she wasn’t finished with the one she had started last Friday). We pushed back our lunch time so that we could grab a Costco hot dog when we stopped for gas in Sandy. The smog, there’s no other word for it, was worse than it was last week – very dense. We were glad to get through SLC and on up the road. Traffic lessened as we got to Ogden and by the time we were passing Tremonton on I-84, the smog had disappeared (although it appeared to be still thick up I-15. We lost the sunshine not long after we stopped at the first Idaho rest area and we were in and out of light rain before we reached Twin Falls around 1645. After checking into our Motel 6, we hung out for a while before choosing an eating place in the downtown area – Gertie’s Brick Oven Cookery. Gerties had a new-to-us model for a pizza place – a buffet where the salads and some pastas were arranged as usual but the pizza was brought out by waitresses and carried around to the tables where you could either accept a slice or wave them off. We had several different varieties but passed on the Idaho potatoes and bacon and the chicken cashew. Later, dessert pizzas like raspberry, cookies and cream, and s’mores were offered. Oooh, I ate too much!

Saturday - It wasn't raining when we left at 0730 but we would be driving through occasional showers most of the way home almost until we reached North Bend. We made the required stops at Sierra Trading Post and Costco in the Boise-Nampa-Caldwell area and then stopped for gas one more time at the newly-moved Costco in Union Gap. Other than that and a treat stop at Starbucks in the Tri-Cities, it was mostly a pedal-to-the-metal all the way home. We were surprised to get in just at 1700 - plenty of time to unload and warm up the house before crashing in our own bed.

Directions to hurricane Launch (Molly'sNipple):
Here are the directions that Jeff O'Brien gave me:

Take SR 59 E from Hurricane about 3 miles. At milepost 19 (on left side of road) turn R onto a dirt road and go 3.3 miles. Turn R and go 0.3 miles. Turn R, continue about 2.1 miles and turn R again. Pass thru a gate and continue up hill around a ridge. At some point the road becomes very rough as it climbs steeply for a short distance. 4WD and high clearance are needed just on the one short stretch. It's about 0.5 mi to launch from here. Launch is a clearing south of Molly's Nipple at N 37* 07.436' W 113* 17.858'. We landed in a field across the road and beyond the powerlines from launch and the owners came by and said they were glad we chose to land in their field (!) It is at approximately N 37* 07.607 W 113* 18.665'

Directions to "The Usual" near St George:

From I-15 Exit 6, go E on Bluff Road which becomes Riverside. Turn R on River then take a left at the next light (Stakefarm Rd, now called 1450). At the end of the road turn R and then take the next left (may be 1650 or 1580). Take the next-to-last right and follow that through a 90 degree left and a 90 degree right. Soon afterwards, you will see three houses on the right. Take a left on a gravel road across from the houses and proceed up hill 0.5 mi. Just after crossing a cattleguard, turn into an area used for target practice and stay to the right dropping down and crossing a wash, then up steeply on gravel and slickrock to an obvious launch. N 37.04762 * W 113.47593* The LZ, if conditions are not toplandable, is anywhere out front or on the gravel road.

Women’s Fly-In and Halloween Party

October 27-28, 2007

This must be about the “umpteenth annual" women’s fly-in, and we’ve attended almost all of them from the early days at Saddle Mountain in the early 90s.

This year we got a jump on the flying by heading for Saddle on Friday. Even before we arrived at the LZ, we could see paragliders in the air. We picked up Mike from Spokane who had sunk out and headed for the top where we found that the velocity had increased enough to keep everyone on the ground. C.J. fortunately had brought her Falcon and quickly set it up and launched into 15-20 mph NE winds. She got quite a long flight all by her self before winds moderated enough for us para-people to take off. I flew two short (10-15 min) flights toplanding each time in fairly strong conditions. C.J. chose to land in the LZ rather than risk the turbulence during a landing on launch, and I drove down to pick her up. By the time we were on the road at 1700 or so, people were still flying and apparently conditions even improved as the full moon rose around sunset.

We checked into our free room at the Best Western (winnings from the Beach’N last May) and bought a roast chicken at Safeway for dinner. Saturday morning’s sky looked clear but the temperature was only slowly rising out of the 20s. Since there was no rush, we met Peter and Naomi in the Chelan Falls LZ around 1100 and rode up to launch with them. I spent most of the early afternoon helping lay out wings on launch while C.J. got two flights. As conditions started to improve (slightly, the breeze continued to come up the east launch), I gathered my gear and launched from the south launch and had to apply considerable correction to keep my wing from flying me into the left-side rock. There was enough lift toward Green Monster to climb above launch and maintain for a bit but it was short-lived and I ran for 3-Tree and on down the spine working scraps of lift here and there. Finally, I reached the rocky ridge just above Chelan Falls and my vario indicated another piece of rising air. I managed to hang out and climb enough to extend my flight to close to a half hour. Later we drove Peter up to get his truck and C.J. got another flight. Back at the hotel, we readied our costumes: C.J. was a rat from the Rat Race (paragliding comp at Woodrat Mtn. in S Oregon) and I was a GPS complete with buttons and a screen showing my track, altitude and distance to goal. Other costumes at the party were either more elaborate or more skimpy, and the Canadians were hilarious with their theme “rock stars in rehab” complete with a soundtrack. Murdoch and Jan took best couple with their ‘Dead Elvis’, ScoobyDoo was the best male, Jaye had the best pie, and Colleen’s ‘Courtney Love’ took the prize for Best Butt of the Butte. For once there was more food than could be consumed, although the influence of a local WalMart could be easily detected.

Sunday looked to be a repeat of Saturday except that the wind was a bit stronger on launch. Nevertheless, some people were still crashing through the bushes as they tried to take off. I waited until 1400 to launch and then, when I got in the air, found that I had not unzipped my flight deck cover or turned on my instruments. After dealing with that I was far from the lift around launch and had to fly the 3-Tree route again. Fortunately, the same ‘last chance’ ridge was soarable again and I gained a couple hundred feet flying wingtip to wingtip with one or more gliders, and once again extended my flight time. After packing up and having lunch I waited around for C.J. to fly again. Late in the afternoon Terry Crippen had a spectacular crash in the LZ when he got distracted by a paraglider landing on the west side of the field and his right leading edge hit a tree and spun him into the ground. Aside from pretzeled down tubes and a possible damaged keel, he was unhurt. We packed up, gave Peter and Naomi a ride to the top, and headed out early enough to have light for the drive over Blewett Pass with its bright yellow larch.

As a fund raiser, this had to be one of the best fly-ins ever with at least 80 pilots signed up for a gross of $2000. Absent from the festivities were Dan Nelson, Lynn Bentley, Heather St. Clair, Jared, and practically all the old timers who were flying in the early years when we got started in paragliding.

Newhall E-Burg Party Weekend - October 6-7, 2007

Thanks to Patti Fujii, we received an invitation to this fun event last year. It was a blast then, and this year made it two in a row.

Saturday - We arrived at the Newhall ranch shortly after the mystically significant time of 11:11 and almost immediately began lobbying for heading to Baldy. Finally the inertia was overcome and two vehicles made the trek into the Yakima Canyon. The sky was only partially obscured by high cloud and some lower cumulus so David Byrne launched into a cycle that collapsed first one tip and then the other. Nevertheless, he quickly climbed above launch and initiated a rush to set up and launch. The rest of us were not so lucky: having lost the moment of sunshine, we ridge soared and occasionally thermalled as we scratched our way down the ridge eventually landing in the Big Pine LZ (even Joe Sullivan and Meredyth). Ernie saved us a long walk by driving the truck down from the top. He picked us up and dropped us at the north LZ where we recovered Greg’s GMC while he started back to get Dave who had passed The Bowl and landed in the Umtanum CG parking lot. Just at that moment, Dave arrived having inveigled a ride with a flyfisher person. We got back to the ranch in time to start some serious snacking but interrupted it to think again of flying. While it was still light we walked west from the ranch along the bluff trying to find a place where the wind was “less crossed” and found a possible launch. Dave once again took off first for a quick sledder to a gravel bar in the Yakima River. Ernie quickly followed but misjudged the wind speed and landed with his feet in the water and his wing likewise. Fortunately, at that point the current was slow or nonexistent, so a case of wet feet was the worst he suffered. Soon however it was time for some serious eating, and then dinner. Food-getting was pretty continuous, not to mention the wine sampling! Dave had brought a bunch of salmon filets and the Newhalls provided some excellent steaks; there were salads and breads; and don’t get me started about the desserts (pumpkin cheesecake, pies – mostly eaten by Murdoch - and ice cream to name a few).

Sunday started with a big breakfast and, when we could move again, most of us ended up down at the lower pond fly fishing or learning to fly fish. By noon the pilots who wanted to go flying managed to drag most of the fisherfolk away from the pond except for newbies Murdoch and Jaye. Baldy was in the sun with scattered clouds but it was breezy at the bottom and too strong for fun at the top. We went back to Eburg and had lunch/dinner and then the wind switched from kind of east to SE or S and the ridge in front of the house began to look like a possibility. Ernie got his wing out to kite and then momentum grew and vehicles headed for the bump on the ridge east of the house where Ernie launched and scratched a bit before landing below. Dave Byrne was next and he got up and soared followed by 4 or 5 others. It felt too strong for me but Greg, Murdoch, Steve, Rob, and Chris all got into the air and soared in that bowl and back towards the house. The sky looked kind of threatening towards the west but the wind mellowed and I laid out and Beth was ready to get her gear on. As soon as I clipped in, a gust rolled my wing up from the leading edge and the guys in the air started doing scare-o-batics. It had completely switched and it felt like a mini gust front. Everyone landed safely in fields next to highway 10 - we packed up and said goodbye in the LZ. We weren't far up the road to Cle Elum before we ran into the rain and it continued almost all the way to North Bend. The Newhalls throw a great party weekend!

Chelan Bike & Fly and Banks Lake Paddle - September 21-23, 2007

An annual event, the Chelan Bike and Fly is a fundraiser for Chelan Butte. CBCC and NWPC contract with Washington State Dept of Natural Resources (launch area) and the Chelan County PUD (landing zones) for use of the site year round. This year the turnout was a bit lower than usual due to the forecast for "breezy" in Eastern Washington. We brought our kayak along so that we would have an alternate activity if the forecast turned out to be correct.

Friday - The forecast wasn't awesome but the weather looked better and better as we crossed Snoqualmie and Blewett passes. I t wasn't until we were cruising down the east side of the pass that I remembered that I had not put the tent in the Trooper. Dang! A quick stop at Wal Mart in Wenatchee solved that problem with a $20 el cheapo special. A more pleasant surprise was to find that the off season AND senior rate at Beebe CG was only $10 per night. Yay! Since we had noticed strong wind on the river on the way up to Chelan we staked down the new tent before heading over to the LZ and meeting up with the northern contingent - Delvin, Sid, Doug and Jeff Beck. Conditions were light on Between the Rocks - obviously the wind down river had not arrived yet - and we got an extended sledder to the soccer field. Jeff drove us back up to retrieve the Trooper and C.J. decided not to fly in the increasing wind up Green Monster. We went back to camp to prepare a somewhat early dinner in the light and end-of-the-day warmth. After assembling the propane stove I couldn't get it to light. I tried reassembling it and checking if there was gas, finally I looked closely at the valve and noticed that an earwig had been crushed into it and was blocking the gas flow. With tweezers and a stripped piece of twist tie I scraped out the bug and got the stove working so we could heat our zuke soup and rolls.

Saturday - The wind didn't come up until after midnight, but then it blew and gusted all night. The Wal Mart tent survived handily and didn't even deform that badly, surprising considering the small diameter of the poles and lack of guy lines. We went over to the soccer field at 0900 to help Lori set up the spot; pilots were already waiting to sign up -a good sign. However, the wind was seriously strong and we didn't even go up to launch but instead went back to camp and loaded the kayak and unloaded all the wings. After a stop to check out Larry's training hill at the old gravel pit, we continued up McNeil canyon and across the flats. We had forgotten that there was no gas in Mansfield so we had to drive past the Barker Canyon turnoff and get some expensive gas in Grand Coulee. While there we visited Crown Point vista which looks out over the town directly towards the dam. Back at Barker Canyon we found an easy place to put the boat in the water at a gravel beach near the boat launch. There was a pretty good south wind blowing and we tried paddling into it just to be sure that it wasn't too hard to make headway. It seemed to be no problem so we turned downwind and paddled a mile or so to a beach for lunch. After lazing around for a while we headed east along the smooth rocky shore until we reached the long, narrow inlet to the north. Paddling down the inlet under the rocky cliffs was easy but the wind seemed to be picking up and we didn't want to get stuck having to return to the car in even stronger conditions. As it was, there were whitecaps only when a gust would blow through and we were making at least 2.5 mph the whole time. It looked like there are multiple places to camp along the shore (and it was clear that there had been multiple people camping in the past). We met almost no one during our paddle but that may be different in the summer. Instead of heading back to Chelan through Leahy and Sims Corner, we drove back into Grand Coulee, through Electric City and on around Banks Lake. We made one extended stop a mile north of Northrup Canyon to walk out to the local swimming hole. It was too windy/cold for swimming and we had no intention of diving off the high rocks, anyway, but it is an interesting site. We saw a school (?) of a dozen large bass just hanging out on or near the water surface. I guess we'll have to return someday at least to check out the wildlife area up Northrup Canyon. We crossed the dam at the south end of the lake and continued west on SR 2 until Farmer where we turned north on 172 and then back down McNeil Canyon. to camp. C.J. took a shower while I reserved a table for dinner at Campbells at 1930. We definitely got our money's worth out of the "dinner for two" gift certificate which C.J. had won at the Beach'N last May. We had an appetizer, two excellent salads, steak and halibut, and dessert. All we paid for were the beer, wine, and tip. Thanks for the donation, Campbells! Back at camp we stopped by the northenders' campfire to see if we had missed any good flying and were surprised to hear that there was any flying at all.

Sunday - It was barely warm enough to make breakfast enjoyable, not that we spent much time on it since we were still somewhat stuffed from last night's dinner. The wind in the LZ, when we arrived around 0930, was pretty strong from the east so we didn't hold out much hope for flying. Surprisingly we started getting reports from the top of the Butte that people were flying the lake side (which faces west). We headed up and, sure enough, it was soarable and it looked pretty smooth. I got set up and off before C.J., and found the air a bit twitchy but I headed west anyway to try to reach the ridge. By the time I had gotten to the saddle I was below the top of the next bump so I turned around and returned to the spine near launch. I got back up and then flew over launch where C.J. was just getting into the air for a nice long flight to 6200 feet to Farnham Canyon and back to the soccer field. I worked sink and managed to topland smoothly near the porta potties. Apparently C.J.'s radio battery had died and I wasn't able to reach her, so I waited on top for a while trying to decide if I would fly again. I was just about ready to go to launch (it was still Lakeside) when Peggy's husband had a collapse, spin and general ugly maneuvers clinic. I packed my gear and drove down to find C.J. just finishing packing up. After a bit we went back to camp and packed up the new tent, the old gear and the kayak, made a last stop at the LZ and headed for home. The Orondo Ciderworks sucked us in with the promise of good cider and after a sample we agreed that it was good enough to buy a gallon. We got home around 1730 and C.J. immediately went back to work since Jamie had sent the .pdf of the back half of the magazine.

Northern Lights Fly-In Sept 14-16 2007

The Rainier Paragliding Club, established by Kim Smith when he moved from Issaquah and Tiger Mountain to Cinnabar and Bremer Ridge, has branched out geographically from its roots. There are now eight or more pilot members in the Port Townsend/Bainbridge Island area. So it makes sense for one of their fly-ins to be held on the Olympic Peninsula.

We arrived Friday afternoon after a leisurely start and various detours to avoid traffic congestion, and a stop for lunch at a park overlooking the recently completed second span of the Tacoma Narrows bridge. Mike McIntyre's wife, Arliss, welcomed us to their yard where we set up our tent, then offered us a map to the Blyn site where Mike had taken Don Daly and Chris King for a flight. It was about a 30 min drive to the LZ and then maybe another half-hour to the launch, which looked a LOT better than it did 15 or 20 years ago when Dave Chuljian, a surfer, hang glider and dentist from PT, took us up there. John Erickson, who had ridden up with us, decided to drive so Mike launched just as the wind speed went to zero. Neither C.J. nor I felt that our wings were sufficiently pressurized to make the transition from launch to air over a steep log pile, so we aborted and drove the vehicles down. On the way back we stopped at QFC in Hadlock and picked up a roasted chicken and some good bread for dinner. By the time we reached "camp", Mike had a campfire going and more pilots were arriving.

Saturday we got out of camp around 1100 and rendezvoused at the Brinnon Motel where we parked some cars and carpooled to the 2Bear LZ, then up the winding a brushy road to launch. It was in fact the same one C.J. and I had launched from twenty-five years ago with our old Dove when Steve Hollister, Rolf Johansen and others had taken us here on a road trip. Conditions were very light but got better, if not good enough for the locals to launch. However, CC Cunningham had seen two turkey vultures climb out from below launch, and he was convinced that it was time to go. That was good enough for us and we followed CC off launch with forward inflations. We all had nearly 20 minutes with some definite good climbs in very smooth air. The three pilots who followed us were a little too late but had smooth sledders. It may not have been quite dinner time but we had all skipped lunch and were ready to adjourn to the Geoduck Tavern in Brinnon. In spite of the Hood Canal seascape visible from the windows, burgers and beer were the predominant choice, although C.J.had the chowder and calamari. We made another stop at QFC on the way back to camp to pick up fixings for smores which were a big hit around the campfire that night.

Sunday dawned gray and gloomy and the forecast was for rain, although some pilots tried to convince themselves otherwise. We got the tent (the new condo-size Tomie Peak) down and everything packed up before it really started to rain around 1000. After a tour of Arliss' impressive stone carving workshop, we left for Port Townsend and the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium at Fort Worden State Park. There was no charge to walk along the beach looking at the hundreds of demo kayaks and booths of other gear. We talked to a New Zealand exporter (Incept) who had a bunch of inflatable sea kayaks and one nice-looking white water boat. We also stopped at the Seda display and, just for fun, tried picking up the Tango remembering how heavy the one we borrowed from Annie was. We were shocked to find it felt lighter than our Gemini even though it is much longer (3 ft longer!). That's something to think about for the future.

From Port Townsend we headed south and across the Hood Canal Floating Bridge to Port Orchard where we spent the rest of the day visiting with Michelle DeVoe. Later, Bill Beck showed up and we had a delicious dinner of eggplant parmigiana. Home by 2200.

Saddle Mtn XC Flight Sep 8, 2007

Weather forecast looked good in the morning. Patti and Steve agreed, so we were on the road by 0945. We found the gate at the LZ locked and a second gate of barbed wire beyond that. Steve left his big white van at the Crab Creek ORV park and we headed up. The road has a coat of coarse gravel and the upper gully has some deep sandy spots but we were on top by 1230 or so and were surprised to find no one else there. The wind was light and straight in so we wasted no time getting geared up. However, by the time we were ready to launch, it was gusting and blowing pretty hard. It wasn’t until after 1400 that the cycles became more regular and the gusts less violent. I launched first in a lull and started sinking as I headed right so I turned back and returned to launch, still getting lower. Finally I turned east and headed to the microwave tower where I began climbing in edgy thermal lift. At that point I cut the ties to the launch area and the LZ and continued east.

The air was pretty turbulent and I spent more time just flying straight at first but gradually either I got more comfortable or the air smoothed out and I was able to make use of the thermals. At one point I hit lift that caused my vario to fill the scale and begin the second scale so it was more than 1000 fpm up …and smooth. As I approached the first power lines at about six miles, I was getting low and this was the low point on the ridge anyway. I was too low to safely cross the lines so I turned away from the hill and stumbled into some good lift which I cored up well above the ridge and power lines. At some point I reached my highest altitude of the flight – 4600 ft. msl. My goal had been to fly more than ten miles so I could count this flight as a cross-country flight but as I passed that mark I was in full XC mode. My track on Google Earth shows the typical pattern of spiraling up in a thermal and then going on glide to the next thermal and spiraling up again.

The ridge changed character becoming less cliff-y and developing a secondary ridge north of the main ridge. I could see the tower on Wahatis in the far distance and thought that it was unlikely I would get that far. At 12.7 miles I passed the point where the Crab Creek Road turns away from the ridge and a smaller road continues to the east. I started getting low again and radioed my position. There were big “pivot” fields below on the bench but it looked like it would be a pretty long walk out just to the road. So I started heading northeast hoping to cross a canyon and land on a farm road but I was sinking pretty fast. Just then I hit another good patch of lift and climbed high enough to make the valley road easily. It seemed like a smart thing to do, so I continued heading out and found still more lift in the valley. The buoyant air allowed me to stretch my flight to a good field 15.98 miles from launch and just about even with Wahatis. After packing up I started walking along the road; only one car passed me before Steve and C.J. pulled up in the van. I was glad I didn’t have to walk too much farther even though the weather was pleasant for Eastern Washington.

I really thought a lot about how similar the flying was to my experience in Iquique, Chile, last year. You could just keep flying along the ridge and even when you were sinking, you could be pretty sure that you would run into a thermal before you hit the ground. Also, knowing that we had a retrieve vehicle in the LZ freed me up from feeling like I had to topland. Patti did the noble thing and landed on top near the microwave tower so we didn’t have to drive up to retrieve the Trooper. Both C.J. and Steve decided to land in the sand at the bottom because the air seemed too squirrelly for a toplanding.

Riggins Resurrection Fly-in - August 31-Sep 3 2007

We got off with a reasonable start time of 0900 for the expected 9 hour drive, made a couple of gas stops in Ellensburg and Clarkston, and pulled into Riggins around 1730. There was surprisingly light traffic for the Friday before Labor Day weekend and the weather was changeable with the occasional shower. We stopped at Whitebird summit to check out the possibilities of flying there – good for PG with lots of landing options [Later we found out that the launch was nowhere near where we had been looking.] Farther down the grade we could see that there were some flat fields down near the valley bottom for HG. Arriving at the Best Western Salmon Rapids, we got checked in an went out for dinner at the River Rock Café which had just opened that day. We shared a prime rib and it was excellent but when Vince and Delany joined us it took forever to get their simple orders of soup-and-salad and a spinach salad. On the short walk back to the hotel, the street lights went out along with all the lights in town and the hotel was without power also. Fortunately, that did not interfere with the nightly cookies and milk service at 8 p.m. Power did not resume until 0400 or so and it knocked out the internet access so C.J. can’t get any work done that requires uploading or email.

Saturday 9/1/07 I woke up early thinking that the time on the hotel clock was correct when it was at least an hour too early due to the power outage. Breakfast was almost as good as at the Chelan Best Western lacking only the waffle maker. Rick Shalman called and said something about people meeting at 0800 to go up and fly a site just above town, “Darwin”. We drove to the city park around 0900 and met up with Mark Hollon and his wife, signed our waivers and got our packet with tickets for the Septemberfest. Then we went over to the high school football field where the early flyers were landing, met some more pilots and gave Patrick from McCall a ride back to his car in Seven Devils Canyon. Back at the Park at 1000, Mark had not shown up and Scott Ernst from NM convinced most of us to follow him to Whitebird based on the NOAA weather report of light east winds early becoming west later. We drove 30 miles to the Whitebird LZ, shuffled gear into Vince’s truck and drove up the old highway to the top of the grade then down (left) about 100 ft to a gated road. Our leader lifted the gate off its hinges and we drove up the rocky (but basically 2WD) road through two more gate (also lifted off their hinges) then down a bit to a great launch overlooking the Whitebird valley. The view off the west side of the ridge was down to the Salmon River canyon as it neared the confluence with the Snake in Hells Canyon. The wind was over the back and didn’t seem about to change so we all decided to follow Scott again to the launch above Lucile. Vince dropped us and our gear off back at the car and we drove south to Lucile trying to guess where everybody had gone. Fortunately David Lundquist showed up and led the way up a bunch of private “No Trespassing” roads to where the rest of the group was hanging out trying to figure whether the west-facing launch was going to be working in the north wind. Finally a bunch of us went up and hung out on launch for a couple of hours before Jerry, Doc and Mark Ostby (HG) launched and soared. C.J. waited until later to try to launch but the steep slope and line-grabbing vegetation kept her from a successful launch. Don from the Tri-cities and Armand from NY, on the way to San Diego, managed to get off for a late sledder to the LZ on a plateau above Lucile. We got back to the city park expecting to be too late for the spaghetti feed and barbecue but instead found that there was lots of food and drink left. After C.J. spent time interviewing Doc for the USHPA Observer post he wanted, we listened to the band for a while then came back to the hotel for a much needed shower. (C.J.'s wing above Lucile)

Sunday 9/2/2007 – After a quick meeting at the park we arranged for Frank Mignerey, the local photographer, to drive our vehicle down from launch and drove up the steep 4WD newly bulldozed road to the “Darwin” launch 1000 ft above town. Great views of the bend in the Salmon River as it enters Riggins! Launch was smooth, rounded and covered with dry grass so taking off was easy. There was no lift and we were quickly setting up our final approach over the school to miss the goal posts. The plan was then to go to Lucile while it was still early and conditions somewhat mild. We drove up from an unmarked intersection at milepost 206. And found a possible launch spot that was more south of the HG launch which some PG used yesterday, but not as far S as the launch that Scott had found. As more and more pilots arrived C.J. and I carried our gear down to the less steep take off and I helped C.J. lay her wing out. Scott launched, did not get up and landed not too long afterwards. His radio message from the LZ said that it was “bubbly” in the LZ and that he did not recommend that Christina, a P-2 pilot from Mossyrock, launch. C.J. got into the air on her second launch and had some big surges before heading turning south and trying the ridge that worked yesterday. There was not enough good lift and she had to land in a very active LZ. Even though Doc Shalman had joined me on our launch, I decided to pack it up and climb back up to the road. After thanking Maggie for offering to drive the Trooper down, I drove to Lucile and picked up C.J. We went back to the hotel for leftover quiche and Gatorade for lunch. For the rest of the afternoon we drove up the Big Salmon River road 15 miles to Manning Bridge. There were lots of people camping by the side of the road, rafting, or just playing in the rapids. One stretch of river was calm and permitted a pretty reflection of the steep canyon walls and dark green trees. When we got back to town we drove over to the park and found most of those pilots who were still in town (out of the original 20-some) hanging out. We joined them and talked a while with Scott before all heading over to the Rodeo Club Steakhouse (used to be the Way Back) for dinner. We got back to the Best Western around 2300.

Monday 9/3/2007 – Expecting to fly “Darwin” again we met a much-diminished group at the city park and convoyed over to the high school. No one was really enthusiastic about another sledder but the deal breaker was that the school was watering the football field with an industrial strength irrigator. On the way out we ran into Mark on the street and he must have gotten a new forecast or he listened to Scott who had heard that wind was going to be strong SW later in the day but was forecast to be light E early. That sounded good for “Whitebird” to Mark and the rest of us quickly agreed. With only ten people including Mark’s son Cade and Jerry’s wife, we only needed two vehicles so we left a car or two at the park, left John’s truck at Whitebird, and drove our Trooper and Jerry’s Suburban (?) up to launch. Amazingly, this time the wind was coming in light and straight and we lost no time setting up. I followed Scott and C.J. was right after me. There was lift on the ridge but it was sort of brittle-feeling and, after climbing raggedly over the top, C.J. and I headed south down the ridge slowly losing altitude with occasional climbs. Scott had already crossed the highway and was searching for lift along the spine between US 95 and old 95. We crossed while we were still north of the Whitebird Battlefield information point and I ran into some mellow 200 fpm up just beyond the pond. I climbed above C.J., who had been higher than I was, but lost it and headed for the LZ. C.J. and Scott landed in a field short of the LZ to avoid coming near the numerous power lines, but I had enough altitude to clear them easily and follow the first hang glider into the LZ. Mark and Jerry landed soon after. Great site and friendly LZ owners! On the way back to town we noticed that the atmosphere had gotten smoky from the fire(s) to the east. We all ended up going to lunch at the River Rock Café then split for other activities. C.J., Scott and I stopped at Frank’s photography studio to look at the photos he had shot. Scott headed off to relax under a tree near the river – he had heard that fishing hadn’t been good - while C.J. and I went to the sidewalk outside City Hall/Library/Fire Station to use the wireless hotspot to send the PDF to Jamie. Vince and Delany were at the Chevron station getting a flat tire repaired; they had been out to Florence ghost town that morning. Returning to the Best Western, C.J. kept working on the magazine until I went out and noticed that the smoke was gone and the scenery was clear again. Around 1630 we headed out to drive up to Heaven’s Gate Lookout, 8400 feet up on the edge of the Hell’s Canyon NRA. It was an 18 mile drive and then a short walk up to the rocky summit where the fire tower was situated. The views were good and there were plaques that indicated what you could see (if the air was perfectly clear and not hazed over by the fires). On the way back we checked out the Seven Devils campground – I’ll bet it’s cool there at night at 8000 ft. We got back to the hotel at 1945 or so, ate our lunch for dinner, and had the BW cookies and milk for dessert.

(Heavens Gate Firetower at Heavens Gate 8400 ft msl)

(Fire cloud generated by big forest fire east of Riggins from Heavens Gate)

Tuesday 9/4/2007 – C.J. finished up some work, sent it off from in front of the City Hall and then we hit the road. The Little Salmon River valley climbs from 1800 msl at Riggins to over 4000 msl at New Meadow and close to 5000 at McCall. We toured the Worldmark resort at McCall, snapped a photo of a bear sculpture and studied the maps of the forest fires burning throughout the area. Heading back to New Meadow we detoured to check out the location of a hot spring we had bathed in many years ago. It might still be there but it’s no more obvious now than it was then. Hwy 95 wound south through Council and Cambridge where a fire camp was set up in the fairgrounds. The smoke from the several fires to the east was easily visible. We turned NW and headed for the bottom of Hell’s Canyon, crossed near Oxbow dam and climbed back to over 5000 ft on the west rim. If we hadn’t been so hungry, we could have waited until we reached the rim overlook and had a truly scenic lunch spot. As we approached Joseph, the clouds thickened and we got showered on . That didn’t stop us from continuing to Wallowa Lake to see what the lowered lake level produced in terms of landing area. It was huge. The gondola was already closed (closes at 1600) but the ice cream shop was open. Since we had lost the directions to David Lundquist’s house on the Lostine River, we had to fake it, but managed to remember his description well enough to make it there with no wrong turns. We found Tony from Ellenville, NY there with Stanley, both looking for land to get away from the high, and growing, population density of NY. David kept us entertained with his stories of his early days with the great rock bands, and the early days of flying as well. We all watched the lightning storm from the deck while eating Tillamook “Udderly Chocolate” ice cream. C.J. and I crashed on a futon while Tony and Stanley made a semi-camp in the big Quonset hut.

Wednesday 9/5/2007 – Shortly after we woke up we were serenaded by David’s morning flute recital. He’s clearly a very capable musician, as we heard, whether on his new set of drums, various flutes, or piano. He also makes a mean smoothie for breakfast. We had to turn down an opportunity to go flying (the clouds were breaking up as we left) since C.J. had proofing to do. We took the usual road towards LaGrande but turned off at Elgin and crossed the Blue Mountains mostly in the forest. There were many sno-parks and we passed Spout Springs ski area at around 5300 ft. near Tollgate. Descending to the plains, we turned north toward Walla Walla, crossed the Snake River and bumbled through the Tri-Cities looking for the Costco so we could get gas. The results of the recent fire on Kiona were evident as we passed that flying site. Trying to avoid construction traffic, we detoured through Yakima and Selah. A lack of signage, or our own lack of attention caused us to miss our turn and we had to backtrack a mile or so to get to Hwy 821 through the Yakima Canyon. As usual, the wind was howling in Ellensburg, causing whitecaps on small ponds, and the wind continued strong over Elk Heights. We made a stop in Thorp to pick up some corn and a box of tomatoes and finally rolled in to North Bend around 1720. That’s probably twice as long as it would have taken if we had not taken detours and stops, but it felt more like a vacation this way.

Blake Island Paddle August 23-24

Finally after thirty years in the Northwest we did the Tillicum Village salmon dinner and dance show thing. Sure, it's more of a tourist event than anything else, but it's still fun. At least we did it in a less-touristy fashion.

We drove over the Tacoma Narrows bridge to Pomeroy County Park in Manchester near Port Orchard and loaded our kayak for an overnight trip on the beach next to the boat ramp. We figured that we might miss the evening dinner/show so we could stay overnight and catch the noon one. As it turned out, we were early enough but decided to camp anyway on the NW side of the island in the public camping area. We did not see the Cascadia Marine Trail campsites just around the other side of the point until we were on our way back from dinner later [It was clear later that, at low tide, it would be a long carry from the campsite to the shore.]. After setting up our tiny backpacking tent on the shaded, grassy bench above the beach (and spotting an otter running into the forest), we hustled back into the boat and paddled the mile or so to the main campground, marina and Tillicum Village. We were there in plenty of time to sign up for dinner which was not until 1730 - we had understood dinner was at 1630 from the information on the web but that was the time that the tour boat left Seattle, not the time dinner was served. So we had some lunch, took some pictures of the Village and a bold raccoon, and walked around checking out the beach and campground. There was plenty of room and there were shady spots with views of Seattle, pay showers and a snack bar.

By just after 1700 campers and boaters were beginning to drift toward Tillicum Village so we joined them. Just as the Argosy tour boat docked, big pots of hot clams were carried out and we each got a few clams and some broth. We ran into another couple of kayakers while waiting in line and shared our experiences and, eventually, a table in the longhouse. Great food (although the plastic, fish-shaped plates were a bit hokey) including traditionally-cooked salmon (uh, well sort of traditional - the split salmon were propped up in front of a fire but the fire was a gas flame, not alder wood), a good mixed-greens salad, wild rice mix, small potatoes and, at each place, a milk chocolate salmon. Water and lemonade were in pitchers on the table. The long house looked like it could seat more than 300 (There were 270 of us this time) at tables placed on ascending levels so we were looking down at the dark woodland-themed stage. The dance show began just about the time we finished our meals and each segment was short enough to keep the audience's attention. The most spectacular segment was a mask dance which was really well done. I especially liked the clacking of the beaks on the huge bird masks.

After the show we did not waste much time getting back on the water but there was plenty of light and we were soon back at our camp. C.J. suggested we take the trail back to the main campground so we could see what the night lights of Seattle looked like, so we grabbed our headlamps and headed east on the 1.25 mi trail. We encountered a number of deer - their eyes are big and very reflective in the light from our headlamps, but they did not seem in any rush to bound away. Our lights were not needed for the trip to the main campground but on the way back it was dark under the trees. Back at camp the ranger showed up and warned us about the raccoons, deer and otters. He invited us to use the "wildlife containers" (32-gal Rubbermaid garbage cans with bungy cords) to store our food but we had put all our food under the solid hatch covers of the kayak instead. He also checked that we had paid our camping fee (standard state park $17!). By then it was late enough to squeeze into our tent for the night.

The next morning we got up around 0730 (?) knowing that it wouldn't work to wait for the sun to hit our wet-facing camp. I got the old Svea stove going and heated up hot water for cocoa and tea and we had raisin bran and chocolate chip scones, neither of which were too badly smashed. Leaving our tent still up with our gear inside, we set off to paddle around the island although it looked foggy to the south towards Southworth. Tide was low and more shoreline was exposed than we had expected. We saw more sea otters, shorebirds, and boaters tied up at the mooring floats, but only one other pair of kayakers. Rounding the southern point of Blake Island, we saw the third campground (fewer sites and with no water), and realized that we would not be seeing Seattle as the view to the west was obscured by fog. It wasn't much farther before we were back at the main campground and ran into some wind and some rougher water, nothing really scary but I pulled on my sprayskirt after getting a splash of cold water on my lap.

Back at the west campground we shook the dew off the tent - it hadn't dried much at all - and loaded everything back into (or on - we tried tying a dry bag with clothes and a sleeping bag on the rear hatch). This time we went pretty straight west to the shoreline just north of Yukon Harbor and then paddled along the shore back to Manchester. We passed the NOAA research vessel again, the same one we had seen on the way to Blake.

On the way home we drove through Port Orchard and treated ourselves to shakes at A&W, and a Safeway deli sandwich which we ate in the park at Point Defiance. All in all it felt very much like a vacation.