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.
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.
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